Iam writing about an unmatchable icon, I mean, Iam profiling a literaryarts luminary/ a creative doyen whose artistic sandals I cannot fit in. I met this accomplished /international poet, acclaimed essayist and unwavering global literature/film/ arts critic from this culturally beautiful land of Germany in the poetically blessed earth year of 2015. Andreas Weiland is an international poet laureate donning multiple literary badges and uncountable artistic awards from across all four corners of this globe- This profile feature is an award/accolade to this revered maestro ever to be plaqued on our psychical walls, memory carpets, internet cave walls, special audio archives/other encyclopedias. He is one among other global fathers of poetry, arts and film criticism / godfather of anthologizing of variegated writing genres. Weiland has an amazing but inspiring creative itinerary from his years in Taiwan, to the United States of America back to Europe and other climes that he arrived in person /in residence or remotely/internet, as a distinguished researcher, artist, curator in chief, editor, educationist and literature producer. He discovered me in the wonderful year of 2014 and we worked on together on a very wonderful, breathtaking African anthology adventure through his powerhouse online/Internet journal series Street Voices for the matter of fact the Street Voices #7 was a pan African journal and was published both in German and English– international standards. I was part of the contributing poet, the online anthology curator and co-editor alongside the legendary Andreas Weiland, a doyen, Iam honoring today with this wonderful long form profile feature. That was my first international anthology curatorship fellowship under his prolific tutelage- He is my professero- emeritus– introductory praise by (mbizo Chirasha, the African William Blake)
A Snippet of our Street Voices internet anthology–Street Voice is published irregularly on the Internet. When it was founded,the intention was to create a forum of cultural debate and to present poetry(mainly but not exclusively in English) from around the world.
http://www.street-voice.de/SV7/SVissue7.html
Street Voice / Voix dans les rues / Strassenstimmen / Voces de la calle
is a non-commercial, multi-lingual literary journal based in Europe.
We do not accept paid advertisements.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The copyright of the texts published in this issue belongs to the authors.
© for this issue: 2016
This same year of 2015,the maestro introduced me to another International Taiwanese poetry publishing Icon Hadaa Sendoo to be included into the powerhouse 2015-16 World Poetry Almanac– Iam part of this great poetry writing community alongside great poetry luminaries beyond my creative reach and literary influence
When rough shadows turned their darkness against me- Andreas Weiland applied to PEN Germany , Defend Defenders and other Artist at Risk interventions for both my upkeep , my literary activism , my writivism and life in exile- He is a revolutionary icon, he walked with me in trench after trench , rough patch after rough patch- We got an unbreakable 7 year literary/artistic/writivism/creative bond- Legendary Andreas Weiland, I dedicate this journal exhibition honorary award to you-you remain a powerhouse.
Another Important thing Iconic Andreas Weiland is curating my forthcoming English and German Hybrid collection, from editorship, translating, publishing, publicity /marketing and the sales sections- This forthcoming anthology is a trademark, another literary birthmark, poetry DNA-
Now let take this great opportunity with my creative-brotherly-literary pleasure to introduce Andreas Weiland latest gig in form of a poetry collection a passionate literary juice dedication to one acclaimed /innovative artist, Nan Hoover.
The Blackness of Black: Poems in Memory of Nan Hoover Tapa blanda – 27 Agosto 2022
de Andreas Weiland (Author), Magdi Youssef (Author)
Blackness of Black is a book that features poems dedicated to an exciting, innovative artist, Nan Hoover. Nan Hoover, born in NYC in 1931, was not only an experimenting video artist, but also an inspired and inspiring live performer. She was also known for sublime drawings and fine paintings as well as light installations. The poems were written and given to her in the 1980s; she said it was the first time ever that she received poems dedicated to her and her work. In addition to the poems that she cared for, there is information on her and on her way of doing video films, as well as other information.
Available at Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Andreas-Weiland/dp/3756247570)
PHOTO OF THE BOOK AND NAN HOOVER
A great poem by Andreas Weiland published in Street Voices , online /internet journal of international acclaim
| Andreas Weiland [orange nightmare] orange nightmare of clouds – for a moment they mirror the horrors of a century which lead the way from Auschwitz Buchenwald Dachau to Union Carbide the defoliated forests of Vietnam the dark Bhopal night filled with coughing, tormented bodies while dead birds are dropping again from the sky while a dog is howling full of pain in some distant corner In the rain forests of the Congo another Conrad might chance today upon the destructive greed of man as the puppets of transnational corporations put their bloodied hands on coveted raw materials Cell phones connect dubious lovers and millions of lives are sacrificed on the bench of progress in a wantonly rekindled war And in far-away China as thousands of skyscrapers begin to dot the inner cities of Beijing, of Shanghai millions and millions of animals are raised in the same way – ignorant of their natural needs – that was pioneered by doctors and businessmen in the West Yes, we are traversing still that same age of progress that our forefathers craved and believed in Nov. 5, 2005 |
| Andreas Weiland is the translator of poems by Kerala based poets published in Street Voice # 6 that were either translated by Ravi Shanker (and in a few cases, by other Indian poets) from Malayalam, or that were originally written in English. His poetry was published in anthologies in Germany and China, and in such journals as The Q (Bochum), touch (Philadelphia PA and Bochum), the Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), Benzin (ed. Jürgen Theobaldy, Cologne), konkursbuch (ed. Claudia Gehrke), kulturrevolution (ed. Jürgen Link et al., Essen); streetword (ed. Mike Dobbie; UK), Romboid (Bratislava), etc. He has several volumes of poetry to his credit. |
Andreas Weiland, poet, occasional film critic and art critic, born 1944( Art in Society Profile)
First poetry reading, together with Michael Horovitz, in Bochum in ’69.
Edited TOUCH, a small literary and film journal (with Steven Diamant) in the late ’60s. Its section on the Independent Italian Cinema, included in issue # 3-4, 1969, was reprinted by the LONDON FILM FESTIVAL, thanks to Massimo Bacigalupo… There were also articles on a film by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet (the Chronique of Anna Magdalena Bach), a long interview with Stan Brakhage (by P.Adams Sitney), an article by Georg Rudolf Lind on Pessoa, poetry in diverse languages, accompanied by translations into English… Later on, wrote frequently on the filmic work of J.-M. Straub and Danièle Huillet, much of it unpublished but forwarded to the Straubs (own versions largely lost).
Excerpts of his film criticism (on Dore O. and on Massimo Bacigalupo) are published online by CANYON CINEMA, INC. (San Francisco) and the NEW YORK FILMMAKERS’ COOPERATIVE… And on Pia Epremian (in print) by BIANCO E NERO, and other stuff elsewhere…
Edited JIETOU / STREET in Taiwan in the ’70s which featured articles on Yao Yi-Wei’s play, A Suitcase, on the poet Yang Kwei, several articles on the Cloud Gate Dance Theater, etc. Held many talks on the NEW GERMAN CINEMA (Fassbinder, Costard, Wenders, Dore O. etc.) at the Deutsches Kulturzentrum / Deguo Wenhua Zhongxin in Taipei and at the Taida Film Club (Tien Center, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei)…
Wrote pieces of film criticism for INFLUENCE, a film magazine edited by Ivan Wang, and for ARTIST MAGAZINE…
Correspondence with several poets (Barbara Guest whose poetry was translated in the 70s, Anne Waldman, several others; with Cid Corman for several decades, practically until he died).
Contributed poems to anthologies (UND ICH BEWEGE MICH DOCH, ed. by Juergen Theobaldy (Munich [Beck Verlag] 1977); AIQING DE GUSHI – 300 DEUTSCHE LIEBESGEDICHTE, Beijing 1998…); CRITICA DEL NOVECENTO / CRITICIZING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, ed. by Massimo Bacigalupo and Anna Lucia Giavotto (Genova [Tilgher] 2001).
And to several art catalogues, for instance:
Wo bleibst du, Revolution. Freiheit Gleichheit Bruederlichkeit heute. 1789-1989, ed. by Peter Spielmann (Bochum [Museum Bochum] 1989. And: Doris Schoettler-Boll/Dekonstruktionen oder vom Widersprechen in Bildern, ed. by Klaus Honnef, Cologne (Rheinland Verlag and Landesmuseum Bonn) 1987.
Poems have again and again been published in various poetry journals (among them Juergen Theobaldy’s BENZIN; Mike Dobbie’s STREET WORD; the KONKURSBUCH etc.).
Wrote a long poem on ‘Moses and Aaron’ (the film by J.-M. Straub & Danièle Huillet) which Jean-Marie translated & published, in German and French, in an issue of the CAHIERS DE CINÉMA…
Having read the ms. of Gedichte aus einem dunklen Land (then still unpublished), Erich Fried wrote (in 1981), “Ich habe schon seit langer Zeit nicht mehr Gedichte gesehen (unveroeffentlichte oder neuerdings veroeffentlichte), die ich fuer so gut und so wichtig halte. Ich meine wichtig, weil sie unsere nicht nur literarische Landschaft bereichern. Dichten ist nicht so sehr eine literarische wie eine menschliche Betaetigung.”
And Peter Marcuse called his poems “clear, sharp, and didactic” after reading the ms. of Gedichte aus einem dunklen Land.
In a letter Juergen Theobaldy recalled that, in a conversation, “Nicolas Born called him (…) a ‘naturally gifted lyrical poet’ [ein geborener Lyriker]” (quoted by W.Fang).
Several small volumes of poetry have appeared or are due to appear, most of them published by SYMPOSIUM PRESS, a small publisher in Rotterdam and Aachen.. Check (online) catalogues of Deutsche Bibliothek (Frankfurt) and of Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Den Haag).
When Andreas Weiland describes himself in his own mystic-creative verbabravado
So, who am I? A poet? or rather, somebody writing poetry (amongst other things)? Age 56, born in Germany, male. Taught modern German literature in Taiwan in the seventies. Later, briefly, at the Dept. of German of the Ruhr University in Bochum (Germany). Did introductions to exhibitions (of art works by Eu-Nim Ro, Angelo Evelyn, Peter Lacroix, Axel Guhlmann, Willi Seeba, Doris Schöttler-Boll…), wrote some art criticism, but more frequently, film criticism (on films by Sara Driver, Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Dore O., Hellmut Costard, Paul Sharits, Steve Dwoskin, Gregory Markopoulos, Pia Epremian, Massimo Bacigalupo, Werner Nekes, Tony Morgan, Akira Kurosawa, R.W. Faßbinder…) Strongly believe in “communicating tubes” between the arts, between art and everyday life, between reason and emotions, our dreams, desires, the subconscious. Yes, art shd not be instrumentalized. But we, as human beings, can be useful, as Brecht tried to be. The usefulness of art, its emancipative strength, its life-giving, life-enhancing force stems from that integrity, still alive, somehow. Despite all. And to be sensed deep within you, within every woman or man… Or shd I say: the creative core? Which, by mere chance perhaps, let’s us be useful without being servile, without becoming creatures of a party, a dogma, an institution, a market…
Sometimes I think the “Third World” is coming back to the rich world; in all those different varieties of deprivation, those “pockets of poverty,” with their specific histories, that are blossoming, all over the globe. And the pockets of wealthy living, “privileged” living, wasteful living, haven’t they, too, like the marks of small pox, started to plaster the world’s map? Art, or for that matter, poetry, as a practice, of diving into the unknown reaches of our memories, our reasoning, our emotions, our subconscious, will fathom the rock bottom layers of the “sea of humanity.” And even without choosing to take a stand, it will not be able NOT TO CRITICIZE the scandalous, it will not be able NOT TO SPEAK WITH TENDERNESS of what is warm and humane and full of love for the living”- Andreas Weiland, October 2000
Mbizo Chirasha is the chief -caravanist at Pan-WritersCaravan. head of content at AfricanWilliamBlake.publisher of Time of the Poet Republic, founder at Womaword literary Press. curator/editor of Voices of Africa: A Call for freedom (ihraf.org).co-editor of Corpses of Unity anthology with Kenneth Toa Mala of Cameroon in solidarity with civil victims of Cameroon. project curator/co-editor of Second Name of Earth is Peace(worldbeyondwar.org) with David Swanson. co-editor of the bilingual German/English digital anthology Street Voices with Andreas Weiland.african contributor to Demer press international poetry anthology series with Hannie Rouweler. World Poetry Almanac poetry series with Hadaa Sendo of Mongolia.essayist, poet and panafrican editor and african writivism laureate at ihraf publishes with Thomas Block. live literature hub /word fiesta producer at Sotambe Film and Arts Festival 2019. resident coordinator of All of Africa 100 Thousand for peace- global with Michael Rothenberg. African Writing Associate with Jamie dedes.com, A poet a day, the bezine.com with poetry chef Michael Dickel. Oxford School of poetry/Blackwell Pamphlet of poetry with Kirsten Norrie Contributing essayist to Monk Arts and Soul Magazine with Sophie levy Burton. poet in residence of the Fictional Café, an American but pan international writers’ space with Jack.B. Rochester. initiating the Canadian international journal to promote literary diversity, dialogue among civilizations WordCitylit journal Darcie Friesen Hossack.
Mbizo Chirasha (African WilliamBlake) 