DIRIGEABLE (AIRSHIP)
The International Alexey Parshchikov Literature Festival
took place for the first time from 21 to 25 May 2019 at several venues across the German capital.
The motto and theme of the festival is metamodernism as a new cultural situation and an aesthetic paradigm that is just now taking the place of postmodernism - or, by some observations and claims, has already superseded it. The focus was on the dynamics and tendencies of creative methods. The immediate occasion was the 65th birthday of Alexey Parshchikov, one of the most significant and groundbreaking Russian poets of the turn of the century, whose work is regarded today as an important example of the transition to a new metamodernist era. From 1996 to 2009 Parshchikov lived and worked in Germany.
As the actress Katja Tannert put it, what matters is to define space beyond borders and to decouple oneself from political circumstances. Art connects minds. At the centre of the festival stand Russian poetry outside Russia, national and European values, originality, perspectives, and the experience of interaction and cooperation between Russian and German authors in Germany. The scale of the event was decisively determined by the calibre of its participants. Renowned authors came, guests from the USA, Spain, Russia, Latvia, Israel and Austria, among them: Wladimir Aristow, Alexander Davydow, Andrej Lewkin, Julia Kissina, Valery Zemskich, Sergej Solowjow, Irina Raschkowskaja, Sergej Tenjatnikow, Alla Pospelowa, Arsenij Li, Isjaslaw Wintermann, Ekaterina Sadur, Sergej Gladkich, Alexander Schmidt, Maxim Dubaew, Ildar Charissow, Boris Schapiro, Saadi Isakow.
The festival opened on 21 May in the Gagarin Hall of the House of Russian Science and Culture on Friedrichstrasse with a performance by the painter Evgenij Atanow, the composer Veniamin Levitsky and the actor Sergey Pronin. The same evening saw a panel discussion on metamodernism with the participation of the literary critic Elena Tikhomirova-Madden, followed by a reading with two world-renowned authors - Ilya Kutik and Ute Eisinger.
In the same hall, on 22 May, a dialogue between representatives of various publishing projects and authors got under way; various journals, online editions etc. were presented as well.
On 23 May an event took place here devoted solely to Alexey Parshchikov. Alongside memories and conversations, the new book "Parshchikov. The Cologne Years", published this spring in Moscow (by the publishing house "New Literary Review"), was presented.
During the first three days the main programme was accompanied by a small book fair.
On 24 May we continued the programme at Blackmore's Academy of Music in the form of a long reading with performances by authors from Germany and abroad, plus an "open microphone".
On the final day Sergey Solovyov - a Russian poet who is registered in Munich but forever travelling in India - offered a special insight into the theme at the Lettretage literature house with a video and the commentary "Parshchikov. India. Radical Practices". The poet and translator Hendrik Jackson took part in a discussion on the problems of translating Russian literature into German. Afterwards the Parshchikov Prize was awarded for the first time. The prize went to Hendrik Jackson.