Kunstkiosk #6: Lina Atfah & Regina Ray

In the organizer's words:

Art kiosk #6:

Lina Atfah & Regina Ray

Elona Caffee, Stoffeler Str. 3, Düsseldorf

Free admission

On May 16, 2024, the "Kunstkiosk" will start its third season. "We are delighted that it is continuing after a six-month break and that we can still rely on the support of our funding partners," says curator Vera Vorneweg, who launched the reading series in 2022. Since then, Vorneweg, herself an artist and writer, has regularly invited authors of visual poetry to Düsseldorf-Oberbilk. For the sixth edition of "Kunstkiosk", she has selected Lina Atfah and Regina Ray. The latter is no stranger to the state capital, especially as she has lived and worked in Düsseldorf since the late 1980s. Since then, Ray has published poetry, short stories and a novel. She also works as a journalist. She has produced numerous cultural features for radio (D'Radio, D'funk, WDR, BR, SWR), many of them with a connection to India. As part of the "Kunstkiosk", Regina Ray will read from her book "Körpertexte" (Melina Verlag), published in 1998. "The conceptual idea of Körpertexte is based on the experience that one's own body, even if only for a brief moment, could also be the body of the world," explains Vera Vorneweg. "Based on this idea, Regina Ray develops sensual texts in which she makes individual parts of the body or the world speak."

Vera Vorneweg has placed Lina Atfah at Ray's side. Born in Syria in 1989, Atfah studied Arabic literature in Damascus. She had to leave her home country in 2014 for political reasons and has lived in Herne ever since. Atfah's contributions have appeared in various anthologies since 2016. She has also published two volumes of poetry, which contain her poetry in Arabic and German. "Das Buch von der fehlenden Ankunft" was published in 2019, followed by "Grabtuch aus Schmetterlingen" in 2022 (both Pendragon Verlag). Atfah was awarded the Ruhr Literature Prize for the second volume. "What I like about Lina Atfah's poetry is that in her poems she addresses the turmoil of her native Syria and in this way gives a voice to flight, displacement and crime," says Vera Vorneweg. Atfah will read her texts in Arabic as part of the "Kunstkiosk". Translator Osman Yousufi, who translated the poems for both books into German, will read the German versions.

The "Kunstkiosk" thus remains true to the idea of having the texts read in the native language of the respective authors, especially as it proved successful at the three readings last year. "It's very appealing to hear the poems in a language you don't understand," says curator Vera Vorneweg. "In addition, the fact that the translators are also on site means that the audience learns a lot about the collaboration between author and translator." Judy Müller-Goldenstedt, who has been part of the "Kunstkiosk" team from the very beginning, will continue to moderate the discussions with the authors and the audience in 2024.

However, the venue is now a new one. After Skotti's on Markenstrasse closed at the end of 2023, Vorneweg has found a new venue in Elona Caffee. "I'm delighted that the 'Kunstkiosk' is staying in Oberbilk," says the organizer of the readings. The multicultural district behind Düsseldorf's main railway station fits in well with the concept of her reading series, which aims to appeal to as diverse a public as possible.

Anyone who has missed an edition of "Kunstkiosk" in the past can find all events from 2022 and 2023 documented on the website www.vorneweg.com. From 2024, audio recordings of the readings will also be posted on the site so that the events can be listened to.