Mission accomplished! ARTIVAL was true to this year’s theme, RE: CONNECT. It brought communities together for a lovely multilingual poetry evening.

The multilingual cultural festival’s theme was inspired by Noreena Hertz’s book ‘The Lonely Century’ –a solution-provide for connecting people to one another.

Organised by IMMART, the festival continues until Saturday May 27. Many more diverse and exciting events are scheduled this evening and tomorrow.

Transcending language barriers
The warm, friendly and cosy setting of the Urban13 premises strongly contributed to creating a connection between all the participants. It highlighted all of the poets’ readings, helping words to transcend language barriers.

Among the artists, Ana Mjallhvít Drekadóttir furnished the space by sharing delightful visual, humorous, energetic poems.

Pablo Saborío, a Costa Rican-Danish poet, describes himself as an existentialist. He brought the audience together by addressing universal themes such as death, loneliness and the absence of meaning.

A bridge-building method
Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir, a poet and historian in Reykjavík, Iceland – who has published six books of poetry – read several excerpts from ‘Herostories’ in Icelandic.

Nicol Savinetti – the founder of IMMART – was invited to read the English versions. This process has built a real bridge, allowing the audience to familiarise themselves with the sounds of the poems and to immerse themselves in the poignant story fully.

Elizabeth Torres – the Colombian-American director of Red Door Gallery – cheerfully facilitated the event and gave us food for thought with her bright poem ‘El estado de las cosas’ (the state of things), which was read in Spanish and English.

The evening ended with an open mic allowing everyone in attendance to share their poems. Among them, Ondi spellbound the gathering with her powerful poem ‘Clean’.