New Poetry Book:
Dirk Hülstrunk: When repetition stops you are dead – Poems and repetitions (Germ/Engl), including Video DVD, corona\samizdat, Izola, Slovenia Sept 2025, 15€, 100 pages & Video DVD
You can order from https://coronasamizdat.com/ or directly from me.
Book presentation Sept 3/4 at Goethe Institute Mexiko
Further Shows at ISO Series 27, Fonoteca National, City Library León, Bicentennial Museum Dolores Hidalgo, Casa del la cultura Jaral del Progreso.
Book presentation Oct, 11 Phonovoice Festival, Lisboa, Portugal
“When repetition stops you are dead” is the first bilingual German-English publication of the unique loop poems by German author and sound poet Dirk Hülstrunk. It will be published in September 2025 by Corona-Samizdat press in Izola, Slovenia, including a videodocumentation by Slovenian filmmaker Saša Munjiza.
The poems in this volume are a compilation of pieces developed over the last decade, primarily for stage performances with a loop station, but also for publication in various formats. Many of the poems have previously appeared in four of Dirk Hülstrunk’s German language poetry books published between 2018 and 2022.
They deal with different forms of spoken language, ranging from the personal and intimate to the public language of advertising, information and instruction.
The texts question not only the possibilities of language itself, but also the language of the conditions in which we exist. In these poems, language itself sometimes appears as a barrier that we must think, shout and rebel against. However, language is also a means of resisting, of saying NO to any kind of conformity, of saying NO to any attempt to use it for propagandistic or commercial aims.
These poems don’t require many words. They are raw, minimalist, repetitive, and rhythmic. They are visual texts as well as sound poems. Furthermore, they must be seen, heard, and spoken. They are open to interpretation, improvisation, and variation. They can often be understood on both a political and a more personal level.
These poems have been translated into English by the author with the help of Fred Bergmann, F. J. Bergmann and Gabi Schaffner.
In his poetic introduction, Felipe Cussen — a poet, musician, and professor at the University of Santiago, Chile — searches for a way to ‚read‘ these poems.
The book also features a discussion between Dirk Hülstrunk and Martyn Schmidt (a poet, composer, and founder of the German sound art label Atemwerft) on the concept of ‚loop poetry‘ and the aesthetics of repetition.
The accompanying DVD video documentation by Slovenian film artist Saša Munjiza uses footage from a live performance by Dirk Huelstrunk at the KŠOK (Klub študentov občine Koper) in Koper, Slovenia, in May 2025. Munjiza also joined publisher Rick Harsch and Dirk Hülstrunk on their walks and talks in the small coastal town of Izola, which is home to Corona-Samizdat Press.
Book release performance, Sept. 4th at Goethe Institute Mexiko, Mexico City
