Transpoesie - News

On September 12th 2011, EUNIC in Brussels, organiser of the TRANSPOESIE project held a press conference to present the upcoming project that will be launched on the European Day of Languages on 26th September with a series of events, including a flash mob dance, a panel discussion and a Début Award Ceremony.

Martin Hope, Director of the British Council EU Office and outgoing President of EUNIC in Brussels started the press conference by warmly thanking all project partners: STIB, the House of Literature Passa Porta, the Polish Presidency of the European Union, Flash Mob Dance Belgium and of course all the member institutes of EUNIC in Brussels for their active involvement in the project. He reminded the audience that, starting on the European Day of Languages on 26th of September and for a period of one month, 21 poems from 21 countries will be displayed in several metro stations across Brussels, celebrating the European cultural and linguistic diversity.

“EUNIC in Brussels, with 18 member institutes from 18 European countries is as such a wonderful example of cultural diversity. With TRANSPOESIE, we aim to celebrate this diversity and give daily travellers a flavour of the various languages that make Europe so diverse.”

As one of the purposes of EUNIC in Brussels and the TRANSPOESIE project is to promote not only cultural diversity but also multilingualism and language learning, Beata Podgórska, Director of the Polish Institute in Brussels told the audience in French about Wiersze w metrze, a similar project carried out by EUNIC in Warsaw, which is currently in its fourth edition. She insisted on the fact that the project would not have been such a success without the support of the media, which really can spread the word and encourage people to read poetry and learn languages:

“Nous avons vraiment besoin de l'appui des médias, c'est vous qui pouvez inciter le public à lire les poèmes et apprendre des langues étrangères.” 

Petra Broeders from the House of Literature Passa Porta then added in Flemish that the evening panel discussion organised with seven poets participating in TRANSPOESIE on the 26th September will also be the last event of the opening weekend of the House of Literature.

To answer a few questions raised by the journalists, Martin Hope concluded the meeting by stating that the aim of the project was to generate public interest  that would continue beyond the four weeks of display in the metro. This will be possible through the interactive website dedicated to the project but it is also the role of the media to help raise the awareness and interest of the people.

“TRANSPOESIE will hopefully contribute to developing the level of poetry and literature when people realise that everyone can be a poet and write something nice, that make them feel good and want to communicate”.

The project could as well develop in other cities and the European Day of Language could be used to make it a greater experience. 

For more information on the project, please visit: www.transpoesie.eu or contact: info@transpoesie.eu

Pictures: ©Aptalops

Added: 13 September 2011