CCB Magazine

Tom Bresemann: "Berlin must be careful that artists and authors are not deprived of their livelihood"

Photo: © Lettrétage

Anyone who knows the Berlin literary scene knows Tom Bresemann - author (most recently: Arbeiten und Wohnen im Denkmal, Gedichte luxbooks 2014) and co-founder of the Lettrétage in Kreuzberg, one of the leading houses of literature, at the same time a contact point and venue for authors in the city. What can a place like the Lettrétage do for the Berlin literary scene? What are the challenges facing the literary scene and the city of Berlin? A conversation at the Lettrétage-Villa at Methfesselstraße 23-25 in Berlin-Kreuzberg

INTERVIEW Jens Thomas

CCB Magazine: Hello Tom, you, the Lettrétage, have been around for 11 years. Tell me: What is the Lettrétage? What do you do?

Tom Bresemann:The short version is: We are a non-institutionally funded house of literature, which has existed since 2006. We organize 60 to 80 literary events per year, from international festivals to new ways of literary presentation such as SOUNDOUT! to small reading series and conferences, including the Literature Laboratory 2014 - 2016, the International Conference on Digital Literature 2016 or the International Conference of Literary Activists 2015. Our main focus is on the search for new forms of expression in literary production and event, and we are happy to work with artists and authors who deal with the subject in their respective aesthetic practice. We want to offer these artists and, in general, literary creators of the city a space for their ideas.
 

CCB Magazine:You are one of the co-founders of the Lettrétage. How did it all start?

Tom Bresemann:We just got lucky: In 2006, editor and translator Moritz Malsch was given the opportunity to rent a floor in an old villa directly on Kreuzberg, which had a beautiful, larger bay window room that was difficult to sublet. Moritz and I knew each other through university and publishing internships. Moritz then had the idea to organize regular readings in the bay window room. That immediately caught my attention. A short time later, the literary scholar Katharina Deloglu joined us. That was the beginning: the Lettrétage was born.

We want to offer artists and creators of the city a space for their ideas

CCB Magazine:There are several literature houses in Berlin, such as the LCB, Brecht-Forum or LesArt, the Berlin Center for Children's and Youth Literature. What is special about the Lettrétage?

Tom Bresemann:Without being able to speak for my colleagues here, I think that what is special about the Lettrétage is that from the very beginning, the pleasure of hosting and bringing people together has been the focus of our attention. We understand literature as a means of communication, as one of the best occasions for open encounters. In the early years of 2007 and 2008, each of us developed our own thematic focuses, which then became the first larger projects. In the beginning, we just gave it a try, we still do that today, but since 2012 at the latest, a significant professionalization has taken place: the Lettrétage has grown into an important life and work content for the three of us, and also for various freelancers, interns and volunteers.

Event in the Lettrétage. Foto: © Lettrétage
 

CCB Magazine:You have two branches today: Your 'villa' with the offices and since 2013 your venue at Mehringdamm 61. How do you finance the Lettrétage?

Tom Bresemann:We have a mixed financing concept: On the one hand we apply for funds for small and large projects, which we then develop and organize. On the other hand, there is the commercial sector: this means renting out our rooms, which we make available to literary authors and multipliers for production or editorial meetings. And beyond that there is a lot of voluntary heart and soul in the Lettrétage. The Lettrétage would not be possible without the many people who contribute to the success of our adventures with their brain and heart blood and their hands and feet!

We understand literature as a means of communication, as one of the best occasions for open meetings

CCB Magazine:It is estimated that around 10.000 freelance authors and translators live in Berlin. The average gross income is around 20,000 euros per year. An important topic is always: How do I live and survive as an author? You too are dealing with such questions. What answer do you have?

Tom Bresemann:I think that as an author it's a good idea to think about a mixed model. As an author, you usually have to do several things to survive: publish your own texts, give readings, organize events, lead workshops or just do other jobs.

Tom Bresemann. Foto: © Lisa Borries

CCB Magazine:The sociologist Jan-Michael Kühn has just found out in his study of the Berlin techno scene that precariousness belongs to the techno scene and is accepted, at least in large parts: So you don't expect to be able to make a living from DJing etc. In the literary scene, as well as in the visual arts, there are always debates about survival. What is the reason for this?

Tom Bresemann:Each division has its own myths. And in the field of literature, one often encounters the opinion that society owes the author something because one writes for it. Humanistic education will play a decisive role here: Techno is not part of school curriculum, literature is. This expectation, this demanding, is rather foreign to me.

CCB Magazine:That means the scene should not complain?

Tom Bresemann:I did not say that. It's about the level at which it happens. Is it just a matter of "my" literature not being paid appropriately, or is it a matter of questioning the general relationship between performance and remuneration? It's important, for example, to deal with the problem of rising rents. But this is a problem for society as a whole. We have a historically rare situation here in Berlin anyway: West Berlin was an economic dead end for years. Berlin was cheap terrain. And that is also the reason why Berlin is the way it is today. It took the market only 20 years to correct this situation according to its own logic. Rents are rising, the pressure is increasing. And solutions are needed for this.

CCB Magazine:Like what?

Tom Bresemann:It's important that the structures are right, and by that I mean the housing situation and the opportunity for development in the city. Berlin has to be careful that artists and authors are not deprived of their livelihood, and by the way, craftsmen, garbage collectors and retailers are not deprived of their livelihood. But I also think that gradually the awareness is changing in the city to tackle things together, especially on the part of cultural policy.

Gradually a consciousness is developing in the city to tackle things together

CCB Magazine:How?

Tom Bresemann:The last few years have shown that it makes sense to think about support programs, scholarships and modules in cooperation with the players. Above all, the cross-disciplinary actions of the independent scene have contributed to this to a great extent - the independent literature scene has been able to decide on joint activities in recent years. Berlin, and above all the city's literary scene, is a place for lone fighters, but I think it's good and right that the many lone fighters now talk to each other and to political decision-makers on a more regular basis and in a more solid framework.

Reading in the Lettrétage. Foto: © gezett.de 
 

CCB Magazine:You are a native Berliner yourself and come from Hohenschönhausen. You have experienced the changes in the city over the past few years at first hand. How has Berlin changed as a place for the free literature scene?

Tom Bresemann:The scene is now very international and open, diverse, so that one can hardly speak of a scene anymore. Berlin has become the secret capital of European literature, which of course benefits both the organizers and the audience. It can also be observed that the connections to the large, institutionally supported houses have improved in recent years, and meetings and joint activities are taking place more regularly than before. In the meantime, we are able to organize top-class international events without having to invite and fly in non-Berliners - a situation that would not be possible in any other German city, I think. The Berlin independent scene is lively, diverse and full of impulses. It's fun to be part of it!

Berlin has become the secret capital of European literature, and of course we as organizers and the public benefit from this

CCB Magazine:One result of your industry meeting, which just took place, was that the free literature scene is not yet as networked as the free theater scene or the free film scene and therefore needs a large network in order to have more market power and to enforce appropriate fees. You are currently building up the European network CROWD. What is it all about?

Tom Bresemann:CROWD is a network of literary activists that Katharina Deloglu and I have been coordinating together for the past few years. CROWD sees itself as a self-governing network of authors, project sponsors, translators - literary activists. Our aim is to seek new ways of dealing with literature, to network with each other better and more sustainably, whether through major events such as our authors' bus tour with over 200 authors from all over Europe from May to August 2016 or through the development of digital tools such as a European Map of Literary Activists. The launch is in spring 2017 and we have organizational partners from Finland to Cyprus. Our aim is to promote intercultural dialogue between culturally active citizens in a European context, to fight against borders and exclusion mechanisms, to benefit from our differences and different ideas in our daily cooperation, to bring our ideas into other contexts, to make our impulses and experiences available to each other - in this respect, CROWD means political-social as well as artistic-organizational work.

CCB Magazine:You call yourself a political writer. What is political about you?

Tom Bresemann:I believe in mature reading, i.e. I do not understand literature primarily as a learning experience, quiz show or cliché of world improvement. I see myself as a political author. Many of my texts can be read and have been read in this way - for me, this means neither police nor party poetry, but rather a checking, a focusing, a follow-up, a listening, a questioning, a sharpening. Poems and literature as a possibility to communicate about positions, brusque, blatant - first and foremost with oneself, without raised forefingers.

CCB Magazine:In the meantime you have published several books, most recently "Arbeiten und Wohnen im Denkmal" was published by you. Faustkultur once described you as an author between wit and rebelliousness. How did you actually come to literature?

Tom Bresemann:My first poetry collection was published in 2007, since then three more. My points of contact with literature, however, go back much further, all the way to my parents' bookcases. I grew up in a parental home where literature and books played a major role. I studied literature with professors like Norbert Miller. His approaches to texts fascinated me and opened up a whole new understanding of literature for me. I came to the literary scene in Berlin through my first activities from 2004 onwards within the framework of the S³ LiteraturWerke.

CCB Magazine:That means you read in the S³?

Tom Bresemann:Exactly. That was the beginning, so to speak. With the publication of my first books came the external perception - through reviews, invitations to readings and prizes.
 

CCB Magazine:What does literature mean to you and what is important to you when writing?

Tom Bresemann:For me, literature is primarily a communication tool. Nothing needs to be taught or learned. It's important to take up the conversation and not to let it break off, to understand literary texts as testimonies of being here and being like this. In this respect, I would like to see poems which show that their author does not stop asking questions about himself and the language situations he finds. I would like to write such poems.

CCB Magazine:Tom, what's going to happen next with you and the Lettrétage?

Tom Bresemann:My goal for the next few years is to examine the possibilities of producing and organizing literature for new approaches. Every day I want to continue to work on processes on an equal footing, through which I want to experience my projects and the collaboration with my colleagues and cooperation partners. I want to contribute to keeping the Lettrétage stable and advancing without losing its current liveliness, exuberance and openness. To organize seriously and at the same time with the flashlight under the quilt. And always keep in mind that there is so much I don't know.

CCB Magazine:Tom, thank you for the interview. 

Tom Bresemann profil on Creative City Berlin  

More informations about Tom Bresemann: http://www.literaturport.de/Tom.Bresemann

Alle Infos zur Lettrétage: www.lettretage.de

Award of the Lettrétage for Berlin's Best

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