Unwirkliche Verbindungen. Andere Geografien des Surrealismus (Literaturfestival)

In the organizer's words:

Unreal Connections - Other Geographies of Surrealism brings the Surrealist movement back into focus on the occasion of its centenary. The two-day festival program reimagines and maps Surrealism by highlighting related movements and histories that have usually been considered separate or ignored altogether. At the same time, it celebrates the movement's overlooked artists and suggests other points of reference.

"Jazz is my religion, and Surrealism is my point of view,"[1] wrote Ted Joans, summing up in a few words the eclectic, transformative quality of Surrealism. Often mistakenly dismissed as irrational, Surrealism was in fact a profound vehicle for the exploration and realization of aspirations for freedom, rebellion and a reshaping of reality. The movement emerged in the period after the First World War and sought to combat Western rationalism by expressing the depths of the human spirit through automatism, writing, poetry and psychoanalysis. André Breton defined it as "psychic automatism"[2] in his 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, describing a way of thinking that was not guided by reason and morality. Despite its international appeal, Surrealism was often seen as a male, European movement. Unreal connections: Other Geographies of Surrealism counters this narrowed narrative by looking at often overlooked representatives of Surrealist thought and practice from different countries, including Suzanne Césaire, Joyce Mansour and Ted Joans. At the same time, new connections will be made to the works of contemporary artists such as Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Moses März, Emilie Moorhouse, Savanna "Sweetwater" Morgan, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Ben Okri, Lisa Spalt, Yoko Tawada and others, without trying to pigeonhole them as surrealists.

The program deals with the work of Suzanne Césaire, for example. The writer from Martinique transformed surrealism during the Vichy regime into a political tool for Caribbean freedom movements. In her writings in the literary journal Tropiques, she emphasized the revolutionary potential of surrealism and described it as a "powerful weapon of war"[3] against colonial oppression. As part of the festival, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich's film The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire (2024) will be shown and discussed, which deals with Césaire's life, her legacy and her poetic vision. Her literary voice and influence will be reinterpreted from a cinematic perspective. In addition, the work of writers such as surrealist poet Joyce Mansour is contextualized for today through readings, conversations and new translations. And although critics such as Sarane Alexandrian claim that surrealism came to an end with Breton's death in 1966, it has nevertheless survived - often in freer forms than Breton himself represented. In the GDR, for example, surrealism formed a counterweight to socialist realism and was praised as a liberating force by Karlheinz Barck and Lothar Lang, among others.[4] A site-specific sound installation explores the various after-effects of surrealism by interweaving archive recordings, poetic fragments and newly commissioned audio poems inspired by authors from different contexts with an affinity for surrealist aesthetics. These include readings from the works of Donte Collins, Kamala Surayya Das, Elke Erb, Joyce Mansour, Meret Oppenheim, Bert Papenfuß-Gorek, Nicanor Parra, Shang Qin and others. In this way, they demonstrate a transnational, multilingual approach to surrealist poetics.

In the context of Unreal Connections: Other Geographies of Surrealism, the cartographic installation by researcher, author and artist Moses März builds a bridge between historical and contemporary perspectives. Through a dynamic interplay of archival material, cartographic experiments and newly commissioned works, März presents surrealist mapping techniques as a living, evolving practice.

In continuation of the centenary of Surrealism celebrated in 2024, Unreal Connections: Other Geographies of Surrealism revives the spirit of a movement that is historically unique in its disruption of artistic, cultural and scientific boundaries. The program illuminates how Surrealism has become a global, transformative force far beyond its original roots, highlighting voices and practices that have often been eclipsed by prevailing narratives. From aspirations for freedom and struggles for identity to the subversion of dominant ideologies, the festival reveals Surrealism's extraordinary ability to transcend cultural, temporal and ideological boundaries.

[1] Quoted in: "July 4th - (Ted Joans)," The Allen Ginsberg Project (July 4, 2020), https://allenginsberg.org/2020/07/s-j4/

[2] André Breton, The Manifestos of Surrealism, Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1968, p. 26.

[3] Suzanne Césaire, The Great Camouflage: Writings of Dissent (1941-1945), ed. by Daniel Maximin, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2012, p. 37.

[4] Gerrit-Jan Berendse, Surrealism in the GDR: Kampfansage an den sozialistischen Realismus in der ostdeutschen Literatur 1945-1990, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2022, p. 12.

With contributions by:

Shane AndersonMarwaYounes AlmokbelChristianFilipsPabloGīwShehanKarunatilakaBirgitKirbergAnnaLuhnMosesMärzEmilieMoorhouseSavanna'Sweetwater' MorganFistonMwanza MujilaBenOkriMiriamRainerKelvinSholarLisaSpaltYokoTawadaUlrikeVedder

Unreal Connections is a project by HKW in collaboration with EXC 2020 Temporal Communities.