Dear worldthreaders,
Beautiful things are happening.
I have just returned from the last session in Aarhus of my writing specialization as part of the MFA in Performing Arts I am pursuing. This marks the completion of a great aspect of this program, but more importantly, a new achievement: My toolbox has now been upgraded to playwriting also. Yes, I’ve written a play, and I am madly in love with it.
It is a play on uncertainty, on identity, on heartbreak… the dynamics of relationships and exile. I look very much forward to finding out where it goes from here.
Apart from that, I recently spent a few weeks in Odense, as part of a collective performance we titled Entrance to a Cave. It was at HC Andersen’s house in Odense. Yes, the fairytale poet. The mysterious entity who haunts and enchants most of our childhood memories with his stories. It was time to give some of that love back.
My colleagues Simon David Zeller, Heiki Riipinen, Clara Sindel and I, decided to face the subject head on, also inspired by our own queerness and fluidity, our own understanding of sensuality and intimacy, as well as of neurodivergence, and moved by the invasive feelings of peeking through the private life of a stranger, while being followed around the museum with an audio guide in our heads whispering in various voices maniacally and contradicting itself… which led us all to wish for an intimate experience that would persuade people to disconnect themselves from the headphones and seek secrecy connection and deviance. Personally, I thought of my own ideas of intimacy as that which is corporal and mental, physical and spiritual, that which does not require tangibility. Of course, it needed to be connected to my own essence. To my poetry. So in this cave, the poet wrote poems to an audience who shared dreams, fears, desires and other intimate secrets as inspiration. It was oh, so powerful!
I’ll be writing more in detail about this in the future, but for now I can share that over 20 poems were written and given to people, and the experience also allowed me to tune in with something I don’t want to call automatic writing, but poetry in flux. What it meant was removing myself from my constant safe, comfort areas of writing, to step out into a language that was familiar to others, and thread a poem this way, instinctively.
In other news, Red Door is currently exhibiting the art of Karsten Garner, an exhibition titled Paths & Patches. It is on exhibit until Nov 20, and on the 14th we invite you to a closing party, hopefully just as fun as the opening, which had plenty of great wine from Sabotøren, live music, and old and new friends.
Now, I am preparing to give a workshop next week at Copenhagen University, as part of a masters’ class on Ecocritical Reading and Environmental Writing, where the students and I will engage in conversation about the Poetic Phonotheque, the upcoming festival, my role as a poet and cultural organizer, and what it is I want to give back to the world… and why. I am very excited for this workshop because it is in the city I reside in, something which doesn’t happen often, and because it is a hands-on workshop that very much involves my multimedia passions: broadcasting, film, animation, visual and performing arts… all of this communicated through poetry.
If you had to guess, what would you think is the magical ingredient I want us to use to conjure the magic?
Well, typewriters, of course! So if I’m distant this week, it’s because I’m trying to tune up and decide which four are giving the workshop with me.
Now, Red Door Magazine has been on hold, mainly because the upcoming edition is the 13th anniversary edition, but also because I am still preparing the upcoming film festival so my hands have been busy.
Speaking of.
All of you who enjoy Red Door (magazine AND gallery) and who have in one way or another benefitted from the cultural work I do: As you know Red Door was created to help document, inform and connect our communities, here in Copenhagen, the Nordic region, the US and LatAm and everywhere else Red Door has supporters…but running these independent projects and space without any type of economic backing but my own work, makes it very challenging in these current times.
The costs of rent, utilities, printing, software, hosting and the podcast, are all things covered by my own pocket and the Patreon support, gallery or magazine sales. But this isn’t covering it. (especially because I’m on a student budget and my time is limited for freelancing work due to the MFA. Argh!)
So I need to ask for your help. All donations and economic support are very welcome to help keep Red Door open. Please sign up to Patreon to become a monthly donor or give a one time donation… Or if paypal is easier please make donations reddoorcph@gmail.com
Stay tuned for new podcast episodes, more performances, more publications… a few Nordic collaborations… and a book tour, of course!
Thank you for your encouragement and support.
Love,
Madam Neverstop.
Elizabeth Torres 