3-days of radical & queer multi media spoken word performances expoloring darkness, desire and revolt, an electrifying celebration of contemporary poetry at Brighton Fringe, organized by the Institute for Experimental Arts (Greece, UK, Tunisia, India, USA, Lebanon, Germany)
In an era defined by rapid change and digital noise, spoken word has re‑emerged as one of the most vital artistic forms of the 21st century — a space where truth, identity, and collective memory are voiced with urgency and emotional force. The artists featured in this festival represent a global spectrum of poetic expression, blending performance, activism, storytelling, and experimental sound to confront the realities of our time. Their work spans themes of social awareness and personal transformation, demonstrating how spoken word continues to shape cultural discourse and empower communities.
The Brighton Fringe is England’s largest arts festival, held annually in May/June, featuring hundreds of events across theatre, comedy, music, dance, and circus. As an open-access event, it features over 750 events in more than 120 venues, attracting over 370,000 attendees across various Brighton venues.
The Institute for Experimental Arts in the last 20 years has built a strong international presence across Europe, Asia, USA and Latin America through festivals, theatre shows and events in major cultural centres such as London, New York, Berlin, Frankfurt, Weimar, Athens, Chiang Mai, Bali, Calcutta, Varanasi, Mumbai, San Cristóbal, and Mexico City.
WED 27- THUR 28- SUN 31 May 2026
doors open 22.00
Presuming Ed | 114-115 London Road, Brighton
TICKETS: 8£ per day or 15£ for 3 days at the venue door or at the Brighton Fringe page (LINK) and the Eventbrite (LINK)
This immersive event brings together cutting-edge poetic forms from across the world, blending language, visual arts and sound into a powerful live experience.
International Poetry Festival features video poetry screenings by internationally acclaimed artists, presenting striking visual narratives that create cinematic poems challenging how poetry is seen and felt today. Vibrant spoken word performances showcase a dynamic mix of international voices alongside local Brighton poets, offering raw, intimate and politically charged work that reflects diverse cultures and perspectives.
Poetry is fused with electronic music, stunning visuals, live soundscapes and digital experimentation in three thematic zones: Poetry from the 21st Century / The Dark Night of the Soul / Love & Rage
Produced by The Institute for Experimental Arts
Supported by FILM Poetry Digital Platfrorm | South West Youth Arts
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INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVAL – Brighton Fringe
19 artists from 9 countries
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2026 – starts 22.00
POETRY FROM 21st CENTURY
The human capacity to create poetry guarantees, across the centuries, the ultimate triumph of freedom for all of us. This is both a declaration of faith and a political axiom: it frames poetry not merely as an aesthetic art form, but as an anthropological potential, as a mechanism that resists the violence of history. While political struggle, revolutions, and social uprisings have always constituted the visible forms of resistance, radical poetry functions as the invisible web that preserves the human against the inhuman, guaranteeing an uninterrupted capacity to reactivate freedom.
Video Poetry FILM Shows
C’EST LA VIE — Ki Yuk Lam (China/Hong Kong)
No dialogues. Life is a tapestry of joy and sorrow, yet we continue to move forward. In existence, we encounter victories and challenges. In chaos, we seek moments of peace and beauty. The film attempts to depict the city’s hardships and small blessings in a lighthearted manner.
POETRY IS NOT — Damian Mihaylov (Bulgaria)
Performance of the actor Vasil Duev-Taig interpreting Boyko Lambovski’s poem on the question what is poetry and what it is not, set against the striking backdrop of the Black Sea coast.
WHAT WAS SAID AT THE REUNION OF DEATHBED WISHES — Mark Wilkinson (USA)
L.A. poet/spoken-word performer Rich Ferguson travels from the far reaches of Bombay Beach to the Hollywood streets to consider what was said at the reunion of deathbed wishes. A haunting reflection on mortality, memory, and unfulfilled desires.
YA SUDAN — Talal Al Zubai & Hiba Rasheed (Sudan)
A poem born after the 15th of April, 2023, when a harrowing civil war broke out in Sudan, escalating a relentless cycle of violence, anguish, desperation, loss, displacement, famine, and rape.
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Spoken Word Live Performances
Tasos Sagris & Whodoes (Greece) Greek poet, director, activist and co- founder of the anarchist cultural collective Void Network (est. 1990)
Miss Yankey (UK / Gana) British-Ghanaian poet addressing identity, resilience and social justice
Woodzy (UK) award-winning Flo Poet, 3x TEDx Speaker, featured on BAFTA-winning Life And Rhymes
Sami Rhymes (UK / Nigeria) award-winning London spoken word artist and slam champion
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THURSDAY 28 MAY 2O26– starts 22.00
THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
There are moments when the self stops being a refuge, and the soul confronts the vastness of the world and the eternity of history pressing against the skin. This is poetry as psychological submersion: the descent into the interior as a political act, the collapse of the private into the universal. Because the dark night of the soul is never only yours — it belongs to everyone who has ever stood at the limit and kept speaking.
Video Poetry FILM Shows
E.E. CUMMINGS — Kapou Opa (Greece)
A visual interpretation of E.E. Cummings’ beloved poem, exploring the transcendent nature of love that remains present across time and space.
PATHLESS — Charlotte Verminck (Belgium)
A poetic translation of the universal feeling at one’s unknown next step in life. It connects to the overwhelming periods of doubtful thoughts yet resilient ambition one may encounter. A visual and aural combination of fear yet fearlessness.
BEYOND THE UNSEEN JOURNEY — Faye Elena Goehner, V. Raúl Burguete & Wisley Quaresma (Spain)
A visually immersive poetry film that explores identity, resilience, and the unyielding pursuit of self-discovery. A brief but powerful glimpse into the realms that lie beyond ordinary perception.
MURPHY WAS AN OPTIMIST — Heiko Reimer (Germany)
A poet finds himself caught in a downward spiral, wrestling with the profound themes of nihilism, hope, optimism, pessimism, and the ambivalent nature of reality.
FREE WORDS: A POET FROM GAZA — Abdullah Harun Ilhan (Turkey)
“Free Words” follows Mosab Abu Toha, a detained Palestinian poet whose art becomes a powerful voice of resistance and hope amid oppression.
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Spoken Word Performances
Lucy English (UK) pioneer spoken word poet and Professor at Bath Spa University
Angelina Farmer (UK) spoken word artist and founder of South West Youth Arts Platform
Ella Sadie Guthrie (UK) Brighton poet, co-founder of WRIOT collective
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SUNDAY 31 MAY 2026– starts 22.00
LOVE & RAGE
Desire is not a private matter — it is a declaration of war. We gather here to celebrate those who have turned eros into resistance: poets who use pleasure, tenderness, and fury as weapons against the culture of competition, career, consumption, and the slow violence of normativity. Queer poetry does not ask for permission — it interrupts the dominant script, reclaims the body as a site of revolt, and insists that to love on your own terms is already an act of insurrection. Because in a world that profits from our loneliness and sells us back our own hunger, choosing ecstasy is the most radical thing we can do.
Video Poetry FILM Show
YOU ARE THE TRUCK AND I AM THE DEER — Max Ferguson (Belgium/Hong Kong)
An experimental short film that explores emotional pain, expressing feelings of loss, helplessness and overwhelm during the process of accepting hurt. These emotional wounds are translated visually into a physical and pulsing presence that reveals a dark and unsettling image of femininity.
Compose
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Spoken Word Performances
Sissy Doutsiou (Greece) internationally acclaimed Greek actress, poet and spoken word artist
Ernesto Sarezale (Basque) queer performer and filmmaker based in London
Mad Kate (UK / Germany) Berlin-based artist interrogating identity, sexuality and radical politics
Simon Maddrell (UK) queer Manx poet, multiple Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Selection winner
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Produced by The Institute for Experimental Arts
Supported by FILM Poetry Digital Platfrorm | South West Youth Arts
