Motel Poetry

Poetry is so much more than we think it is. A dancer moving gracefully, a musician sliding up a scale to find the notes between them - poetry is connecting with the universal through the personal. It is storytelling in all its art forms. During the program of Motel Poetry, an online and offline multidisciplinary platform, they bring together established poets to explore the boundaries of storytelling with each other through crossovers between language, music and dance. 

At Motel Poetry, spectators imagine themselves in a world of wonder, a dream flight in which the layering of poetry silently crosses over into magical moments. 

Between day and today, Moze Naél (curator) maneuvers past spoken word, poetry, visuals, and music. Words that cut deep through layers of skin, sentences that cleave emotions, and melodies that take you to places you've never been. Moze Naél finds you between the lines, beyond genres. In previous years, he released, among others, the EP 'Long Emptiness', made the audiovisual project 'Close to the sea, far from home' and created an hour-long audiovisual live show called 'Soul Rest' together with composer Winterdagen, light artist Nick Verstand and three-time world breaking champion Menno van Gorp. Besides being an artist, Moze Naél is also the founder of the online and offline platform Motel Poetry, where he creates a place for artists who are at the intersection of spoken word poetry, music, dance, visual art, and light art. 

Dean Bowen is a poet, performer and programmer. His work concerns the dynamics of composite identity and how it relates to the political and social positioning of the individual. His debut collection Bokman (2018) has been described as lyrical, inspire,ing and infuriating; a personal quest that exposes universal patterns and allows many voices to speak. Bokman appeared in Italian translation in 2021. In 2020, the chapbook Ik vond geen spoken in Achtmaal was published. An intimate search for what remains of a person after they die. In this publication, created in collaboration with the literary festival Tilt and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds - Noord-Brabant, Bowen searches for a way to relate to activist and poet Henriette Roland Holst. For this, he stayed at Roland Holst's former estate on the Oude Buisse Heide in his former country house. Bowen won the first Van Dale SPOKEN Award in the poetry category and his debut Bokman, was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize.  

He teaches performance literature and poetry at the creative writing program at ArtEZ in Arnhem and during the lockdowns he developed the theater performance Poetic Resistance with Willie Darktrousers, Martin Rombouts and Maxime Garcia Diaz. 

Eva van Manen is an artist, songwriter, poet, and music producer who moves between various disciplines and worlds. On her debut album "Politiek & Liefde" (2018), she bridges styles such as rap, electronica, and guitar pop with a fluid, personal perspective and explores where politics and love intersect. In it, her wide range of musical interests - from hip-hop, soul, indie and jazz - can be heard. On her second album "De Diepte In" (2021), Eva delves into her world of feelings and seeks a flowing sensitivity, for which she collaborated with various pop and jazz musicians. Also in 2021, Eva's first poetry collection "How Did We Get Here?" was published by publishing house Hollands Diep and in 2020, together with Josephine Zwaan, she founded Rosetta. A development platform for female and gender non-conforming music producers in the Netherlands. In May 2023, her latest EP 'Le Hérou' was released, a solo EP written and recorded in the Belgian Ardennes. She is currently working on her new album.  

Mirte Hartland is a singer-songpoet, musical word artist, and language magician with guitar. By juggling sung and spoken word, guitar and vocals, she explores where music and poetry reinforce each other. She does this both solo and in collaboration with creators from other disciplines. Her work consists of a carefully composed collage of atmospheres and images with melancholic undertones. Her work touches on themes of queer love, relationship with nature, and social justice. With her work, Mirte has performed at Oerol, Lowlands, and De Parade. Since 2018, she has been the house musician of Babs' Woodsalon. As a creator and coach, she has been associated with Poetry Circle since 2008.

Sjaan Flikweert is an interdisciplinary performing artist. She makes spoken word poetry, music, dance, theater and film. For her, stories have the magical power to connect people and represent something new or different. It takes us by the hand beyond the limits of our own limitations.  

Sjaan has been an active performing artist at home and abroad for over 14 years. She was featured in the anthology HARDOP and she has been published in Tirade. She is part of the foundation of Poetry Circle and has worked for AYA, de Gasten, Bühnenbiest, Rover company, Silbersee, Nanoek and Dox, among others. She released two audiovisual poetry collections: Ergens thuis en de ruimte ertussen  (Lonely Wolf Festival and NPF nomination) and De werkelijkheid heeft mij niet nodig (selected for NFF and NPF) . She organizes BYMEKAAR, a bi-monthly improvisational concert with music, spoken word, and dance. 

Stryder is a poet and narrowly a child of the 1980s. Through hip-hop, he learned the power words can hold. Stryder sees himself not as a word artist, but as someone who possesses the art of pain and translates it into a rawness that is rare beauty.          Stryder also performs as a rapper and made a mixtape De Stem Van with Gaza. This was a critical reflection on society and world politics. Today he is part of the hip-hop collective Camp Rauw, with which he released the debut album Meer dan muziek.

Draaiende Derwisjen: One hand reaching to the heavens, the other to the earth. This is how the dervishes have been dancing for centuries, endlessly rotating on their axis to connect the divine with the earthly in their trance. The sema is a beautiful ritual of the Mevlevi, a Sufi order from Istanbul.  

In the last century, this ritual of music and dance threatened to disappear due to a ban by the great Atatürk. Since the 1980s, it has flourished again as of old.