The Paths of Poetry – Myth / Miniature / Poetry

Saturday 19 December 2009 | 15:00 to 19:30

Venue: Martin-Gropius-Bau, cinema

With Shahram Entekhabi (Artist, Berlin), Mika Natif (Art historian, Princeton University), Joachim Sartorius (Artistic Director, Berliner Festspiele), Sema (Singer, Istanbul).

The trajectory is presented by Dirk Hartwig and A.S. Bruckstein Çoruh

15:00 hrs

Shahram Entekhabi shows ‘72 Virgins’

(live performance and performance video, 2009)

16:00 hrs

Mika Natif talks about the Virgin Mary in Persian and Mughal miniature painting

17:30 hrs

Joachim Sartorius reads from his ‘Atlas der Neuen Poesie’

18:30 hrs

Sema recites the Mevlid

Surely one of the oldest Turkish versions of the Mevlid was composed by Süleyman Çelebi (died ca. 1419). The Mevlid (Birth of Light) praises the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. It is not only recited on the Prophet’s birthday but also at circumcisions, engagements, weddings,and memorials.

The trajectory of performances symbolises the interplay of miniature and poetry and epitomises the nomadic structure proper to the movement of poetic forms which transcend and subvert collective borderlines with astonishing ease.

On the occasion of the exhibition “Taswir – Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity”