Literature as a European Mothertongue: In our series “One is a CROWD”, we introduce you to authors from all over Europe who will be involved in the CROWD omnibus reading tour, taking place from May to July 2016, featuring 100 authors travelling through 15 European countries. We asked them three questions based on text production, reception and mediation. In case you always wanted to know how a literary activist in Berlin looks like, meet Alexander Filyuta!
Have you ever participated in collaborative author/reader projects? And if so, what do you find interesting about it?
Yes, this was The Enemies project, organized by the British poet and curator Steve J. Fowler.
The Enemies project is about the possibilities of poetry in collaboration. This project aims to bring about and showcase original, dynamic examples of what is produced when the other in question is the equally avid mind of another poet. In this project I was cooperating and interacting with the German poet Tom Bresemann. We borrowed entire texts or text parts from each other and performed the result in a way that a new dynamically interactive poem emerged.
What is your favorite literary spot in …? (literary venue, bar, meeting area, city, etc.) Please do give us a link to the website of the spot / area.
Well, since I run together with the poet Tobias Herold a poetry series “Lyrik im ausland” in Berlin for already over 5 years, the artistic space “ausland” is also my preferable literary spot.
Which recent literary event fascinated you the most and why? (Please give us the link to the website of the event)
Another collaborative project was “RED CRANES” with the Russian poet Natalia Azarova, and the German poet Hendrik Jackson, where Hendrik and me translated the texts of Natalia and performed them (or projected them) on the screen. The performance was partly accompanied by music, written specially for this event.
How do you feel about readers’ comments and feedback to your texts? Does it affect / alter your subsequent writing?
I write in Russian and in German. I’m very attentive to reactions and feedback coming from my fellow colleagues. Normally it does not affect my writing directly, but I feel a strong exposure to the creativity and the style essentials of my fellow poets, especially in Berlin.