Anywhere out of the book
Onsdag 17 maj, 2017
Kunsthal Aarhus
17:00 – 19:00
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Deltagere: 16
Introduktion: Camille Videcoq & Richard John Jones
In Anywhere Out Of the World, we hear the lament of the author, dealing with his longing to be elsewhere. In discussion with his soul, which hardly answers, he describes the places he might go. As much as it is about happiness and spirituality, the poem is also significantly about the notion of a journey. The locations in the poem are each European port cities and the former seats of faded global trading empires.
For our collective reading we would like to share our impressions of the poem but go further to consider if as "Anywhere out of the book" must be the world, then where is "Anywhere out of the world?" Can a book be considered a solid retreat from the world? Given the nature of our times, perhaps desiring a place outside of this world seems legitimate. However, as we watch crisis after crisis in the contemporary news feed, the feeling of a lack of direction or, in general, a kind of deterioration could also seem apt.
- My soul, little soul, how about escaping to Aarhus, there the weather is nice most of the time, rainbows all year around, good food, and it is the European Capital of…
- Don’t play me for a fool, my soul retorts, this rotten banana filled with smiling happy middle class people, come on, you think that I don’t know it is still in the world?
- Well, my beautiful, soul, yes, apparently it is, it is also in the world. But my dear soul, it’s too late, here we are, so in which corner would you like me to install your hospital bed? You have plenty of choice. I’m only sorry, my dear little soul, that in the Rotunda the heater and the window are, quite perversely in the ceiling - a world upside down!
[Tekst uddrag]
Anywhere out of this world, Charles Baudelaire (1869)
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