Ein Projekt von No Boundaries e.V. und der University of Michigan in Kooperation mit Gangway e.V. und dem Prison Creative Artis Project

Be-Troit nimmt die Bandbreite der Stile, Sprachen und Genres aus der zeitgenössischen Lyrikszene Detroits auf und möchte diese Impulse nach Berlin tragen, wo sich in den letzten zehn bis zwanzig Jahren eine international vernetzte Poesie-, Spoken Word- und HipHop-Landschaft entwickelt hat, die jedoch stark ihren ‘Szenen’ verhaftet bleibt. Das Projekt initiiert aktive poetische Begegnungen von jungen, ehemals inhaftierten Jugendlichen und bereits etablierten Künstlerinnen und Künstlern verschiedener Generationen aus den USA und Deutschland. Dabei soll das Aufeinandertreffen aktueller Tendenzen aus den USA und jüngster Entwicklungen in Deutschland neue lyrische Texte anregen, die einem Publikum in Detroit und Berlin öffentlich zugänglich gemacht werden. Im Vordergrund stehen Neukonfigurationen und -kontextualisierungen, Sprachspiele sowie die Umdeutung von Zeichen und Sprache im Transferprozess des Anverwandelns – Kernbestandteil des Projektes sind daher Übersetzungsworkshops. Dieser inszenierte Austauschprozess möchte bisherige Erfahrungen in US-amerikanischen Kulturaustauschprojekten als Impuls aufgreifen und mit dem Mittel der Übersetzung greifbarer machen: Übersetzung ist die Erfahrung, die meisten Menschen in der heutigen Welt ständig und überall machen. Unsere Gegenwart ist durch internationale Handelsbeziehungen, Migration, Reise, Medien und private Kommunikation geprägt. Globale Migration zwingt alle zum Ablegen und Neuankommen. Doch beim Über-Setzen über den Fluss bleiben beide Ufer nicht unverändert, das Ablegen erzeugt einen Strudel, das Ankommen ebenfalls. Das Projekt möchte den Begriff der Übersetzung weiter denken: Übersetzen als kultureller Stimulus, als Haltung, sich mit dem Anderen, dem Fremden und dem Eigenen zu beschäftigen. Da die Gruppen von Projekt-involvierten Künstlern sich aus erfahrenen, etablierten sowie jungen, ehemals inhaftierten Menschen zusammen setzt, dürfen wir auf neue Werke, die in diesem Prozess entstehen gespannt sein.

Vanessa gentile is a singer/song writer. She writes her own lyrics in German and has worked for and with a variety of German MC´s. Currently she is collaborating with "Azad" on a feature called "Weltbild". She is also currently collaborating with two producers on a project  called "Schatten und Helden". She has facilitated many workshops for kids and youths. She is a full-time musician with additional skills in graphic design and video editing

Gigo Flow of "Gitta Spitta" is an MC and initiator of "Spuck auf Rechts", a country wide network of MC´s writing lyrics and making videos positioning themselves against the far right. In addition to his work as a lyricist he is also active a media designer and as such he has worked with a number of of artists over the years.

Over the last decade, the art of serious Hip Hop lyricism and skill has steadily risen around the globe. One of the places where it has flourished is Germany, particularly Berlin. In a global village where non-American emcees spit multi-syllabic entendres in several languages, Berlin has produced some of the nastiest. At the top of that pile might be MC Diamondog who, at last count, could not only rhyme in Portuguese (his primary tongue to spit in), but also English and could do so with the rapid fire delivery of Twista… times 10.

Ninjah is an MC, Singer, Songwriter and self proclaimed Nerd from Berlin with Japanese roots. She has ben active since the year 2000 and is currently working on a number of projects.

Dalibor Marković. Poet.

Born and raised in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, with a croatian cultural background. As a child he discovered his ability to create sounds and rhythms with only his mouth - the so-called "beatboxing".

During his study of philosophy at the University of Frankfurt, he started performing at "Poetry-Slams", a modern form of competition for upcoming poets. Along with two friends and fellow poets he established the Spoken-Word-Team "WordAlert". In 2010 they were the winning team at the "Zürich Spoken Word Festival".

In 2014 he won the German Poetry Slam Championship in Dresden with the new-formed team called „Team Scheller“ along with Dominique Macri.

His work on stage is a collage of dialogues, prosaic inserts and rhythmic poetry, which often embodies the beatbox as a link or break inbetween.

Dalibor Marković lives in Frankfurt am Main. 

CV will follow shortly....

CV will follow shortly

Olad Aden is an African-German-American Street Social Worker based in Berlin, Germany. In this capacity he has initiated and facilitated a number of youth exchange programs like "The BronxBerlinConnection". In addition he co-curated a number of cultural projects. In 2010 he co-curated "Translating Hip Hop" for the House of World Cultures in Berlin. He co-initiated and co-curated "SPOKEN WOR:L:DS", a Literature/Rap project between Berlin and Nairobi for the Literatur Werkstatt-Berlin. He just concluded working on a project called DExZA, a Poetry/Rap/Music performance exchange program between Johannesburg and Berlin for No Boundaries e.V. funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation/The Goethe Institut and the German Consulate in South Africa. He is currently preparing to travel to Detroit, Michigan with a group of young artists to kick of the Poetry/Rap extravaganza #Be-troit 

Dr. Larry Gant’s  research/practice interests on 'street level' community social work in western style democratic nations led to many visits to Western Europe between 2002-2014.  He secured resources to design the Transnational Intersectional Cultural Learning Community (TICLC) to compare programs, policies and services in youth-related human trafficking, juvenile justice and human migration in the migration hub cities of Detroit, Amsterdam, and Berlin.

University of Michigan Student

Performing Arts Technology, Sound Engineering

Minor Performing Arts Management