Week of Italian Language in the World 2022
October 17-23
Poetry Slam Workshop
Tuesday, October 18 at 9:30am CT
Shields Middle School
2611 W. 48th Street, Chicago, IL
Photo: Federico Masini
Italian poets Giuliano Logos, Italian Poetry Slam World Champion 2021, and Olympia, both part of the collective WOW – Incendi Spontanei, will lead a workshop on slam poetry for students of Shields Middle School, part of the Chicago Public Schools network. The event is organized in collaboration with Poetry Foundation, on the occasion of the Week of Italian Language in the World. The event is not open to the public.
Slam poetry is a form of performance which started in July 1986 at the Green Mill, the historic Chicago club, with Uptown Poetry Slam, an event that has been the model and inspiration for the worldwide spread of performance poetry.
The performance artist, poet and rapper Giuliano Logos, founder of the artistic collective WOW – Incendi Spontanei, is 2021 Poetry Slam World Champion and the first Italian artist to win this title (XV Grand Slam World Cup, Paris 2021). In 2019 he opened his solo show tour “MÖBIUS – Interactive performance poetry show”, performed in Italy, France, Germany and Belgium: a show, sweetened by the science fiction setting of time travel, in which the audience decides the course of events, addressing the modern individual’s relationship with society and the search for his or her ultimate purpose. In 2022 he presented his new solo show “ABRAXAS”. Photo: Federico Masini
Olympia – poet and performer of WOW – Incendi Spontanei – investigates issues related to intersectional feminism, gender issues, queerness, body and sex positivity. In 2022 she presented her performance poetry solo show “Polyrhythm”, about polyamory and consensual non-monogamies, premiered within “Not of Only Sex – a sex positive festival”. Active in the field of contemporary art, she has her studio at Ombrelloni Art Space in Rome’s San Lorenzo Art District. She is currently working on the performance project OnlyPoetryFans, focused on poetry and sex work. She has presented her works for Villa Medici – Academy of France in Rome, Casa Internazionale delle Donne (Rome) and Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma Capitale.
The Week of Italian Language in the World is a yearly worldwide celebration of the Italian language and creativity. This initiative was born in 2001 in cooperation with the Accademia della Crusca. It is organized during the third week of October by the Embassies, Consulates, and Italian Cultural Institutes, with the support of the Ministry of Culture (MiC), the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), the Government of Switzerland and all of the main partners for the promotion of the Italian language.