Poetry will be made by all! is an evolving exhibition, which investigates the significance of poetry and poetic practices today, as part of the ongoing research project, 89plus. The first iteration of Poetry will be made by all! took place in Zürich in early 2014 at the LUMA Westbau in the Löwenbräukunst complex. The second iteration will take place in Stockholm in 2015 as part of Moderna Museet’s major group exhibition, After Babel.
Expanding on the emergent poetics of online distribution systems and the prominence of poetry in 89plus projects to date, the exhibition brings together works from renowned and upcoming international poets and writers within displays created by their peers working in design, visual arts and architecture. Inspired by the seminal exhibition “Transform the world! Poetry must be made by all!” curated by Ronald Hunt at the invitation of Pontus Hulten for the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1969, the exhibitions highlight how the written word, far from being diminished, finds a renewed importance within today’s digital information networks.
Running as a parallel project, ‘1000 Books by 1000 Poets’ will publish and disperse one thousand new books of expanded writing and poetry by authors from over fifty countries and spanning six continents. All books are published in the online library, where they are available as a free digital download as well as print-on-demand.