Conference: “Multimodal translation in the arts: (multi)modalities, languages and codes in/as translation?”
Online Symposium, 22-23 May 2023
organised by Dr Joanna Chojnicka and Dr Angela Tarantini (School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University) and Irene Fiordilino (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance).
KEYNOTE by Ricarda Vidal & Madeleine Campbell,
Experiential Translation and Art-Making: Projecting Anna Blume into Presence
Full programme
This is a free event, but please register here.
Exhibition: Experiential Translation
Dom Literatury, Łódź, Poland, 18-23 April 2023
curated by Ricarda Vidal & Madeleine Campbell,
organised by Joanna Kosmalska and Rafał Gawin
Opening with Wine Reception and Roundtable Discussion, 18 April, 6pm
Workshops: “Knowing Anna Blume”
led by Ricarda and Madeleine
for public participation: 18 April, 4-6pm, Dom Literatury
for students of University of Lodz, 18 April, 1:30 – 3pm, University of Lodz
We are very pleased that our Experiential Translation exhibition is travelling to Łódź and we will be able to share the joys of translation with new audiences. We are also very grateful to Joanna Kosmalska and the translation students in the department of English at University Łódź who have translated the exhibition info and wall blurbs.
Funded by: UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, King’s College London, Edinburgh University, Uniwersytet Łódzki, Dom Literatury w Łodzi
CFP: Multimodal translation in the arts: (multi)modalities, languages and codes in/as translation?
Online Symposium, 22-23 May 2023
organised by Dr Joanna Chojnicka and Dr Angela Tarantini (School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University) and Irene Fiordilino (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance).
Deadline for Proposal Submissions: 30th April 2023
ONLINE WORKSHOP – Composing, Composing, Composing…: the Infinite Translation of a Text in Proces
led by Sofía Lacasta Millera, University of Salamanca, Spain – GIR TRADIC
NOTE: The workshop consists of two sessions:
Thursday, 30 March 2023, 12noon to 1:30pm (UK time)
Friday 31 March 2023, 12noon to 1:30pm (UK time)
Participation is free, but please register here.
This workshop aims to establish a multimodal dialogue between disciplines. It will start from the musical and literary work of John Cage with the aim to translate some of his most experimental poems, both interlinguistically and intersemiotically. On the first day, we will delve into the most recent theoretical premises of Translation Studies in order to apprehend the magnitude of the original text. In groups we will explore initial approaches to translating the texts. The following day, we will compare our translation proposals and debate how Cage’s poetry could be translated into different languages and artistic manifestations.
A Zoom invitation will be sent to everyone who has signed up. We look forward to seeing you and translating with you!
Workshop: Teaching Translation in the Context of Bilingual and Multimodal Communication
led by Tong King Lee
Simpson Centre for the Humanities, University of Washington, USA,
Wednesday, 11 January 2023, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m
This workshop discusses how translation can be taught under the broader rubric of communication. Contrasting the communication approach with linguistics-based and theory-based approaches to teaching translation, it offers concrete examples on how to effectively engage learners in exploring the nuances of translating in the context of everyday communications across languages and cultures. It then introduces the international research network Experiential Translation to illustrate how synergies can be forged at the interface of translation and the creative process of writing/art to foreground the intersemiotic potential of translation.
Find out more
Workshop: Ospitare/Hosting others: Experiential translation as practice of ecological weaving
led by Gaia Del Negro and Silvia Luraschi (visiting Innovation Award 2020 Embassy of Canada in Italy, through the research network Gender Justice, Museums, Art Galleries and Exhibitions).
Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, British Columbia (Canada),
Friday 18th November 9:30-11:00 am.
The collaborative project Ospitare / Hosting others investigated the possibility to collectively translate through multiple media (Campbell & Vidal, 2019) a solo performance and two poems by Anedda (1955) which artist/choreographer Cinzia Delorenzi had used to prepare a solo performance in 2011.
In this workshop, we will invite our colleagues in Victoria (Canada) to join in an experience inspired by our previous research with Cinzia, in which educators/ teachers/ researchers had practiced somatic listening of the body and exploration of personal and collective space.
The participants in Victoria will engage with the two poems in Italian by Anedda, and with previous experiential translations from sessions in Milan and London. We will try to make sense together of this process, from individual to collective, human, and more than human, text and performance, intention, and unpredictability. We will draw on ecosystemic ideas by Bateson (non-finalistic principle of adult learning, Bateson 1972) and feminist post-human ideas to explore how research may encourage adult learners to be active translators across differences and to listen trustfully to multiple perspectives.
The video of the project by Filippo M. Ceredi will be shown during the workshop.
Talk: What is Experiential Translation?
by Ricarda Vidal
Universidad de Salamanca, 11 November 2022, 11:00-13:00
The aim of this session is to discuss experiential translation, what it might be and why/how it (potentially) informs translation practice. We will discuss multimodality, the active participation of the reader (translator) in the text as well as concepts such as “ludic translation” (Lee 2022).
I will begin with a brief overview of intersemiotic translation and trace my own journey from practice, i.e. conducting and instigating collaborative translation games where artists and translators work together or in parallel to explode a text into diverse forms of expression (e.g. poetry, dance, painting etc), to theory and back. We will then look at 3 artworks which were commissioned for the Experiential Translation Network exhibition, held in the UK in July 2022. We will discuss what is being translated and how translation was/is employed in the creation and reception of these works before participants will be invited to make a translation of one of the works themselves.
The talk is addressed at MA and PhD students at the University of Salamanca.
Conference: Performative & Experiential Translation – Meaning-Making through Language, Art and Media
King’s College London, 13-15 July 2022
The conference comprises talks, workshops, performances and an exhibition. It is free to attend, but you will need to register.
More information
Travelling Exhibition: Experiential Translation
curated by Ricarda Vidal and Madeleine Campbell
London
13th-15th July, 9:30am – 6pm, The Inigo Rooms, Somerset House, WC2R 2LS
14th July 5:00-8:00pm Wine reception with performances
Ledbury
7th – 10th July, 11am – 6pm, The Poetry House, The Homend, Ledbury HR8 1AR
Part of Ledbury Poetry Festival
This exhibition brings together a collection of artworks which investigate translation as an experiential, sensory, multimodal and intermedial event. These were created as part of the international collaboration between the artists, writers, translators and academics facilitated by the experiential translation network. The works in the show include video art, performance, installation, print-making, painting and photography.
More info
Performance: Another Time This Time
Directed by John London and Karen Morash
Sunday, 10th July 2022, 17:00-18:00, Market Theatre, Market Street, Ledbury HR8 2AQ,
Another Time This Time is a collaborative performance drawing on existing texts and images from other times of pandemic and panic as well as contributions from the present. Some of the performance material will be generated during public workshops conducted at the Poetry House in the afternoon before the show. Includes Q & A.
Book here
Public Workshop: Finding Words for the Pandemic
Led by John London and Karen Morash
Sunday 10th July 2022, 12:00-13:00, The Poetry House, The Homend, Ledbury HR8 1AR
Part of Ledbury Poetry Festival
We want to involve the public in a creative initiative to try and take stock of what has happened over the last eighteen months whilst society has undergone large shifts because of the Covid virus, and think about how other, historical situations of pandemic can help us understand what is going on now. Participants will be invited to collect images and words from material we provide and also from what they have sourced. Material can be in any language. We will be working with professional actors to see how fragments can come alive and be translated into performance. This will offer an opportunity to see how raw material can be translated into performance material, with the intention of inspiring personal performative translations.
The final performance will take place in the evening in the Market Theatre, Ledbury
Book here
Public Workshop: Multimodal Poetry Translation
led by Madeleine Campbell and Ricarda Vidal
Thursday 7th July, 2pm-4pm, The Poetry House, The Homend, Ledbury HR8 1AR.
Part of Ledbury Poetry Festival
The translation of poetry is notoriously difficult and is, by some, even regarded as a futile endeavour. Poetry, after all, is intricately connected to the language of composition, its sounds, structures, ambiguities, its melody, its feel… This exploratory workshop will draw on intersemiotic resources (i.e. the translation between different sign systems or media) in order to arrive at a holistic
translation that takes the multimodal aspects of poetry into account. The workshop will be of interest to artists, poets, translators and creative practitioners interested in working beyond sensorial and linguistic borders. With a special focus on sound, imagery and motion and working collaboratively in small groups to translate a poem connected to the theme of Exile.
Book here
Workshop: How to Translate the Unknown
led by Harriet Carter and Ricarda Vidal
Thursday 7th June, 10am – 12noon, Maison pour Tous Marie-Curie
Celleneuve, Montpellier
part of the public programme of the conference “What’s the Matter in Translation/ Traduction et Matérialité”, Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier
Public Workshops: Poetry in Action
led by Hari Marini and Noèlia Díaz Vicedo
Saturday 7th May 22, 10am-12pm (BST) – online via zoom
Tuesday 17th May 22, 2pm-4pm (BST) – blended session, Ionian University campus & online via zoom
Attendance is free. You can attend either one or both sessions. To secure a place please email harimarini@ionio.gr by 4th May
The workshops explore the artistic consequences of the current pandemic situation and how embodied translation and action allow participants to go beyond the written word and expand the limits of artistic expression. Covid-19 forced us to go into isolation and the sense of uncertainty consequently surrounded us. How can poetry in action provide us with a sense of belonging, sharing and crossing boundaries?
In these workshops we aim at exploring poetic translation as a form of action by using poems in Catalan, Spanish and Greek (also available in English) about isolation and non-belonging. Taking those poems as a source you will have the chance to work with movements, voice, words, drawings and sounds, then perform the poem in any form you want to end our process into the creation of a poem in action.
We will be very happy to hear from you and have the chance to create with you!
Public Short Online Course:
Soundscapes – Translating from Music
Led by Karen Bennett
from 8 April to 20 May 2022, Zoom
This short online course provides an introduction to the meaning-making potential of music, with a view to ultimately stimulating the production of intersemiotic translations into other media, such as drawing, poetry, mime or dance. Organised by Dr Karen Bennett and CETAPS under the auspices of the Experiential Translation Network, it is aimed at anyone that is interested in or moved by music, with or without a background in musical practice or theory. The objective is to heighten awareness of the semiotic potential inherent in the Western musical tradition through a series of listening exercises and discussions, before mobilizing this knowledge in the production of a new creative work.
The short course starts on 8 April and runs over 6 x 2-hour workshops (time tbc). It is free and open to anyone.
Click here to find out more and to enrol to secure your place.
Workshop for ETN Members: “Knowing Kurt Schwitters’ ‘An Anna Blume'”
led by Madeleine Campbell and Ricarda Vidal
6 May 2022, 2-3pm
Public Workshops: Translating through the senses – various applications of intersemiotic translation
led by Joanna Kosmalska and Tomazs Wochna
5 April to 5 May 2022, University of Lodz, Poland
The workshops are free and open to anyone. If you would like to join, please email Joanna Kosmalska at: joanna.kosmalska@uni.lodz.pl
The workshops that take place in Łódź have been inspired by the book Der Mensch und seine Zeichen: Schriften, Symbole, Signete, Signale [Signs and Symbols: Their Design and Meaning] by a Swiss typeface designer, Adrian Frutiger. Frutiger argues that at the root of progress and growth of human civilization is the need of people to communicate with their communities and improve this communication. He shows how before the invention of the Latin alphabet, the “illiterate” population communicated with pictures, symbols, signs, and signals forming a kind of “tribal handwriting”. But with the spread of script in the 15th century, Frutiger asserts, people lost their ability to understand pictures and signs and use them for communication. A renewed interest in the symbolic content of signs and images came with the development of the internet, online communication and an increasing production of multimodal texts.
The aim of the workshops is to explore intersemiotic translation (also in comparison to interlingual translation). To do this, we are going to render Jerzy Jarniewicz’s poem “Makijaż” from Polish into English (interlingual translation) and translate the poem into drawings, body language and pictograms (intersemiotic translation). These hands-on activities will lead us to a more theoretical discussion about different applications of intersemiotic translation. Among other things, how it has been used in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war and how it can be applied to foster communication and inclusive society in the present refugee crisis.
Experiential Translation Network Symposium 2
10 December 2021, Zoom
The second symposium for Network members to exchange notes on our research, what we have discovered so far and where we’re heading next. We will also plan ahead for our big conference and exhibition in the summer. There will also be a workshop with dancer Tricia Anderson, which will get us out of our chairs and away from our screens for a bit.
Public: Drawing, Asemic Writing and the Temptation of Translation – a workshop about not knowing
led by Harriet Carter and Ricarda Vidal in collaboration with Ledbury Poetry Festival
Open to all:
4th and 25th November, 18:00-20:00,
Barrett Browning Institute, The Homend, Ledbury HR8 1AR
Ticket price £12* Places limited.
*For those of low income, please contact Chloe Garner at the email address below
To book your place, email Chloe Garner at: director@poetry-festival.co.uk
This two-part workshop has been inspired by artist Paul Klee’s wandering line and his focus on the process and experience of making.
Part 1:
In the first part of the workshop, participants will engage in a series of drawing exercises and activities designed to question mark-making in response to things unseen, such as time and space occupied by sounds and place. This will lead to the production of a piece of asemic writing (writing without alphabet). While the drawing exercises will be conducted individually, the asemic text will be produced collaboratively in small groups.
Part 2:
The second part of the workshop will focus on translation. For this, we will take our asemic texts as a starting point. Groups will be asked to exchange their texts. We will then endeavour to read them, to decipher their rhythm, their mood, their material presence, the effect it produces on the reader/viewer. Finally, we will attempt a translation into words.
Throughout the workshop, we will explore the urge to “read” our environment and the temptation to make sense of intangible experiences, to translate. But we will also indulge in not knowing and in joyful uncertainty.
If you’re interested in this workshop, please do read our blog entry about asemic writing or our write-up of the first workshop.
2 Workshops for ETN members
11 November 2021
Dobrochna Futro led a workshop titled “Chagallian Idioms”, which saw us translating idioms through image-making and also led us to create new cross-cultural idioms. This was followed by a workshop on evaluation, which was led by Gaia del Negro and Silvia Luraschi.
Public Workshop: Hosting others
20 June 2021, Parco di Trenno, Milan, Italy
led by Gaia del Negro, Silvia Luraschi, Cinzia Delorenzi
We are going to propose a collective translation of an individual performance entitled Ospitare / lavoro in divenire made by dancer Cinzia Delorenzi two years ago. We will engage a diverse small group of teachers, educators, translators, and artists (around twelve professionals) in two workshops:
– one in June 2021 focussed on the immunitary system/Coexistence,
– one in the autumn focussed on Hosting others.
The workshops will take place outdoors in a public green area in Milan. The source text within this will be a poetic text by Antonella Anedda, Notti di pace occidentale (Donzelli Editore, Roma 1999); a book that questions the destinies of our world starting from memory of the bloody history of the West.
We will invite the participants to draw on multiple languages and media, their professional experience, personal migratory background also within Italy, and other forms of ‘otherness’ by activating them to research in between the two sessions starting from listening to the words that resonate through their bodies. The outcome will be an expressive action, with stories and creative writing, that will be documented with pictures and a video.
Click here to read how the workshop went.
Experiential Translation Network Symposium 1
17 June 2021, Zoom
We formally launched our collaboration with a one-day event on Zoom, which included 5-minute presentations, lots of time to talk and make plans as well as a workshop on multilingual song-writing.
Click here to read more and to listen to the song we made.
Experiential Translation 