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PROPOSTA is an annual showcase devoted to contemporary poetic creation, mainly to most daring and the most open one. it deals with proposals that go beyond the text to seek direct contact with the public, whether by means of oral delivery or dialogue with other disciplines.

on this year's edition, PROPOSTA 2003, attention has been given to the most playful field with the presence of accidents polipoètics, onophon, noel tatú and dolors miquel, and to the electronic processment of the voice, with performances by valeri scherstjanoi+wolfram der spyra and paarcand (pierre-andré arcand). the retrospective part of the festival presents a reading of avant-garde german poetry, attempting to bring the barcelonian audience closer to the most relevant german avant-garde poetry, and a selection of the video archives of propost.org and habitual video team, which compiles readings done at often hidden places of barcelona. as new features, we present the geografies section, which opens the range of interests of the festival to proposals with an own language inbetween avant-garde and tradition, and the ausculta section, which the audition of sound poetry pieces and vocal pieces remixed by simón marino (dJ) and the projection of photographies of poetry readings done during the last years by consuelo bautista and xavier moreno.

the festival presents an overview of the current situation of poetry; to this end it includes live performances, lectures, projections and the publication of a catalogue bringing together all the information about the festival and a cd that compiles sound works by some of the authors.

PROPOSTA wants to demonstrate the vitality of poetry nowadays, a poetry that goes beyond the traditional ways and takes advantage of the expression possibilities that are on hand. It focuses on the oral formats of poetry, which go from traditional recitation to electronic work with the voice or phonetic improvisation, through experiences with dance or music. after its first three outings, PROPOSTA has demonstrated, from an updated and open vision of literature, that poetry can be communicated to a wide range of audiences and is able to use several different formats and technics. the festival has become a point of reference on europe's poetic scene and, most importantly, a showcase for new proposals for both creators and the general public in barcelona. it is a literary festival that goes beyond the narrow vision that reduces poetry to the book it is written in.

sections: 
- obertura. opening performances.
- intermèdia. live performances.
- geografies. a cartography inbetween experimentation and orality.
- vídeo. projection of recordings of live performances in barcelona.
- ausculta. a place to be, listen and watch. and to talk.

participants:
accidents polipoètics (barcelona - canovelles)
lesego rampolokeng (south africa)
paarcand (quebec / canada)
valeri scherstjanoi + wolfram der spyra (russia - germany)
lello voce (italy)
onophon (austria)
natalie quintane (france)
noel tatú (granollers)
christian atanasiu (germany - barcelona)
enric casasses (barcelona)
dolors miquel (lleida)
albert mestres (barcelona)
josep ramon roig (tortosa)
josep sou (alcoi)
mireia sentís (madrid - new york)
consuelo bautista (barcelona)
xavier moreno (barcelona)
habitual video team (barcelona)
simón marino (dj) (barcelona)

severing words

inner voices remind us that silence is deafening and that beyond the surface, we reign supreme. voices of all kinds - for all prevails: guardians of democratic purity, guardians of percentual purity, guardians of literary purity. but our head is blind inside those crematoriums and we move beyond where a city keeps on being a life source and a quiet net travelling underworld. more so than ever, our voice speaks for itself free from all impingement.
into our fourth year we are gradually accruing complicity, poetic paths and a better state of the art as far as truly contemporary ways of making poetry go. far from the still barrenness of comfortable tags, aiming at a space, the city, thriving through connections. herewith the most diverse edition: from morgernstern to south africa, from alcoi to photography. we have widened our horizons with a will to welcome other present-day poetry voices: we have introduced the section geografies, which includes catalan authors from several origins, voices of afroamerican literature and, furthermore, we have selected a number of photographs and videos thus creating ausculta, a new converging space. 
this fourth edition proves difficult to be partial about any performance in particular. we will start with three first-class contributions, an introduction by mireia sentís to afroamerican poetry, from which emerge such current poetic trends as rap and spoken word; the poetics of accidents polipoètics and their audience will meet again, and lesego rampolokeng will join in with his deep and overwhelming voice. as far as retrospective glances are concerned, we have several this year: photographs by xavier moreno and consuelo bautista, the video files of habitual video team and german avantgarde poetry by valeri scherstjanoi, enric casasses and christian atanasiu. the festival playful and casual touches will be given by accidents polipoètics, dolors miquel and noel tatú. 
in this brief introduction i would like to mention bob cobbing, core of the freest literature who passed away just before the last edition of PROPOSTA was to begin and to which he had been invited. more recently we have to lament the death of haroldo de campos, one of the founders of concrete poetry, the first avantgarde movement ever created in brazil and a clear reference to the post-war avantgardes which, in my opinion, have truly made way for a more coherent understanding of literature today. but nothing is in vain: several generations cross their paths in such festivals as PROPOSTA allowing us to come accross new authors who far from following trends, generate new tendencies. apart from those who have already been there, this year we can add onophon and nathalie quintane to our records which will be rounded off by first-class authors such as paarcand, valeri scherstjanoi and lello voce. 
whilst some are prone to severing words, to ensconcing and making others illegal and to merely promoting a few, we feel more freedom than ever as regards to being close to the capacity of creating. the ability of creating with words instead of suffocating them, intensely and not just for effect's sake as well as free from any kind of tag. 

eduard escoffet
PROPOSTA 2003
festival internacional de poesies+polipoesies

translated from catalan by hara kraan

PROPOSTA 2003
barcelona  november 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th 2003.

centre de cultura contemporània de barcelona
montalegre, 5
08001 barcelona
93 306 41 00
www.cccb.org

propost@propost.org
www.propost.org/proposta2003

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