Smarginature was a two-day series of events aimed at readers, writers, listeners, vocalists, translators, artists and anyone else interested in exploring the ways in which language, or languages- written, spoken, or overheard- can elude definition and trespass boundaries.
The series is inspired by a selection of texts which explore or enact such language slippages and shifting subjectivities. Central to these is Elena Ferrante’s tetralogy, The Neapolitan Novels (trans. Ann Goldstein), from which the term ‘smarginature’ is taken. Translated by Ann Goldstein as ‘dissolving boundaries’, ‘smarginature’ describes, in the novels, a state of psychological and existential crisis periodically experienced by one of the protagonists. Ferrante’s use of a technical printing term (‘outside of the margins’), suggests also the difficulties of fixing meaning-reality-in language.
Smarginature will feature performances and workshops by poet and artist Cia Rinne and artist and writer Claire Potter, as well as Radio Ferrante: the live recording of a podcast, during which local and international guests will be invited to join Daniela Cascella and Natasha Soobramanien—the organisers of Smarginature— to talk about their engagement with Ferrante’s work and beyond.
New online writing commissions by Hannah Black, Juliet Jacques, Jen Hofer, Bhanu Kapil, Ashaki M. Jackson and Mg Roberts will be published on a dedicated blog, http://writingsoundbergen.wordpress.com, in the weeks before the event.
Smarginature was developed and programmed by writers Daniela Cascella and Natasha Soobramanien following their Lyd Writing Research Residency at Lydgalleriet in September and December 2015.
The LYD Writing Research Residencies were initiated by Cascella in 2015 with the aim of exploring a number of intersections and interactions that may occur between listening, reading, writing, translating, recording, silencing, conversing, with a focus on performative and collaborative approaches and with emphasis on discursive and reflexive aspects.
For more information about the residencies, please visit: http://writingsoundbergen.wordpress.com