EVENING ENTERTAINMENT

NO COUNTRY FOR ODD POETS at Kunstverein München

Curated by Pico Be and Anna McCarthy

No Country for Odd Poets is a poetry series, initiated by the author and musician Pico Be, with the aim of offering authors scope to read from and speak about their work. The audience is invited to engage with the author and his/her work for the duration of an evening. The series initially took place in the Munich off-space Art Babel and was called “Kein Land für Alte Dichter” (eng. No Country for Old Poets). On every occassion the author was guarded by two armed persons who acted as the symbolic protectors of poetry.

As of May 2012 the series has moved house, received a new name and a new co-creator. In collaboration with the artist Anna McCarthy, Pico Be continues the series in the Kunstverein Munich, under the new name No Country For Odd Poets. The concept remains the same, only a new symbolic thread has taken the place of the weapon - a 'lap of honour', which comprises of each guest poet taking a ride on a horse around the adjacent Hofgarten. This act is usually reserved exclusively for Bavarian statesmen and police. This is filmed by Anna McCarthy and the resulting footage is projected during the actual reading.

Guests till now: John Giorno, Chris Kraus, Kevin Vennemann, Aboud Saeed, Hank Schmidt in der Beek, Sven-Ake Johansson, Sonja vom Brocke, Wolfgang Müller

anna mccarthy