Writers from the Danish Talent Academy (DTA) have been given a completely unique task: they must immerse themselves in the role of residents in the neighborhood of Særkærparken in Holstebro and write a collection of poems, lyrics, poetry, and short stories about their fictional lives behind the hedges.
What happens when you take a handful of talented authors with vastly different backgrounds, strokes of the pen, and each with their own writing style - and move them all into a mysterious residential area, completely devoid of context?
This is the premise of the concept called the SÆRKÆR COLLECTION, part of the cultural and theatre festival Strange & Lovely, taking place throughout the month of March at Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium (NTL).
Through this literary work, you will experience how seven very different young people view the same neighborhood from seven unique perspectives.
With free hands to shape a collection of iconic poems, short stories, and prose, NTL wanted to engage the seven upcoming authors from the Danish Talent Academy and set them free to design a series of stories in their own language. Among other things, the authors stayed overnight at the theater, which is located in Særkærparken, and they had a 24-hour intense writing workshop filled with brainstorming, snacks, and lots of black coffee.
A tribute to the neighborhood's diversity.
The result is the SÆRKÆR COLLECTION, an attempt to create a postmodern treasure - a kind of local version of the Golden Horns, if you will; not lost and yet (re)discovered.
The final product has a diverse expression, which on one hand becomes "[...] a collection of subtle, quirky, f****d-up stories and snapshots into an all- and nothing-signifying residential area, where theoretically anyone could live and still have nothing in common."
On the other hand, it also becomes: "[...] a gentle and loving tribute to the hopeful neighbor souls, whose tender hearts beat life's colors so softly and beautifully into every home."
The collection will be promoted and stored at NTL, on par with many of the cultural artifacts already existing in the Cube (the name of the theater's museum and archive). Here, they are treated as valuable cultural treasures, many of which have indeed been missing for years, languishing in the archive, and subsequently rediscovered. The collection will be displayed at an opening on March 5th, in connection with Strange & Lovely. During the festival, you can also experience nine of the theater's own performances, and you can visit the Live Role-playing Bar "Last Light Inn" if you want to have a soda, coffee, or beer in the company of the bar's many ghosts, zombies, giant rats, and extradimensional beings.
A strange, dear, literary experiment
According to project manager Christian Søgaard Hersker, the idea for the SÆRKÆR COLLECTION stems from a fruitful conversation between him and Amanda Appel, who is head of PR and Communication at NTL. Appel made Hersker aware of the authors as a potential collaborator, and he then devised a project that was strange and dear enough to pique their interest.
"Amanda told me about Særkærparken, and I quickly understood that it is a nice residential area. But who lives there? What intrigues, hopes, and dreams exist among the many Særkær souls? What skeletons do they have in their closets?" the project manager asks thoughtfully.
The SÆRKÆR COLLECTION is a literary experiment in which NTLs collaborates with seven authors from the Danish Talent Academy: Esther Asta Storm Knudsen, Lucca Vestergaard Morgenstern, Alex Frausig, Anna B-K., Lærke Borup, Lasse Bjørn, and Benjamin Stefanowski. Their work will be presented at an opening on March 5th at 6:00 p.m. at the theatre.
Everyone is welcome to the opening, and participation is free.
