Brussels Planetarium Poetry Fest

Every year in September, Brussels' capital city is the scene of the unique gathering of national and international experimental poets under (and on) the dome of the Planetarium: the Brussels Planetarium Poetry Fest (BPPF).

In this ninth edition of the ever-growing festival, we emphasise the creative use of new technologies in the field of projections through a collaboration with students of MaxLab (University of Antwerp/AP University College) and we further emphasise our international values and collaboration. This is the fourth year that Willemsfonds Brussels and the Planetarium have joined forces to realise the festival, renamed Brussels Planetarium Poetry Fest (BPPF).

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At the BPPF, 10 poets and artists will be invited to create a performance especially for the Planetarium and present it on Friday and Saturday nights. Experimental performance is central to this, because in addition to reciting one’s own work, the interplay with the 360° projection on the dome is especially important.

For the projections, existing and purchased images, specially made 3D projection models, photos/films of artists and results of scientific research will be used. In addition, this year the students of MaxLab, under the guidance of the Planetarium’s technician, will create new projections for the winners of the Open Call. During the BPPF, a unique collaboration between poetry, performance and technology is created, where each poet can present their culture.

Theme

This year we are working around the theme “Word in space”. The artists will be asked to focus their work around this theme and the technician will also return to it in the projections.

In this way, the word (the language, the poetry) is materialised, not only in an oral tradition, but also in a written tradition. The word, like light, as a beginning of creation as we, Westerners, have received it from our monotheistic worldview and that in contrast to other worldviews. The words fill the space as sound waves, as imagery, as an immersive experience. The planetarium becomes, as it were, a canvas, a sound box, an immersive space where the audience really experiences poetry in all its aspects.

Programme

Each participating artist will perform at BPPF 2022 on both Friday and Saturday nights. Each performance is inextricably linked to a projection on the dome, and the evening itself will be a continuous set of projections and performances. Only before and after will the performances be briefly framed. For the projections themselves, the artist will be in direct contact with the planetarium technician.

In addition to the performances on Friday and Saturday evening, we also provide a fringe programme with the present artists throughout Brussels. The evening prior to the Planetarium screening, an Open Mic will take place in collaboration with Speakeasy. Sunday morning we will start with a breakfast reading at Replica Bookshop in Molenbeek. If the weather is nice this will take place outside on the terrace. More information will follow shortly.

Artists

This year’s invited artists are:

• Loeke Vanhoutteghem (Belgium)

• Marie Darah (Belgium)

• Taras Malkovych (Ukraine)

• Lebogang Mashile (South-Africa)

• Ulrike Almut Sandig (Germany)

• Teresa Colom (Andorra)

• Waan (Belgium)

• Xtof Calis (Belgium)

• Lonsin (Belgium)

• Frédéric Lipczynski (Belgium - projections)