The Spittoon Arts Collective is proud to announce that we will be sending out a monthly update about what we’ve been up to – from all our different projects!
Without further ado, here are some recent triumphs and interesting developments that we’re excited to inform you about!
Poornima Weerasekara is Spittoon Poetry Night’s new host!
A new day has dawned on Spittoon’s monthly poetry night in the form of new host Poornima. Hailing from Sri Lanka, she has a compelling vision for the event – bringing in more poetry in translation and exciting new projects.
Spittoon’s ‘The Poetry of Translation’ – The Bookworm Literary Festival
Two and a half hours in the Opposite House’s Village Cafe flashed by in Spittoon’s Translation Workshop. In that time, participants translated four poems into English with the help of a literal translation, and had the opportunity to discuss their work with Dave Haysom, Managing Editor of Pathlight, and Stephen Nashef, Translation Editor of Spittoon Literary Magazine. The two seasoned translators guided discussions about the nuances and techniques of translating poetry as everyone learned something new about the craft of translation and of writing poetry in general.
After the workshop, people came up to me saying that they never thought they could translate a poem until that day. This is what Spittoon is all about—bringing boarders between Chinese and Western writers, and helping everyone discover the writer in him/herself.
—Simon Shieh
Spittunes Ahoy! Bookworm Literary Festival and Shanghai Spittunes with The Shanghai Literary Review
Spittoon’s Spittunes project is really reaching out and exploring new spaces – From DDC to Yuespace and now to the Bookworm for this year’s Bookworm Literary Festival – surrounded by books and the hallowed memories and skin flakes of writers past. The project involves fostering a collaborative partnership between poets and musicians to create a special collaboration song or piece of music.
This event contained some of our most interesting match ups yet. Poet Li Wan teamed up with Finnish guitarist Jukka Ahonen to provide a haunting medley of piano and guitar playing to Li Wan’s beautiful and equally haunting poetry. Spittunes host Nathan Borofka teamed up with Matthew Byrne (me), animating my poetry with his big heart behind his guitar. Last but not least by a huge margin was the partnership of poet David Huntington and Noise Arcade. Noise Arcade’s sound manipulation wizardry permeated David’s ghostly, hard hitting written-on-an-air-drift poetry.
Now we’re very excited to announce that Spittoon has teamed up with The Shanghai Literary Review. TSLR have found 3 groups of artists and 3 poets to collaborate in typical Spittunes fashion. Jukka Ahonen and I are going down there to rep for Beijing. The event will take place on the 19th April at Meka—700 Huangpi Nan Lu near Hefei Lu.
—Matthew Byrne
Beijing’s beloved poetry-music performance collaboration is launching its first event in Shanghai, brought to you by Spittoon Collective & The Shanghai Literary Review. Click for more information!
Chengdu Spittoon thrives!
Spittoon’s batch of Spittoon Literary Magazine #3 has arrived in Chengdu! Our Spittoon Chengdu reading nights, organized and hosted by Annie Leonard are continuing to build community and to provide a bigger and bigger platform for writers in Chengdu. We cant wait to get down there for the next tour!
Hu Qingyan studio visit
On one of Beijing’s first true days of spring I visited the sculptor Hu Qingyan, whose work will be featured in Issue #4 of Spittoon Magazine. His wife Cao Yu is also an artist, and together they showed me around the abandoned factory in the northern outskirts of Beijing they share as a studio. Though I had already seen images of Hu’s work, the physicality of sculpture can only be hinted at through photographic reproductions. As he talked, I had the opportunity to touch, and even smell and listen to his sculptures. (One is carved from fragrant camphor wood. Several are like Seussian tangles of hollow welded pipes—viewers are encouraged to speak into them to explore their sonic properties).
As our conversation became more informal, we strolled around the compound, enjoying the mild weather. They showed me their chickens, which were scratching around some old sculptures rusting in a pen, and the vegetables they’re growing. Out of the corner of my eye I could see work from their student days decomposing in the corner of a shed. Later we retired to a smaller room where there was a couch to sit and chat. Cao Yu (who in addition to being a cutting edge conceptual artist, is a mother of two small boys) sensed I was hungry and doted on me by serving crackers and yogurt she had stashed in her bag. As I snacked, I noticed other sculptures poking out of random places— for example, a small work carved from marble haphazardly placed next to an old television on a dusty table. It was a real pleasure to experience high art in such a casual and friendly setting.
——Deva Eveland
Spittoon Slam Poetry partners with ‘A Voice For Animals’!
Spittoon Slam Poetry has partnered with local animal rescue group ‘A Voice for Animals’ for the 19th of April. They will take donations, have adoption posters, and sell merch.
So come out for a night of awesome poetry & feel free to engage with the rescuers & you might just find a furry friend to take home with you.
That concludes April’s update on Spittoon’s activities! Make sure you check in at our events this month:
April 12th – Spittoon Fiction
The Great Outdoors – 12# Fangjia Hutong – 8:00pm
April 19th – Spittoon Slam
The Great Outdoors – 12# Fangjia Hutong – 8:00pm
April 26th – Spittoon Poetry
Ballhouse Pub – 40# Zhonglouwan Hutong – 8:00pm
Stay tuned for May’s update!