Meter al Meter – One Square Meter
The Jerusalem Poetry festival, July 15-17, 2008
This summer the Jerusalem-based K'tovet Poetry Group is mounting a unique poetry festival in the picturesque neighborhoods in and around the Mahneh Yehudah Market, and in the city center. The festival will feature over fifty of Israel's top poets and musicians, who will participate in 15 different admission-free events dealing with many different forms of Israeli space – small, intimate, and "One Square Meter".
"One Square Meter" is the sandbox in which we play, fall in love, get angry, patch things up and go to war. In the 21st century this spatial limitation is more palpable than ever. The world has become a small place. This country is too small for the peoples who inhabit it, the city center is small, its alleys narrow. But from our point of view, above all else, poems, of course, are small formats. Conceivably, then, poets, who are accustomed to the limitations of the page, are best qualified to tell this story and write about it. The inspiration for the festival, and the choice of its themes, are linked to this existential and poetic experience – the "One Square Meter" of consciousness.
The festival will take place in the unadorned spaces of the neighborhoods bordering on Mahneh Yehudah and in the city center. Poets will read their works and talk to audiences in local courtyards, 19th century homes belonging to the quarters' residents, as well as in small halls and cafés. These spaces have been carefully chosen so as to enable even large audiences to experience their spatial intimacy. The festival will round off every day with "Beer Song" performances – poetry readings and music in the local cafés, deep into the night.
The themes of the performances are also linked to the idea of "One Square Meter". For each event, a group of poets, men and women, young and older, have been invited to read some of their own works relating to the central theme. Among the themes chosen for this year's festival are family, back yards, and the secret of Tsimtsum (the Kabbalistic concept of reduction), to
mention but a few. The poets taking part include Haim Guri, Rony
Somek, Esther Ettinger, Ro'i Tchiki Arad, Tamir Greenberg, Ayman
Agbariya, and many others. Each performance will be accompanied
by a musician who will add his or her own contribution to the central
theme. Among the musicians who have agreed to participate in the
festival are Amir Lev, Yossi Babliki, Hemi Rodner, and others.
The K'tovet Group has been working together in Jerusalem for six
years. At its home, the Poetry Place in the Nakhla'ot Quarter, it hosts
regular performances of poetry and music, poetry-writing workshops,
and meetings with poets from Israel and abroad. At the same time,
the six poets comprising the K'tovet Group are intensely involved in
their own creative work, and Even Hoshen recently published their
first joint collection of poetry, which includes new works by each of
its members.
To The Poetry Place Website
The Jerusalem Poetry festival, July 15-17, 2008
This summer the Jerusalem-based K'tovet Poetry Group is mounting a unique poetry festival in the picturesque neighborhoods in and around the Mahneh Yehudah Market, and in the city center. The festival will feature over fifty of Israel's top poets and musicians, who will participate in 15 different admission-free events dealing with many different forms of Israeli space – small, intimate, and "One Square Meter".
"One Square Meter" is the sandbox in which we play, fall in love, get angry, patch things up and go to war. In the 21st century this spatial limitation is more palpable than ever. The world has become a small place. This country is too small for the peoples who inhabit it, the city center is small, its alleys narrow. But from our point of view, above all else, poems, of course, are small formats. Conceivably, then, poets, who are accustomed to the limitations of the page, are best qualified to tell this story and write about it. The inspiration for the festival, and the choice of its themes, are linked to this existential and poetic experience – the "One Square Meter" of consciousness.
The festival will take place in the unadorned spaces of the neighborhoods bordering on Mahneh Yehudah and in the city center. Poets will read their works and talk to audiences in local courtyards, 19th century homes belonging to the quarters' residents, as well as in small halls and cafés. These spaces have been carefully chosen so as to enable even large audiences to experience their spatial intimacy. The festival will round off every day with "Beer Song" performances – poetry readings and music in the local cafés, deep into the night.
The themes of the performances are also linked to the idea of "One Square Meter". For each event, a group of poets, men and women, young and older, have been invited to read some of their own works relating to the central theme. Among the themes chosen for this year's festival are family, back yards, and the secret of Tsimtsum (the Kabbalistic concept of reduction), to
mention but a few. The poets taking part include Haim Guri, Rony
Somek, Esther Ettinger, Ro'i Tchiki Arad, Tamir Greenberg, Ayman
Agbariya, and many others. Each performance will be accompanied
by a musician who will add his or her own contribution to the central
theme. Among the musicians who have agreed to participate in the
festival are Amir Lev, Yossi Babliki, Hemi Rodner, and others.
The K'tovet Group has been working together in Jerusalem for six
years. At its home, the Poetry Place in the Nakhla'ot Quarter, it hosts
regular performances of poetry and music, poetry-writing workshops,
and meetings with poets from Israel and abroad. At the same time,
the six poets comprising the K'tovet Group are intensely involved in
their own creative work, and Even Hoshen recently published their
first joint collection of poetry, which includes new works by each of
its members.
To The Poetry Place Website
