This polyphonic juxtaposition features answers to three questions put to some of the participants from the INTRE:FACE Digital Conference who were physically present.
What was most intriguing for you at the conference? The most interesting presentation, the best argument, some new connection, etc.?
Nikola Richter (mikrotext)
I very much liked the European aspect of it: to meet partners from Finland, Estonia, to hear skype calls from Greece, and from the USA as well. To see that the work with digital developments is very much included in the work of literary initiatives in our continent. Very impressive was Aleksandra Małecka’s presentation of the printed book of the google translation of Ubu Roi into Polish and all their work at the cooperation Ha!Art.
Laura Serkosolo (Nuoren Voiman Liito)
I was fascinated by the diversity of the subject and the conference opened up new perspectives for me about what digital literature is today. Personally, the most inspiring presentations were those about mikrotext.de, the Glory Hole magazine and Jörg Piringer’s presentation.
Andreas Bülhoff (host)
One of the most intriguing presentations for me was definitely Jazra Khaleed’s “Poetry is just words in the wrong order“, which was not only highly engaging on the levels of aesthetics and their technical/technological realisation, but also left no doubt that contemporary experimental poetry by digital means is a highly political tool, which can particularly uncover the inner workings of language and power in contemporary discourses. For me this was kind of the interconnecting undercurrent of INTRE:FACE. Furthermore, I had a really enjoyable talk with Mark Marino and I got to know Álvaro Seiça and his work who attended the conference and will eventually be part of the CROWD bus tour as well.
What else would you have hoped for?
Tom Bresemann (event organizer)
From the organizer’s perspective: The Governing Mayor of Berlin / Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs kindly supported the conference so we were able to have international guests present in the room and not just via the Skype screen – I am very grateful for that! What I believe, as was shown by a lot of the projects, is that digital tools are useful for interpersonal interaction, and therefore it should always be about people meeting people (at a conference, for example). The field of digital literature (electronic literature) is especially characterized by a strong international, worldwide approach. So I wished that i.e. the US Embassy had been more open to supporting their project-makers to get to Berlin to attend such a conference.
Andreas Bülhoff (host)
A problem which seems to persist in the discourse of digital literature is the need for a deeper groundwork or agreement on terms and definitions, which the conference lacked at certain points.
Laura Serkosolo (Nuoren Voiman Liito)
I would have liked to have had a brief historical perspective and academic point of view of how things have developed and a definition of what digital literature is or isn’t. We had some examples, of course, but maybe a more detailed or complete set of these aspects would have been interesting too. A resume of definitions and history of the subject on paper would have also been really handy!
Were you inspired by the ideas presented at INTRE:FACE? Do you plan to incorporate and/or modifiy some of the ideas presented for your own purposes?
Tobias Koch (Ars Baltica)
Definitely inspired by the diversity of approaches in digital literature already. In digital literature, I see potential for an interlinked European literary scene that moves beyond national borders. In my opinion there’s even room for more publishers that publish in several languages and the digital tools available come in very handy. I liked how Assaf Alassaf was first published in German with mikrotext and then in Arabic; I like how digital tools and the internet can revolutionize classic ways of distribution. What’s great about digital literature is its vivid character; literature is something fluid, that anybody who knows a source can access. Accordingly, we need to be careful not to set obstacles for it by trying to define it too strictly. Especially for a region as linguistically diverse as the Baltic Sea Region, there’s great potential for international digital literary cooperation. Each language, whether Latvian, Danish or Python brings in new perspectives. The region’s literary diversity and heritage is very well and professionally documented on the Virtual Baltic Sea Library. Digital literature tells us, however, that contemporary literature cannot only be found between book covers, and thus there’s room for showcasing and promoting contemporary literature scenes from the region digitally.
Nikola Richter (mikrotext)
I will definitely send out some manuscripts to Finland (Laura Serkosalo) and to Poland. Tobias Koch from Ars Baltica has renewed his subscription to mikrotext (thanks!) and there might be a possibility to show Max Höfler’s screen magazine Glory Hole at the next Electric Book Fair that I am organizing with Andrea Nienhaus.
Andreas Bülhoff (host)
Yes, a very inspiring conference indeed! I will definitely get more into live text mining / text production–performances.
Laura Serkosolo (Nuoren Voiman Liito)
I’m going to present mikrotext to a Finnish audience via our blog. I have also got an idea to organize a seminar on digital literature on the topic of the changing publishing scene for our festival Poetry Moon next year, let’s see what happens!
