book launch & exhibition opening

performative reading: camilo (phi/aut) with urbannomadmixes
– pri elamthuruthil, adina marin, ion neculai, laura pana, franz karl prüller, alina serban, amaia sotes and featuring musicians: felix hornbachner and khitana gri

exhibition on the book’s artwork by ion neculai (rom)

>> photos from the book launch and exhibition opening on facebook/poetryschool


exhibition from 25 november 2015 until 29 january 2016
(not open between dec 22 and jan 7)
mon-fri t: +43-1-522 35 26
venue: schule für dichtung
mariahilfer str. 88a/stiege III/7, a-1070 vienna

design: ion neculai
technical support: didi sommer

camilo antonio (phi/aut)
poet, performer, scientist, long-time employee of the united nations, connected with the vienna poetry school for many years through performances, joint projects and participation in various classes. lives in vienna.
UrbanNomadMixes is a group of multicultural poets, musicians, dancers & video-artists – founded by camilo antonio.

ion neculai (rom)
architect, cartoonist, worked as a teaching assistant and in child education for roma partnership projects. lives in bucharest.

"as a performative dialogue between the poet and the graphic artist, this is a critical book that highlights how “race" is a dangerous construct by which one projects attributes of behaviour and/or looks into negative characteristics of a group, which can be turned into ideologies that lead to discriminatory relations, deaths,
genocide and all the inhuman aspects that the holocaust continues to manifest."

ruth wodak, sociolinguist and acclaimed author on discourse studies including racism and the politics of fear

 

foreword
enlightenment through poetry, sharpening of consciousness by setting poetic signs and drawings: only the best children’s books have managed to bridge the gap between targeted didactics and free-floating fantasy. i see camilo c. antonio’s poems and ion neculai‘s illustrations rooted in this humanist tradition.

thank heavens that camilo writes his poetry in english – the raspy german word “rasse” suffocates all poetry in its tracks: between the pure-race german shepherd and the racial laws promulgated in nuremberg, there would, in truth, be only space for a horrific gagging reflex.

but in this way, the book is a profusion of the poetic: like rhizomes, camilo’s associations of “race” spread into a dense web of roots. indeed, it is as if the author and his conspiratorial illustrator are letting us view that particular word through a kaleidoscope. but it is also as if we are giving in to a litany that speaks to all whose empathy is still above freezing point. and it is – like only the very best illustrated children’s books – precious for the heart’s formation.

thank you for it!

fritz ostermayer (artistic director, schule für dichtung / vienna poetry school)

sfd publication
the many phases & sights of race
poems by camilo antonio (alias caminante) and artwork by ion neculai
release: 24 november 2015
edition schule für dichtung in wien in association with urbannomadmixes, vienna 2015
isbn: 978-3-9502118-7-0
http://sfd.at/en/publications