Dial-A-Poem Switzerland brings a new edition of John Giorno's project to Basel, in collaboration with MAMCO, Geneva, and Giorno Poetry Systems (GPS). This edition gathers recordings by 30 poets, writers, thinkers, lyricists, and figures from the worlds of theatre and film in Switzerland's four national languages–German, French, Italian and Romansh. At Kunsthalle Basel, the telephone is housed in the bookshop. Kunsthalle Basel is the second Swiss venue to host the project.
Come by at any time, pick up the phone, and listen to a poem.
John Giorno (1936–2019) is an American poet who, in 1969, launched a telephone line in New York City meant to make poetry accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Anyone, at any time, could call a number and listen to one of 35 poems recorded by artists, poets, and musicians. Dial-A-Poem would expand the notion of what poetry could be: conceptual, political, spiritual, as well as lyrical. The phone line would also make poetry into a conduit to advocate for peace, bring awareness to social and political issues, as well as simply be a source of pleasure to its listeners.
With: Flurina Badel (RO), Yari Bernasconi (IT), Katja Brunner (DE), Kim de l'Horizon (DE), Dorothee Elmiger (DE), Michael Fehr (DE), Heike Fiedler (DE/FR), Thomas Flahaut (FR), Baptiste Gaillard (FR), Rebecca Gisler (FR), Asa Hendry (RO), Thomas Hirschhorn (DE), Annette Hug (DE), Carmen Jaquier (FR), Kayije Kagame (FR), KT Gorique (FR), Simone Lappert (DE), Max Lobe (FR), Julien Maret (FR), Marko Miladinović & Laura Giuliberti (IT), Fatima Moumouni (DE), Bruno Pellegrino (FR), Pierrine Poget (FR), Ugo Rondinone (DE), Davide-Christelle Sanvee (FR), Elisa Shua Dusapin (FR), Marina Skalova (FR), Michelle Steinbeck (DE), Henri-Michel Yéré (FR), Ivna Žic (DE)
The participants were selected by Elisabeth Jobin, Curator at MAMCO Geneva.