Meet a Participant
Khira Jordan is a California-born poet. After having worked in branding, she decided to devote herself to her craft entirely. We've asked her about the experiences and connections she made at the BSUA 2022. Here's what she shared:
"For me, the Summer University was like a portal. There were people from Thailand, from Israel, from all over, all coming together in one room with a lot of energy. Even though we all came from different backgrounds, we shared similar experiences, especially after the pandemic: We could finally be creative again, have fun again, use our brains again. It was uplifting for everyone.
The first workshop I participated in was 'Aesthetic Transformation Processes' with Elvira Hufschmid and Margit Schild. What I took away from this course was that, when you’re in an improvisational state, you access ideas, thoughts and feelings that you cannot access otherwise. It’s this layer, this stratus in your brain that you cannot get to unless you put yourself in these kinds of situations. An example would be to only write one word every 7 seconds. You’re translating ideas that are flowing into your head and that need some sort of constraint of form in order to become art. From day one, the lecturers stimulated us intellectually but, at the same time, gave us concrete ways to go about our art practices.
In my second seminar–'The Berlin Flâneur' with Joseph Pearson–, I could instantly apply my learnings. They helped me organize the surplus of inspiration that I got on my explorations of the city, and I wrote a poem that is going to be published. Finally, my third workshop was 'Floating Texts' with Annikas Haas and Anna Szaflarski. The theme of 'Unlearning to Write‘ really resonated with this idea that sometimes, you can know your craft a little too well. How do you release the grip and just let it happen? The course allowed us to just let it be, but with a phenomenal foundation of reading.
Now that the summer is over, we still keep in touch. One of the students is back in Mexico City, but she’s sending me photos of her art and I send her my writing. For me, the workshops have been quite impactful. The quality of the programme is high, but it’s a safe enough space to explore and take risks, with really great guides, in a great environment. It felt like anything was possible."
