Black Hyperbox

Read Me gathers the tools necessary to make sense of contemporary problems so ubiquitous they seem too big to name. Spanning a multiplicity of genres, media, and tonal registers, this book surveys Holly Melgard’s formally experimental poetic works produced between 2008 and 2023, including sound poems, essays on poetics, and books that exploit print on demand to, for example, counterfeit money. In often wildly comic turns of thought, Melgard’s work cleaves personal agency from automated defaults by mapping trauma and technocracy from the inside out.

From critical talks to fictional monologues, the poet translates into language the unremarkable torments of neoliberalization in the digital age.

Western societies have dismantled many of the prohibitions that ringfenced errant sexual drives in Freud’s time. The psychoanalytic project describes people caught between two fundamental and contradictory principles: One a relentless sexual drive, the libido; the other our species’ collective need for social order and harmony. Part of this harmony, for true Freudians, is embedded in the binary mutuality of men’s and women’s bodies, which remains indispensable for society to reproduce itself, even in our sexually liberated age. In this essay, Ahmari revisits the idea of ‘genitality’ arguing that perhaps the "heteronormative" orthodox Freudians were right about some things after all.

Since its founding in 1995, International Festival of Contemporary Theatre Homo Novus has reshaped the course of theatre development and fostered a vibrant environment for international exchange within our theatre community. The Book of Homo Novus reflects on these achievements, gathering together the initiatives and ideas the festival has launched and continues to nurture within theatre and the wider field of contemporary art.

This bilingual publication brings together over 50 contributors — artists, creators and participants of the festival — who offer personal memories of Homo Novus, outline important theoretical themes, and envision the future of theatre in visual form.

This book is not a memoir inviting readers to revel in past accomplishments. Rather, it positions three decades of experience as a lens through which to consider future trajectories. The interdisciplinary and international nature of Homo Novus has enabled Latvia and the Latvian language to enter broader dialogues on contemporary theatre and festival culture. The book addresses, among other themes, the festival’s role in the development of new theatrical languages, spaces, and audiences, as well as the ethical dimensions of theatre-making — subjects that have thus far been only marginally examined within Latvian cultural discourse.

Text by: Gigi Argiropulu, Inta Balode, Džonatans Barouzs, Beka Bergere, Lauris Bernāns, Kjāra Bersani, Daniels Blanga Gubajs, Silvija Botiroli, Krista Burāne, Cigans, Džej Džordan, Kirils Ēcis, Endijs Fīlds, Izabella Fremo, Lisa Džilardino, Helgarde Hauga, Satu Herala, Inese Immure, Marta Keila, Pēteris Krilovs, Linda Krūmiņa, Gundega Laiviņa, Sodja Zupanca Lotkere, Marija Luīze Meļķe, leva Moore, Oskars Moore, Tobijs Moore, Vija Moore, Eva Ņekļajeva, Ilze Olingere, Santa Remere, Smaidiņš, Laura Stašāne, leva Struka, Imanuels Šipers, leva Štro, Akira Takajama, Baiba Tjarve, Karu Treij, Henrieta Verhoustinska, Guna Zariņa, Henriks Eliass Zēgners

Semi-Nomadic Debt-Ridden Bedouins offers an in-depth look at nearly two decades of artistic output by the Palestinian artist and filmmaker Basma al-Sharif. Retracing her practice from recent works back to her earliest experiments, the book provides an original overview of how her visual language and conceptual concerns have evolved over time.

Basma al-Sharif's films and installations navigate the unstable terrains of displacement, colonialism, and representation—often shaped by the ongoing reality of the occupation of Palestine. Through a rich selection of images and curatorial essays, the monograph highlights the layered political and cinematic frameworks within which her works are embedded.

Also included are two newly commissioned literary contributions: a fictional piece by Karim Kattan that resonates with the themes of place and estrangement, and a conversation between al-Sharif and the artist Diego Marcon, in which they reflect on shared affinities, artistic processes, and their long-standing dialogue. Blurring the personal and the political, the real and the imagined, Semi-Nomadic Debt-Ridden Bedouins captures the complexity and urgency of al-Sharif's artistic journey.

Texts by Basma al-Sharif, Karim Kattan, Diego Marcon, et al.

Basma al-Sharif (born 1983 in Koweit) is a Palestinian artist working in cinema and installation. She developed her practice nomadically between the Middle East, Europe, and North America and is currently based in Berlin. Her practice looks at cyclical political conflicts and confronts the legacy of colonialism through satirical, immersive, and lyrical works.

An essay in the form of painting studies - including persons, dogs, a frog, a hoofed animal, fish, hare, trees and plants.