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RED DOOR <strong>29</strong><br />
THE UNINHABITED ISSUE<br />
WINTER 2021-22<br />
REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM<br />
01
RED<br />
JUSTIN<br />
PENOV<br />
36-41<br />
02<br />
PER<br />
ADOLFSEN<br />
8-13
ALAN<br />
RANKLE<br />
26-31<br />
MARTIN<br />
ANDERSEN<br />
22-23<br />
DOOR<br />
03
TABLE OF CONTENTS:<br />
RED DOOR MAGAZINE <strong>29</strong><br />
THE UNINHABITED ISSUE<br />
Winter 2021 - 22<br />
FEATURED ARIST<br />
PER ADOLFSEN ----------------------------- 8 - 13<br />
RED TRANSMISSIONS PODCAST presents:<br />
SOCIAL POETICS<br />
A conversation with Mark Nowak--- 16 - 17<br />
EYES OF THE BEHOLDER<br />
by Martin Andersen ---------------------- 22 - 23<br />
With poetry by:<br />
Xu Linzhi ---------------------------------------- 17<br />
Tanya Cosio -----------------------------------20<br />
Ilaria Boffa --------------------------------------21<br />
Iraj Shariq ---------------------------------------24<br />
Bruce Mc Rae ---------------------------------25<br />
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:<br />
ALAN RANKLE ----------------------------- 26 - 31<br />
JUSTIN PENOV -----------------------------36 - 41<br />
KULTIVERA PRESENTS:<br />
Poetic connections in time of isolation<br />
by Frank Bergsen ------------------------ 32<br />
Maps to fight anxiety<br />
by Mario Z.Puglisi ----------------------- 34 - 35<br />
RED DOOR MAGAZINE<br />
is released in Denmark under<br />
RED DOOR PRESS<br />
ISBN 978-87-94003-05-6<br />
All rights reserved<br />
04
SUBMIT CONTENT to<br />
RED DOOR MAGAZINE:<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Magazine releases digital & printed issues<br />
quarterly with an emphasis on visual art and poetry.<br />
It includes multimedia art, essays on adventures<br />
and activism, as well as relevant media articles and<br />
documentation of the activities by our network, including<br />
you. The magazine always features a poetry selection,<br />
prose, and occasional interviews by established and<br />
emerging artists and upcoming events. We’re here to<br />
give you a handful of essential pieces you can digest in<br />
one sitting.<br />
We’re currently seeking visual art, music, film reviews,<br />
travel and media articles, poetry, fiction, and creative<br />
nonfiction. Simultaneous submissions are always ok,<br />
and if you have a piece accepted elsewhere, please let<br />
us know by adding a note to your submission; we’re not<br />
aiming for exclusivity - but relevant, quality content.<br />
Please send your submission to reddoorny@gmail.com<br />
________________________________________<br />
File specifications: Your article may be a maximum of<br />
two pages, and we accept a maximum of 4 poems per<br />
submission. All languages are welcome but please<br />
include English translation.Also include a small biography<br />
of up to 10 lines about you. All this must be included as<br />
.doc files . All images must be attached as .jpeg images in<br />
a resolution of 1080 x 1080 px or its equivalent in format<br />
so it can be used for print and hi-res for web.<br />
LEARN MORE AT:<br />
WWW.REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM<br />
05
EDITORIAL<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
06<br />
Dear all,<br />
Please insert here the appropriate new year<br />
greetings and best wishes, an optimistic yet<br />
realistic phrase on how to set projects and<br />
resolutions by aiming high while continuing<br />
to be in the middle of a global pandemic. I am<br />
a poet, yes, but I think this message needs to<br />
adjust individually based on the region and<br />
situation these words find you, so please<br />
imagine I have said just what you wanted to<br />
hear in order to feel inspired and comforted.<br />
Now, getting straight to the point: The<br />
themes of the magazine are often chosen<br />
by the collaborators and correspondents of<br />
the magazine. The theme of UNINHABITED<br />
was chosen by Tremella radio host Solveig<br />
Willum, who is an outdoors enthusiast and<br />
lecturer on the subject, and with whom <strong>Red</strong><br />
<strong>Door</strong> is collaborating this summer to host<br />
the very first Uninhabited International Film<br />
Festival, a series of documentaries, short films,<br />
poetry films and lectures on precisely that:<br />
The uninhabited, undisturbed, untainted<br />
places of our planet...and humanity’s<br />
relationship with nature. This is why it was<br />
the perfect opportunity to focus our eyes on<br />
the landscapes, on the abandoned lands,<br />
on the empty spaces, through the art of<br />
three very different artists, two who focus on<br />
landscapes and one whose art is an entire<br />
world of scenes of the aftermath, homes left<br />
behind in some corner of our own being.<br />
Alan Rankle’s landscapes lean towards<br />
abstraction but are also enchanting scenes<br />
of their own, and I look very much forward to<br />
hosting his exhibition at <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> this spring.<br />
Of Per Adolfsen, you will read more in the<br />
pages of his featured article, and you can<br />
hear his thoughts directly on the podcast.<br />
Before I go on there is something that I need<br />
to mention regarding the choice of artists in<br />
these pages, because I am often speaking of<br />
inclusion. I want to note that I did do research,<br />
and contact artists of other genders, but<br />
sadly did not hear back from any of them. I do<br />
not say this as an excuse, but to encourage<br />
the readers of this magazine to help with the<br />
curation and diversity of the work in these<br />
pages, so that all colors and genders are<br />
represented... and to keep me in check too.<br />
Speaking of goals for 2022, there’s<br />
something I am attempting to push forward<br />
with a group of collaborators of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>.<br />
We have in the past spoken of <strong>Red</strong> Press, as<br />
an independent publishing project, mainly of<br />
poetry in translation, which I began with the<br />
poet Lalo Barrubia. There is a series of books<br />
in various languages which we have busily<br />
translated to English, and which I hope to<br />
begin releasing later this year.<br />
Then there’s also Tremella Radio, an<br />
independent radio station of literary and<br />
cultural conversations, wellness, mindfulness<br />
and excellent music... and the physical<br />
gallery on Møllegade, always welcoming<br />
new exhibitions, but which has been forced<br />
to be closed more often than open the past<br />
two years due to the pandemic. If you are<br />
reading this you probably know that I run all<br />
these projects independently, with no private<br />
nor public support, apart from my patreon<br />
subscribers. Here is my official invitation to<br />
you, to join me this year that begins now, and<br />
begin receiving your quarterly subscription<br />
of the magazine:<br />
www.patreon.com/madamneverstop<br />
or simply give a pledge of your support and<br />
help me continue all these projects, which<br />
aim to document, entertain and inform, from<br />
both a local and international standpoint,<br />
with many voices and initiatives.<br />
This paragraph must be the one where I<br />
share my gratitude, my joy and my delight<br />
to be working with the cultural organizers,<br />
collaborators, correspondents and artists<br />
who make of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> such a beautiful<br />
publication. Special thanks to Frank, Colm<br />
and Magnus in Kultivera, Dominic, Mel and<br />
Aleisa in Litteraturcentrum KVU, Solveig<br />
Willum, Martin Andersen, Tanya Cosio, Mario<br />
Z. Publisi, Brandon Davis, and of course to<br />
my husband Dr. Hansen who is so giving<br />
and willing to help out at every exhibition,<br />
give an ear to every podcast, and provide<br />
the emotional support during the long winter<br />
months and all year round.<br />
To each and everyone of you who since<br />
2009 has accompanied <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Magazine<br />
through its transformations and adventures,<br />
may poetry keep you warm, inspired, alive.<br />
-Madam Neverstop.
07
FEATURED ARTIST<br />
In the island of Fyn, in English known as Funen,<br />
45 kilometres north of Svendborg, there’s a<br />
city called Odense, home of the author of fairy<br />
tales Hans Christian Andersen, but it is also the<br />
place where the last Viking king, Canute IV of<br />
Denmark, was murdered by unruly peasants.<br />
The Odense river flows through the city from<br />
the south, and to the north there is the Odense<br />
Fjord, accessed through narrow passages and<br />
canals. Then there are beaches and hills, so<br />
many trees, the rugged peninsula of Skoven,<br />
and connected by highways, islands. One<br />
of them, an important breeding ground to<br />
migratory birds.<br />
It is in this complex environment of temperate<br />
oceanic climate and long winters, where<br />
Danish artist Per Adolfsen finds the subjects of<br />
inspiration for his art. It is true that the subject of<br />
choice does not have a name nor takes breaks<br />
from posing, but it is just as full of life and<br />
magic, breathing and dancing, as any other<br />
muse whose beauty has been immortalized by<br />
artists in the past.<br />
What attracts to Per Adolfsen’s art is the<br />
familiarity of the scenes depicted, the simple,<br />
firm lines and confident color combinations,<br />
but most certainly the magic that is captured<br />
in each of his pieces, as if creating havens on<br />
purpose for us to look at and hide away in...<br />
away from a busy, boring world of greys and<br />
loneliness, into fairy tales of tall branches,<br />
fjords, and the nostalgic reflections of a heart.<br />
08
PER<br />
ADOLFSEN<br />
09
On a recent interview with <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions<br />
Podcast, Per Adolfsen shared that his interest<br />
for landscapes, and for art itself, started when<br />
he was just a child, but was confirmed when<br />
on a trip to Norway to celebrate his sister’s<br />
wedding, he was taken to see the Edward<br />
Munch museum, confirming in this place that<br />
what he wanted to do was create “something<br />
that could touch others... leave behind<br />
something that can move a child’s heart as<br />
much as an adult’s, create feelings”.<br />
When speaking of the artistic process he<br />
exclaims that art is the same as poetry. It is<br />
about the system, the rhythm, the music.<br />
“There’s a difference, I notice, if you’re driving<br />
here in Denmark, we have all these fields and<br />
sometimes they have green corn, and when it’s<br />
short you can see the dark soil underneath, so<br />
in summertime, for example, when it has rained<br />
roughly, the soil is so dark brown and thick,<br />
and the green corn shines like if it was neon,<br />
and the air is special, the light is something<br />
special. If you can feel this the right way, you<br />
are where you are supposed to be. But I think,<br />
the way we live, we are adults, we have seen<br />
this 100 times, we forget to notice. We forget<br />
see. You have to look for stars. You have to<br />
dream. People get so mature it’s boring.”<br />
Per speaks highly of the ability to have<br />
curiosity, to find new connections, to find the<br />
new angle in everything by allowing the inner<br />
child to remain curious and alive. It is this<br />
balance between falling constantly in love with<br />
nature and documenting it, to trying out new<br />
technologies and using Instagram as a daily<br />
challenge, what has build him a dedicated fan<br />
base.<br />
From exhibiting in Armory week in New York, to<br />
Miami, Paris,Japan, Korea, the UK, something<br />
is always happening in Per Adolfsen’s busy<br />
art schedule. “I am just a kid, somehow. I was<br />
thinking, let’s make a world tour! I don’t want<br />
the intellectual reflections in the big galleries.<br />
Tell them: Per likes to go into nature, and<br />
paint. I just want to show this to people. I am<br />
so grateful to my audience for supporting my<br />
work. When I was a kid I didn’t know you could<br />
do exhibitions and experience the world, I just<br />
thought it was wonderful to paint, but I really<br />
enjoy connecting with those who enjoy my<br />
work”.<br />
010
“In summertime, for example,<br />
when it has rained roughly, the<br />
soil is so dark brown and thick,<br />
and the green corn shines like<br />
if it was neon, and the air is<br />
special, the light is something<br />
special. If you can feel this<br />
the right way, you are where<br />
you are supposed to be...<br />
But we have seen this a<br />
hundred times. We forget to<br />
notice. We forget to see. You<br />
have to look at the stars. You<br />
have to dream!”.<br />
-Per Adolfsen.<br />
With more than ninety thousand followers on<br />
social media and collectors all over the world,<br />
Per has now found a stable international<br />
appreciation of his work, which serves as<br />
an additional encouragement to continue<br />
creating, and trying to find the purpose of life<br />
and creativity. “When I started this project I<br />
was really depressed, more than I was aware<br />
of. It’s a long story, but when I do this I forget<br />
myself. I focus on my lines, on the rhythm, on<br />
the patterns of the world around me.”<br />
The art piles up beautifully, a collection of<br />
black and white pencil illustrations and the<br />
beautiful, colorful landscapes you find in these<br />
pages. There’s movement, harsh and vibrant,<br />
which is not just from the wind, but from a<br />
rage, a nostalgia, a melancoly that is very<br />
ingrained in his Scandinavian nature, prone<br />
to darkness and long winters. “People say we<br />
are the happiest in the world, us Danes, but in<br />
reality we have the highest rate of suicide in<br />
the world, and at the same time, we are such<br />
spoiled people.”<br />
Listen to the entire interview with Per Adolfsen<br />
by looking up <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions Podcast on<br />
Spotify, iTunes or most podcast providers, or<br />
visit www.reddoormagazine.com/podcast<br />
Follow Per Adolfsen on instagram:<br />
@peradolfsen_artist<br />
Art provided by Per Adolfsen<br />
Article by Elizabeth Torres<br />
for <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Magazine, 2022.<br />
011
012
013
A most exciting new project launched this summer in Denmark / Sweden, led by <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> but<br />
founded as a democratically run and managed community radio station, with a focus on literature,<br />
sustainability, sound art, mental health and wellness, as well as performance arts and independent<br />
music.<br />
Tremella is the name of a family of fungi that is often ear-shaped, but also sounds a lot like Tremello,<br />
a modulation effect that rhythmically changes the volume of your signal... It all just seemed very<br />
fitting for the name of a radio station with the aforementioned interests.<br />
There’s a little bit of everything, from the classic Orson Welles plays for radio to a show by the<br />
International Centre of Women Playrights, several shows by poets, including Foreignness and<br />
Friendship by poet Morten Ranum, Monday Madness by Claus Andersen, the Poetic Phonotheque<br />
and <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions, as well as various sound art shows, talk shows about mental health and<br />
wellness, and playlists by venues and DJs in our network. Tune in via: www.tremellaradio.eu<br />
Or even better, join us with your own show! Write to tremellaradio@gmail.com for more info.<br />
014
015
RED TRANSMISSIONS PODCAST<br />
016<br />
Poetry is the craft of necessity,<br />
rather than a refined practice done in<br />
illuminated blank spaces. It is the art of<br />
documenting through words that which<br />
is not tangible, not easily visible, and<br />
which in many occassions occurs away<br />
from the public eye. Poetry is a tool for<br />
the people, in case of silence, in case<br />
of injustice, in case of love, in case of<br />
routine setting in, in case of pandemic.<br />
I am reminded of its importance as a<br />
documentation and communication<br />
instrument when I speak to Mark Nowak<br />
about the Worker Writers School, and the<br />
tellings of his experiences working with<br />
trade unions and workers, sometimes<br />
also with prisoners, many times with<br />
people who had never before written a<br />
book but whose sensibility was always<br />
there, accompanying them through<br />
the visions and daily tasks of their<br />
jobs. Nowak mentions another book<br />
launched this year as a result of these<br />
workshops and poetic meetings, now<br />
turned virtual due to the on-going covid<br />
lockdowns. It is called Coronavirus<br />
Haiku Book.<br />
You can listen to the full conversation<br />
by looking up <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions<br />
Podcast on Spotify, iTunes and most<br />
podcast providers or by visiting<br />
reddoormagazine.com/podcast<br />
Poetry is a thing of survival. Poetry is<br />
essential. Don’t you forget that.<br />
Special thanks to Mark Nowak for this<br />
insightful interview.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR<br />
Mark Nowak is the author of Coal Mountain<br />
Elementary, Shut Up Shut Down, and Revenants.<br />
He is the recipient of the Freedom Plow Award<br />
for Poetry & Activism and fellowships from the<br />
Lannan and Guggenheim foundations. Nowak<br />
has led poetry workshops for workers and trade<br />
unions in the US, South Africa, the UK, Panama,<br />
the Netherlands, and elsewhere. He is currently a<br />
professor of English at Manhattanville College and<br />
the founding director of the Worker Writers School.<br />
A screw fell to the ground<br />
in this dark night of overtime<br />
plunging vertically, lightly clicking<br />
it won’t attract anyone’s attention<br />
just like last time<br />
on a night like this<br />
when someone plunged to the ground.<br />
-Xu Lizhi<br />
Chinese migrant worker and poet,<br />
who worked at the Foxconn Factory in Shenzhen until<br />
his death from a 17th floor across the factory, at 24 years<br />
old. (pg.240 of Social Poetics). Translation by Nao.<br />
ABOUT THE BOOK<br />
Social Poetics documents the imaginative<br />
militancy and emergent solidarities of a new,<br />
insurgent working class poetry community rising<br />
up across the globe. Part autobiography, part<br />
literary criticism, part Marxist theory, Social Poetics<br />
presents a people’s history of the poetry workshop<br />
from the founding director of the Worker Writers<br />
School. Nowak illustrates not just what poetry<br />
means, but what it does to and for people outside<br />
traditional literary spaces, from taxi drivers to street<br />
vendors, and other workers of the world.<br />
017
018<br />
poeticphonotheque.com
OPEN CALL:<br />
The Poetic Phonotheque is a<br />
multimedia collection of poetry in<br />
all languages, in all subjects, in both<br />
audio and video.<br />
The purpose of this phonotheque is<br />
to serve as a contemporary archive<br />
of our voices, emotions, struggles,<br />
stories and styles, wherever we are, to<br />
bring us together in spite of the social<br />
distancing of our current times.<br />
To participate and add your voice to<br />
the collection, visit:<br />
www.poeticphonotheque.com<br />
and submit your audi by directly<br />
recording it on the website.<br />
If your poetry is more experimental<br />
and involves music, effects, or other<br />
voices, please email us an mp3 file to<br />
poetiskefonotek@gmail.com<br />
If your poetry is in video format, please<br />
send the files also, as we do not embed<br />
from other websites.<br />
The physical collection is hosted<br />
at Kulturhuset Islands Brygge in<br />
Copenhagen, Denmark, and at<br />
Kultivera in Tranås, Sweden. If you are<br />
a cultural organizer and would like to<br />
host the collection in your city, please<br />
send us an email to the same address.<br />
Voices from the world.<br />
Poetry for all.<br />
019
POETRY<br />
Verb without person<br />
I<br />
Pachamama swallowed your companions<br />
tears your belly apart<br />
with music in Portuguese.<br />
II<br />
From I don’t know what planet or stadium, they<br />
tell you:<br />
learn, you must learn again the word Enjoy.<br />
Tanya Cosío<br />
Jalisco, Mexico<br />
020
Naked poem<br />
The city and this solitude<br />
found architecture of things<br />
no shades in the north light.<br />
Inhabitants disappear hence<br />
built structures reside naked.<br />
Abstract counterparts, we owe<br />
the aesthetic of utility-bearing composites.<br />
Some places open causal profiles<br />
they extend semantics.<br />
Designing shelters though intrinsically social<br />
yields to moral relevance.<br />
Did we choose Beauty?<br />
There is a joint liability, viable obligations.<br />
Our gaze can be so disengaged and violent<br />
in such need of repurposing.<br />
Our gazes, spectators of their own standpoint.<br />
We accommodate our limbs<br />
on the madieri*, and cover the masonry with<br />
waterproof clay and lime plaster<br />
stapling bones.<br />
Everything moves, every thing aches.<br />
* timber boards on which Venice’s buildings are<br />
accommodated<br />
Spoglie<br />
La città e questa solitudine<br />
architettura trovata delle cose<br />
niente ombre nella luce del nord.<br />
Gli abitanti scompaiono e allora<br />
le strutture fabbricate risiedono spoglie.<br />
Controparti astratte, possediamo<br />
l’estetica di materiali orientati all’utilità.<br />
Alcuni luoghi aprono profili causali<br />
estendono la semantica.<br />
La progettazione di ripari, intrinsecamente<br />
sociale si piega alla rilevanza morale.<br />
Abbiamo scelto la Bellezza?<br />
Esiste una responsabilità congiunta, obbligazioni<br />
fattibili.<br />
Il nostro sguardo può essere così distratto e violento<br />
così bisognoso di riqualificazione.<br />
I nostri sguardi, spettatori della propria<br />
posizione.<br />
Appoggiamo le membra<br />
sui madieri e copriamo la muratura<br />
con argilla resistente all’acqua e intonaco di<br />
calce<br />
graffettando le ossa.<br />
Ogni cosa si muove, ogni cosa fa male.<br />
Ilaria Boffa<br />
Italy<br />
021
IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER<br />
022
023
POETRY<br />
The lost soul<br />
The dejected soul is trapped in the cage of my skeleton,<br />
I am unaware of the fact, how to set it free?<br />
Sometimes it seems our very own existence cost us a lot.<br />
The great burden on my shoulder,<br />
everyday, shatters me into miniscule fragments,<br />
I haven’t smiled so long the way I used to,<br />
My jovial soul is lost somewhere,<br />
I want to run as far as I can,<br />
beyond the galaxies,<br />
deep beneath the core of earth,<br />
I wish I could become air and get dissolved in it,<br />
or maybe a water droplet that just flows,<br />
I am inclined to become night sky, calm and composed,<br />
my heart is enclosed in a hard coat,<br />
the first rays of the sun cannot find their way in,<br />
standing at the verge of desolation,<br />
the optimist in me wants to abandon hope,<br />
the great legend in me can no longer stand<br />
the torments of thorns,<br />
because they bringing blood every second<br />
When I was penning down all the woe from the ink of my<br />
very own blood,<br />
someone whispered in my ear from the sky above,<br />
with every hardship there is ease,<br />
undoubtedly with every hardship there is ease,<br />
your Lord has not forsaken you<br />
nor has he become hateful of you,<br />
your Lord will give you so much that you will be pleased,<br />
because I am Al-Reman, the most compassionate.<br />
My eyes filled with tears,<br />
Those words were enough for my consolation,<br />
Not a single query in my heart was left to ask,<br />
I know, I know a day will come,<br />
When I’ll stand in sunshine,<br />
brave as a warrior,<br />
staunch as a mountain<br />
On that day the hard coat of my heart will break into flinders,<br />
the sunlight will fall upon it,<br />
and a new flower of hope, bliss and triumph<br />
will bloom from it,<br />
From where I fall, I’ll rise beyond it,<br />
On that day I’ll unchain the dejected soul and set it free,<br />
I will find my jovial soul,<br />
the lost Soul.<br />
Iraj Shariq,<br />
Karachi, Pakistan.<br />
024
All Change<br />
The coming and going of things,<br />
time altering itself, adjusting temperatures,<br />
refining seasonal light, making all the difference.<br />
A darker morning than the month before,<br />
Venus struggling in the lower atmosphere,<br />
the stars reassessing their previous stance,<br />
Planet Home circumnavigating the galactic rim,<br />
pulling us by the hand as if an untoward child.<br />
Sitting at the littoral edge of the world,<br />
summer packing it in,<br />
autumn shaking in the wings,<br />
alterations accruing at the cellular level,<br />
otherness replacing otherness on the big wheel<br />
and little I can do about it,<br />
ruination unenviable but always in fashion.<br />
Losing my grip to a false sense<br />
of accomplishment.<br />
An exasperating cavalcade of light<br />
and circumstance,<br />
youth fossilized, the middle ages genuflecting<br />
before a darker age approaching.<br />
When the last is first and nothing lasts.<br />
Where we make mansions of the ephemeral<br />
and a door closes for evermore,<br />
gravity’s top wobbling as you reach for the wine.<br />
The Earth running down. The light tiring.<br />
Bruce McRae<br />
Canada<br />
025
ALAN<br />
RANKLE<br />
026
Coming soon to <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Gallery:<br />
A solo exhibition by UK artist Alan Rankle<br />
Alan Rankle looks to the past in order to paint the future –<br />
and has done for two decades.<br />
As he has explained: ‘I wanted to relate ideas about<br />
historical, idealised, pastoral landscape in art to the grim<br />
reality of the environmental crisis that we are in… Considering<br />
the historical origins of the genre in relation to my own<br />
paintings, I wanted to convey the irony implicit in how the<br />
19th century Romantic movement, with its emphasis on the<br />
idyllic natural world of an imaginary past, was sponsored<br />
by people who, having made gigantic fortunes out of the<br />
Industrial Revolution by building their empires on the slave<br />
trade and the criminal use of the Enclosures Acts forcing<br />
the poor from their traditional peasant homes to work<br />
in their factories and mills, also laid the foundations of<br />
environmental pollution on a catastrophic scale’.<br />
So if his landscapes look corroded and polluted, that is to<br />
the rhetorical point – but they are beautiful, too - drawing us<br />
in to his argument, but also suggesting a recognition of the<br />
temptations that led us to where we are.<br />
by Paul Caray-Kent.<br />
Alan Rankle (b. 1952) UK<br />
@alanrankleprojects<br />
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030
031
POETIC CONNECTIONS<br />
IN TIMES OF ISOLATION<br />
032<br />
Elizabeth Torres, also known as Madam<br />
Neverstop, is an artist with many irons<br />
in the fire. Originally from Colombia but<br />
now living and working in Copenhagen,<br />
Elizabeth is a poet, multimedia artist<br />
and translator, as well as director of <strong>Red</strong><br />
<strong>Door</strong> Gallery and <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Magazine,<br />
and initiator of the radio station Tremella<br />
Radio. For some time now, another project<br />
can be added to the long list: the Poetic<br />
Phonotheque (Det Poetiske Fonotek).<br />
The project came into being during<br />
the height of the Covid-19 epidemic,<br />
which, as we all know, was very stressful<br />
and imposed a lot of restrictions. With<br />
the pandemic came enforced isolation,<br />
boredom, idleness and the loss of<br />
opportunities for poets to perform and<br />
thus reach out to audiences.<br />
In an attempt to overcome these<br />
obstacles, Elizabeth came up with the idea<br />
of the Poetic Phonotheque. If we couldn’t<br />
meet physically, we had to communicate<br />
in a different way. This was done by<br />
harnessing the power of digital media,<br />
creating a multimedia platform where<br />
poets and visual artists could submit their<br />
work.<br />
The Poetic Phonotheque project was<br />
launched on 21 March 2020, which<br />
happens to be World Poetry Day. The<br />
project has evolved into a virtual library<br />
of international poetry. An ever-growing<br />
collection that now includes over 300<br />
audiovisual poems, performed by poets<br />
from all over the world and which can be<br />
seen and heard at:<br />
www.poeticphonotheque.com<br />
Contributing to the growth of the<br />
collection is very easy. For keen poets, all<br />
you have to do is turn on your computer<br />
and go to the aforementioned website,<br />
press ‘record’, read your poetry, give your<br />
name, click ‘send’ and voilà! you are part<br />
of the Poetic Phonotheque.<br />
Since 2021, it has been collaborating with<br />
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge, which also<br />
houses the collection, as does Kultivera<br />
in Tranås, but as the archive is digital,<br />
other cities can also use its material and<br />
host events such as exhibitions. The idea<br />
is that in the future it will be possible to<br />
hold local events showcasing poetry,<br />
screenings and books etc. The concept<br />
goes very well with poetry film festivals,<br />
as you could rotate the events between<br />
different festivals.<br />
In November 2021, Poetic Phonotheque,<br />
in cooperation with Kulturhuset Islands<br />
Brygge, organised the first international<br />
poetry film festival under the name<br />
“Nature & Culture”. It received 300<br />
entries from around the world, of which<br />
128 were selected and streamed on the<br />
website. In addition, two film screenings<br />
were organised at Kulturhuset Islands<br />
Brygge, followed by discussions and an<br />
art exhibition. The festival was promoted<br />
in Copenhagen’s largest newspaper and<br />
several directors, composers and poets<br />
attended the event.<br />
Article by: Frank Bergsten<br />
for Kultivera<br />
Photography by: Zarko Ivetic<br />
(Ilaria Boffa, Pablo Saborio and Extinction<br />
Rebellion Danmark during the festival)<br />
for Kulturhuset Islands Brygge<br />
Illustrations by Rikke Winkler Nilsson
033
MARIO Z. PUGLISI<br />
MAPS TO FIGHT ANXIETY<br />
034<br />
Rafael Villegas has embarked on a<br />
journey, an adventure, an expedition to<br />
marvelous coasts, a literary challenge<br />
that, in the end, has succeed perfectly,<br />
with excellent weather and just in<br />
time. From the inherited tradition of<br />
countless prominent authors of dealing<br />
with the circularity of time, and facing<br />
what’s arcane and unknown with the<br />
only help of their imagination and<br />
some written words that hide a tiny<br />
box of unreal gadgets, Villegas, thanks<br />
to the creation of the thirteen stories<br />
included in his book Apócrifa, has done<br />
what some considered unthinkable:<br />
he gave new life to a subject that has<br />
been overexposed since the birth of<br />
literature. He has, also, achieved this<br />
with a mastership that seems desired<br />
by a generation of writers who, it seems,<br />
have forgotten the certainty of the<br />
uncertain for the sake of a technological<br />
postmodernism, at times overwhelming.<br />
Regarding the difficulty that the this<br />
book’s subject merits, namely: the<br />
strange and the unknown; the mysteries<br />
that bind us (without we realizing it<br />
many a time) to each event, no matter<br />
how small or large, that has occurred<br />
throughout history; what’s resulted is<br />
justly compared to a discovery of an<br />
exotic and unexplored land, a new<br />
continent made of letters.<br />
In Apócrifa a handful of aspects that<br />
are not mutually exclusive coexist and<br />
serve each other, forming a new cluster<br />
with the sole purpose of defying the<br />
uncertain. Thus, we find the cosmic in it,<br />
the mystical, the historical, the magical,<br />
the mythological, the wonderful, the<br />
extinct, the imaginary and the scientific<br />
constantly working together to form<br />
some small concentric circles that, once<br />
linked sequentially, produce larger<br />
circles with their diameters rotating<br />
between them till the point of shaping a<br />
distinguishable circularity on the entire<br />
book. A fractal model present in each<br />
story, paragraph and written sentence.<br />
To find the sum of all these elements<br />
so beautifully placed and welded as a<br />
filigree that garnishes and, also, leads<br />
to reflection, is not an everyday event.<br />
About the, presumably, balanced<br />
mixture of imagination and historical<br />
rigor, Mexican writer Alberto Chimal<br />
says that “it contrasts what is true with<br />
what is possible, our hopes and fears<br />
with the direct impression of life.”<br />
Thus, the uncertain isn’t only common<br />
of the realm of death and of whatever<br />
lies beyond our existence, nor is<br />
exclusively a frequent part of darkness<br />
and decadence; the uncertain also<br />
inhabits within all living and breathing<br />
things, within the light and the wake of<br />
each wandering comet. Actually, the<br />
unknown rests a few inches beyond<br />
the limits of what we take for granted.<br />
And no matter how much we expand<br />
our knowledge, there will always be<br />
something unknown to us, something<br />
mystery that make us feel a Paleolithic<br />
fear, one that, as Chimal points out, it<br />
contrasts with all the impressions, direct<br />
or indirect, of life itself.<br />
In the absence of certainty of what the<br />
other really is, we invoke the infinite<br />
possibilities that literature has always<br />
suggested in our minds. The truth that<br />
it doesn’t really matter what we are,<br />
but all of the potentialities that we can<br />
be. Because literature ends that primal<br />
fear by marveling us and making us feel<br />
wonder. It multiplies what we imagine<br />
and makes us expect the unexpected<br />
and long for the uncertain.<br />
Apócrifa explores this myriad of<br />
possibilities. It plays with the uncertain<br />
as a child plays with a cup and ball<br />
toy that has worn out from fulfilling its<br />
mission once, and once again. And<br />
when we think that the trip has come<br />
to an end, Rafael Villegas surprises us<br />
once more, over and over and over. His<br />
success lays in the fact that he doesn’t<br />
reveals what the unknown really is, but<br />
rather forces us to embrace it and make
peace with it, and then reminds us<br />
that it’s also a part of our very nature.<br />
His, is mandala literature. It’s constant<br />
evolution with respect to a center and<br />
then implosion in the limits of what’s<br />
finite that induces everything to return<br />
and rebirth in the same constant<br />
evolution with respect to a center;<br />
recurrently, endlessly.<br />
Villegas uses the language meticulously<br />
to relate each story and, at the same<br />
time, he grants the same language its<br />
primary function of a symbol system in<br />
which each of these symbols possesses<br />
countless meanings.<br />
The sign representing each concept<br />
attributed to it and, simultaneously,<br />
opening to new interpretations that will<br />
depend only on who receives it. So, this<br />
being the case, for what matters that the<br />
definitions are not always what they are<br />
supposed to? And what’s the matter if,<br />
as Professor Q indicates in the book,<br />
being sick isn’t the same as not feeling<br />
well?<br />
The journey through Apócrifa is very<br />
vast and diverse, it almost seems to<br />
contain everything. The pilgrimage<br />
becomes an obligatory visit to a window<br />
display that shows, with the same rigor,<br />
hallucinations of black bears devouring<br />
men, Yakutia’s phenomena, islands<br />
where the world ends or earth cracks<br />
where it resuscitates, past lives, the last<br />
pages from a notebook found at a labor<br />
camp, long sentences served just for<br />
having told past stories in disobedience<br />
of the established metric laws,<br />
transmutations from solid to sublime<br />
states, imaginary friends, distant icy<br />
lands, false nuclear tests, filaments<br />
from the tree of all stories, etc., etc., etc.<br />
Rafael Villegas has made us part of his<br />
challenge. With this collection of stories<br />
he takes us into a Borges-like dream in<br />
where we dream a story about someone<br />
who thinks a story about the past.<br />
And then he claims that “no man is<br />
the owner of his dreams, only of the<br />
memories of those dreams.” Nothing to<br />
fear.<br />
In the universe of Apócrifa, a universe<br />
governed by the extreme circularity of<br />
infinite possibilities, only the memory of<br />
a dream is enough for us: it can be the<br />
memory of something that happened, or<br />
that never has, or that is about to, or that<br />
should’ve been but wasn’t. It’s enough<br />
for us to dream and then remember that<br />
dream; the rest is pure ambition and<br />
nothing else.<br />
To go far away isn’t even necessary<br />
to move from the place where we are,<br />
because maybe, with a bit of luck, we’ll<br />
end up dreaming about a journey, an<br />
adventure, an expedition to marvelous<br />
coasts, or a literary challenge that, in<br />
the end, has succeed perfectly, with<br />
excellent weather and just in time. As it<br />
has always been written.<br />
Mario Z Puglisi<br />
Mexico, 2021<br />
Apócrifa<br />
Rafael Villegas<br />
Paraíso Perdido Ed.,<br />
1st Edition (March, 2018)<br />
Mexico ISBN: 978-607-8512-41-6<br />
035
036<br />
ART FEATURE
JUSTIN PENOV<br />
037
038<br />
“A home is a familiar setting. It is a<br />
stage, a palimpsest, imbued with<br />
memories, which in turn inform our<br />
associations to it. My work aims to<br />
distort that vocabulary, to bring it<br />
to ruin, to push the narrative of the<br />
architectural uncanny in the creation<br />
of an uneasy space.”<br />
-Justin Penov.
039
040
People tend to zoom out when making art,<br />
creating imaginaries that take up great space,<br />
so as to explain the world around them. The<br />
opposite is true for the work of Justin Penov,<br />
originary from Ohio, who zooms in all the way<br />
to the guts of relationship dynamics, familiar<br />
memories and the quiet discomfort of time,<br />
exactly in that place within us that resembles<br />
the homes we no longer inhabit. These minute<br />
pieces in size are loud and stand strong as a<br />
social commentary and as time binding art.<br />
When moving one’s eyes through the details,<br />
the hours pass and we are transported to stories<br />
hidden deeply inside.<br />
Learn of the achievements his work has earned<br />
him, upcoming exhibitions and more at:<br />
www.justinpenov.com<br />
Follow on instagram: @justinpenov<br />
041
The <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong><br />
Network:<br />
042<br />
Litteraturcentrum KVU:<br />
Litteraturcentrum KVU is an international<br />
literary initiative we often promote as<br />
a league of publishers in Scandinavia.<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> is published through this<br />
collaboration.<br />
Kultivera operates international cultural<br />
programs that are physical, social and<br />
creative; that stimulates and inspires both<br />
the artists and the local community. It is<br />
the organization in charge of the Tranås<br />
Fringe Festival and their curriculum of<br />
activities can be seen on the issues of the<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Magazine.<br />
Write4Word: Is a West Wales community<br />
organization with a focus on language<br />
arts. Its director, Dominic Williams, is a<br />
frequent correspondent of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong>.<br />
La Libélula Vaga: is a spanish literary<br />
magazine published in Sweden<br />
documenting the work of poets all over the<br />
planet, as well as encouraging translations,<br />
talks and other collaborations.<br />
Keith FM: is a Berlin-based community<br />
radio. <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions Podcast airs<br />
on the 1st Thursday of each month at<br />
15, the 3rd Sunday of each month at 12,<br />
and the last Thursday of each month at<br />
3am (for the early birds or those in other<br />
timezones).<br />
Trafika Europe Research: seeks to help<br />
renew the role of literature in nudging<br />
along the European conversation<br />
in culture, This is done through a<br />
bookshop, a journal, and a radio, where<br />
<strong>Red</strong> Transmissions Podcast is also on<br />
rotation, as well as a selection of its poets<br />
/ musicians.<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Magazine is a quarterly Arts &<br />
Culture publication meant to document<br />
the work of creators everywhere, as well as<br />
facilitate new conversations on important<br />
matters for our communities in a local and<br />
international way, through the linking of<br />
themes, collaborations, interviews and<br />
hybrid events that can expand the reach<br />
of independent voices and remarkable<br />
projects. <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> counts with the help of<br />
correspondents in Australia, Mexico, the<br />
US and Denmark.<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> also functions as a gallery<br />
and independent space in order to serve<br />
as a platform for the same purposes. In<br />
expanding its reach, <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> also counts<br />
with:<br />
-A podcast called the <strong>Red</strong> Transmissions,<br />
where creatives, activists and cultural<br />
organizers share their process, projects<br />
and initiatives.<br />
-We love radio so much we also have<br />
our very own, independent cultural radio<br />
station, called Tremella Radio, and you<br />
can have your show there too.<br />
-A Poetic Phonotheque, which serves as<br />
a multimedia collection of poetry in many<br />
languages in the voice of its authors,<br />
created to break the barriers of distance<br />
and facilitate free access to poetry in<br />
households around the world.<br />
-An independent print project called <strong>Red</strong><br />
Press, which focuses on the publication<br />
of poetry (and illustration) in translation.<br />
Bilingual books, handmade, limited<br />
edition books.<br />
-The <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> Gallery located in<br />
the cultural hub of Copenhagen on<br />
Møllegade, Nørrebro, where talks,<br />
workshops, exhibitions, performances<br />
and other events are often on the calendar,<br />
as well as limited edition books and prints,<br />
original art, miniature books and other art<br />
related products, often with a focus on<br />
poetry. See them also on the online shop:<br />
www.reddoormagazine.com/shop
There are beautiful things happening<br />
due to the collaborations, partnerships,<br />
ideas and new projects that arise from the<br />
conversations started in these pages and<br />
through the other <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> initiatives,<br />
such as the podcast, which has already<br />
celebrated over 50 interviews, or the<br />
phonotheque, which counts with the<br />
voices of over 100 poets around the world...<br />
all of this, including the digital version of<br />
the magazine, are free to ensure access to<br />
information wherever you are in the planet.<br />
However, these projects are indeed time<br />
consuming and not free, especially since<br />
it is necessary to pay to remove the ads so<br />
that you are not distracted and can have<br />
a fully immersive artistic experience when<br />
enjoying this magazine and the RED DOOR<br />
website.<br />
As you might have imagined, COVID has<br />
not made it easier for this independent<br />
collection of projects to survive. The doors<br />
of the gallery have to close every time<br />
a lockdown is announced, postponing<br />
shows and limiting direct access to our<br />
audience. The rent of the gallery still<br />
needs to be paid, as all the other bills, and<br />
it is important to keep <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Door</strong> going so<br />
that there are these platforms and spaces<br />
available while we wait for better times but<br />
also once it is time to dance again.<br />
There’s costs for hosting and printing and<br />
domains and publishing... and for now,<br />
ONE certain way to show your support<br />
directly: PATREON.<br />
WIth a membership starting at 3 EU a<br />
month, yo too can ensure these projects<br />
keep existing. What’s more, now Patreon<br />
allows for one yearly payment, if you’re<br />
not into monthly fees. So, what do ya say?<br />
Wanna help keep making this happen?<br />
www.patreon.com/madamneverstop<br />
Patreon also allows for a one-time donation<br />
which will make you a patreon for a year,<br />
and you get to decide the amount.<br />
Eternal gratitude to the current patrons of<br />
this magazine: Valeria Schapira, Valentina<br />
Upegui, Juan Pablo Salas, Ulla Hansen,<br />
Michael Favala Goldman, Tamar Tkabladze,<br />
Sergio Guzman, Jaider Torres, Mikkel<br />
Vinther, Melissa Albers, Melanie Perry,<br />
Juditch Schaecther, Juana M. Ramos,<br />
Mambe&Danochilango, Dominique Storm,<br />
Devin Fairchild, David Miller, Crox Pow,<br />
Doktor Hansen, Aleisa Ribalta Guzman,<br />
Alan Pallais and you, who are reading this.<br />
Love and poetry always,<br />
Madam Neverstop<br />
043
RED DOOR MAGAZINE<br />
THE UNINHABITED ISSUE<br />
WINTER 2021 - 22<br />
044<br />
WWW.REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM