Speaks

Finding one's place in literature

An audiovisual lecture on the difficult creation of the publisher Baggaardsbaroner.

We take you all the way from shattered author dreams after rejections from established publishers and the frustration with a one-sided literary scene to the creation of a publishing house that, in every way, falls outside of the norm.

A DIY story about daring to believe in yourself and your product, even when your delivery truck catches fire on the German Autobahn on the way to the printing press, about the ups, but mostly the downs, in the search for finding your place in literature. The first part deals with the ways in which one can break through the art world with their own voice and vision. About the failures, setbacks, and pitfalls that will always arise. About finding your niche and marketing yourself through alternative and original methods.

The second part focuses on the idea of innovation and collaboration with other artists, and the opportunities that arise from encounters with different art forms. Additionally, there will be tips & tricks for aspiring writers.

The Impossible Editing Task

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In the winter of 2015, Baggaardsbaroner received a chaotic and fragmented manuscript. Despite the text's unfinished nature, its nerve and the author's talent clearly shone through. Shortly after, the publisher received the heartbreaking news that the author had taken their own life. After a meeting with the author's family, it became clear that all parties wanted the project to be completed.

This was followed by 2.5 years of diligent detective work, piecing together the author's own fragments of text into a completed publication. Old letters, notebooks, love letters, emails, and text messages were reviewed and later became the critically acclaimed The Mystery of a Human – a work unlike anything previously published in Danish literature. All the words are the author's own, remixed in accordance with the author's farewell letter and original wish for a completed publication.

The publishers and editors of Baggaardsbaroner tell the story from the first meeting to the completed publication. About all the doubts that arose along the way, and how to create "the good novel" with integrity and morals intact, without compromising the content.

A book written in concrete

The work is currently used as teaching material in Danish for upper secondary education.

The lecture is a story about the creation of the critically acclaimed graffiti work A Crack in Reality, which was conceived over three winter nights, where the artists had to hide from the police, break through barricades, and rediscover a lost place that has been fenced off for possible demolition since the 1980s. The work consists of 43 black-and-white photographs, each containing a sentence written with graffiti stencils on the surfaces of an abandoned industrial area. The ever-changing canvas dictates the rhythm and disruption of the writing. Together, the 43 images tell a dark and melancholic story about the earth's last day, reflected in the lonely, abandoned setting they are placed in.

The works from the book have been exhibited in several galleries in Copenhagen – including GalArtery, Reputation, and Red Door. The physical works are part of various graffiti and local cultural walking tours in South Zealand. The lecture is an account of the creation of the work, as well as a philosophical discussion about what happens to text when we pull it out of the book’s safe pages and subject it to a reading that is not dictated by page numbers or the author's intended intentions.

The lecture can be combined with a workshop, where we teach people how to make stencils (graffiti templates) and how to work with different textures.
Please contact us for more information and pricing.