Laurence Ermacova (France)

Bio

Laurence Ermacova writes and performs poetry in French and German. Her poetry wanders along the lines which separate languages, creates small gaps to let words of one languague slip into those of the other, thus discreetly advocating a certain kind of smuggling. Her texts have been published in many literary magazines. April 2024 her first collection of poetry États de mes lieux – Gesammelte Gedichte is published by Éditions du Bunker, Paris. In her poetic practice, she regularly invites artists to collaborate with her on collective and polyphonic writing. She is involved in different Berlin based literature collectives and founded the U8 Kollektiv with poet Neïtah Janzing to organize poetic actions in public space. She is currently working on her second book of poetry dedicated to old clothes abandonned on the streets of Berlin-Neukölln.

Project

During her residency in Narva she will dive into one of her obsession, the connection between text and textiles. She will sneak into the archive of the Krenholm manufacture, visit the modern Krenholm factory, listen to the noise the machines make today, imagine the noise they used to make yesterday, try to hear the place full of workers, the things they were saying, walk down the streets they used to cross. Where is all this life gone? What it is left ? Old fotos, forgotten patterns, rests of fabric? No more? What remain when things disappear ? Disapearrance, persistance and memory are key words for this project, the focus being here not to look for the reasons of things disappearing but to look how they manage to remain in us after their material disparition. How fit will be text and textile to open poetic spaces to tell both presence and absence, loss and persistence? This is exactly what she would like to explore in dialogue with people who would like to share with her some of their memories of the city of Narva.

Website

https://ermacova.cargo.site