The Call for Participants is now open for the Summer School of Experimental Poetry “Unfold – Experimental Poetries Then and Now,” which will take place from 6 to 10 July 2026 in Bucharest, Romania.
Kultura natura pARTicip in partnership with the National Museum of Contemporary Arts (MNAC), Bucharest, Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna and the Faculty of Media and Communication, is pleased to announce the summer school of experimental poetry, „Unfold – Experimental Poetries Then and Now“. The event is organized as part of the project Anthologies of Cooperation: Encounters in/through Artists’ Book and Experimental Poetry (AbeX), co-financed by the European Union through the Creative Europe Programme.
The summer school will be facilitated by Dr Robert Stacey and Senka Gavranov and will take place at the premises of the National Museum of Contemporary Arts in Bucharest, from Monday, 6 July 2026, to Friday, 10 July 2026, and requires the physical presence of all participants.
Robert Stacey is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. His area of specialization is modern and contemporary poetry and poetics, with an emphasis on Canadian literature. A major focus in his teaching and research is experimental poetics, especially concrete poetry, sound poetry, and proceduralism. He is the former creative director of Rhombus 19, a poetry-in-performance ensemble in Ottawa that specialized in collaborative experimental sound work.
Senka Gavranov is a cultural worker who bridges arts-based research, advocacy for improved working conditions in the cultural sector, feminism, and European transnational cooperation. As a PhD candidate, she researches experimental literary production. As an art-mediator, she facilitates participatory workshops that demystify poetry, literature, and experimental art for general audiences. These collaborative get-togethers make complex academic concepts and experimental art accessible and relevant to everyday life.
The working language of the summer school is English. Travel, accommodation and meals for the participants will be covered by the organizers.
Summer school participants will be initiated into the global heritage of experimental poetries, including visual concrete poetry, sound poetry, language poetry, proceduralism, and other forms of non-traditional poetic expression A combination of presentations, workshops, discussion and collaborative exercises will equip students with concepts and models that will allow them to produce their own works in conversation with the rich history of avant-garde and radical modes of poetic expression. Working with experts and peers, summer school participants will acquire the theoretical knowledge, practical know-how and personal confidence to experiment with language as text and sound and image across diverse media. In addition to methods such as “cut-up” and collage, chance-based composition, erasure and appropriation, participants will also attend to the performative side of contemporary poetic practice by doing voice and sound exercises and performing works in a group setting.
Since experimental poetry often focuses on the non-semantic or extra-semantic aspects of language by refusing to limit writing to instrumentalist notions of “communication,” the international and multilingual character of the school will provide an especially fruitful setting for exploring the possibilities of connection and collaboration via poetry as a material object and sonic experience unhindered by linguistic and cultural differences.
The program will include lectures, interactive talks, individual work, and peer exchanges mediated by Dr Robert Stacey and Senka Gavranov. The participants will receive handouts, materials, and tools in support of their activity during the event.
At the end of the event, the participants shall be able to generate experimental poetic forms, which will be collected and published in the form of a chapbook and distributed through the network of the partners in the AbeX project.
We are looking for applications submitted by students and emerging poets living, studying, and/or working in Romania, Austria, and Serbia. The applicants should be:
The application process is based on a two-step procedure: submission of applications and an online interview of pre-selected candidates.
Firstly, interested candidates are asked to submit PDF files.
Applications that do not satisfy the formal requirements will be rejected (e.g. age, place of residence – work and/or study location, fluency in English, or failure to follow the specifications).
A committee will assess the submitted documents and select candidates who will be invited to the second phase of selection, consisting of an online interview. Indicatively, the second phase will take place in March 2026, and the results are planned to be announced in April 2026.
Preference will be given to candidates who most clearly demonstrate an aptitude for and interest in challenging their own literary preconceptions and writing habits. The organizers and AbeX partners uphold the values of diversity, gender equality, inclusion, and sustainability.
Publishing the Call: 14 November 2025
Application deadline: 16 January 2026, end of day CET
Selection process: February – April 2026
Online interview: March 2026
Announcing results: April 2026
Online meet-up: end of June 2026 (Zoom)
Start date of the Unfold summer school: Monday, 6 July 2026
End date of the Unfold summer school: Friday, 10 July 2026
Work on the experimental form for the chapbook: 11 July – 14 August 2026
Submission of the experimental form for the chapbook: 14 August 2026
Publishing the chapbook: mid-September 2026
To apply, you should submit the requested documents attached to the email titled “Application for Unfold Summer School of Experimental Poetry 2026” to summerschool2026@mnac.ro by 16 January 2026, end of day CET. The total attachment size should not exceed 20 MB.
You will receive a notification email confirming that the application and its attachment have been received. Please check your spam folder. The notification email does not constitute acceptance.
For submissions, please send PDF files (maximum 20 MB in total) with the following:
GDPR Information Notice can be downloaded here.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.