Narratives Beyond books: Artistic Agency and Encounter with an Audience in the Work of the Compagnia delle poete and Gabriella Ghermandi

Abstract

Abstract Building on recent critical contributions on contemporary transnational literature in the Italian language, this article explores the link between the literary production of the artist Gabriella Ghermandi and the Compagnia delle poete – a collective of 20 female artists from different countries – and some of their respective performances. I argue that these performances reduce the space for interventions by the cultural intermediaries involved in the organization of events aimed at disseminating the Compagnia’s and Ghermandi’s literary production: the performances constitute new interzonal artistic explorations and preserve the agency of the artists when presenting their narrative around their own literary production; they emphasize the element of collaboration and can be discussed as part of a process of self-translation. This article pays particular attention to the prominence of the theme of migration in public discourse in Italy, which has provided opportunities for writers and artists with an interest in migration to take part in cultural events.