textOUR: Multilingual Polylogue

Sarah Stefanutti joins us from the Tre Poete collective, which explores diasporic and feminist themes with a particular focus on the Italian language.
Laurence Ermacova writes mainly in French and is one of two members of U8 collective, which focuses on poetic interventions in public spaces, multilingual cooperations and political poetry.
Franco Marcucci is a Spanish speaking poet opening spaces for Latin American poetry in Berlin and for multilingual encounters. He is the founder of Siesta Verlag in relation to Siesta Festival and initiator of the translational format poetic tandem, which will also shape this very evening:

In preparation of the event, the involved poets will meet in multilingual pairs and translate their poems using a lingua franca. The goal is not just a translation in the traditional sense, but a collective process of understanding and transformation of the poems.

The evening will be moderated by Hyejeong Yun, multimedia artist, poetical researcher and member of the Asian Feminist Studio for Art and Research (AFSAR). Together, we’ll talk about writing poetry in multiple languages in Berlin, about different collective structures and the interplay between collective work and individual artistic practice, as well as the experiences in the poetic tandems. The main language for the event will be English, while the poetry readings will take place in different languages including French, Spanish, Italian, German, English, Korean (…).

Laurence Ermacova lives and writes poetry in Berlin. Her texts emerge from the intersection of languages and the observation of everyday life. In December 2021, she founded the U8 collective with poet Neïtah Janzing to carry out poetic actions in public spaces. April 2024 her first volume of poetry États de mes lieux - Collected Poems was published by Éditions du Bunker, Paris.

Fran Marcucci: Inspired by his own migration journey and informed by his studies in Sociology and Political Science, Berlin-based artist Fran Marcucci focuses his practice on building platforms for migrant voices. His artistic approach aims to uncover poetic elements that ignite new perspectives, evidenced in projects like Siesta Verlag and Poetic Tandem. His own writing blends a Wikipedia aesthetic with a critique of contemporary life, and he is presently expanding his artistic senses as a student in the "Raumstrategien" Master's program at Weißensee."

Sarah Stefanutti (Florence, 1983) is a poet, PhD in Political Philosophy, and visual artist, currently based in Berlin. She is the author of Parole attraverso l'Europa (Albatros 2010, Jacques Prévert prize) Confini (Ladolfi 2017, Florence Prize) and Il bosco e una campana (Pequod, 2024). Her artistic work has appeared in several magazines, international literary festivals, and art galleries. She is also working on several projects with co-funded collective 3Poete, including the performance Nomadic Verses (Poesie Festival Berlin 2025) on complex diasporic transnational identities and the collection Chronicles of Extinction on ecology and loss (Versopolis 2025).

Johanna Hühn writes and translates (occasionally). In 2021 “mein körper, der da wäre” was published in the series Dock X paper pieces, further poems in BELLA triste, mosaik and Das Narr, among others.

Manuel Irmey (they/them) lives in Berlin. They write between poetry and spoken word, like to mix languages (mostly English and German) and has been a member of ad hoc for more than five years. Texts from them were published in parabolis virtualis 2, PS#7, Glitter (and others).
Eliana Kirkcaldy studied contemporary dance and cultural studies in Cologne, Hildesheim, Porto& Berlin. She is a member of the editorial board of literary magazine Berlin Review as well as part of poetry collective Das ad hoc. Eliana is currently working on the translation& publication of writings by French author Colette Peignot.

Yun Hyejeong is an artist based in Berlin working across film, installation, and text. Her practice explores embodied memory within structures of power, focusing on migration, gendered violence, and ecological loss. Through poetic research and allegorical storytelling, she engages her body, voice, and language to trace intergenerational narratives shaped by displacement and resistance. Drawing from microhistories and feminist oral traditions, her recent works examine the layered histories of women’s labour, militarism, and inherited silence across East Asia and Europe. She is the founder of Heisse Maroni Berlin and a member of the Asian Feminist Studio for Art and Research (AFSAR).