LONDON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF SURREALISM 2007

Monday 16th - Sunday 29th July

in the following venues:

cemeteries, wasteground & abandoned sites
pubs & cafes
empty buildings, silenced offices & haunted houses
factories & slums
streets, forests & deserts
London & its doppelgängers
atopoi, dystopoi & utopoi
your own head, heart & lap
online & offline
everywhere & nowhere
wherever you least expect it ...

Last summer, SLAG's London International Festival of Surrealism consumed the world like a ravenous kiss. More than 40 contributors from at least seven countries joined forces to create an international festival of dreams, poetry and play. This summer we are inviting our friends and fellow travellers worldwide, both old and new, to join us again for another fortnight of festive fun, whether with us in London or wherever you happen to find yourselves during the last two weeks of July.

Participation in the Festival is simple. Towards the end of June, SLAG will distribute on its mailing list a pdf booklet of games and other activities. Participation in the Festival means, quite simply, conducting as many of the activities as you like, either on your own or with others. In some cases there may be specific dates or times at which collaborators around the world will all be conducting the same activity at the same time. In other cases we will simply do so at any time we choose during the two weeks of the Festival. When the Festival is over, you will be invited to send any results, findings or other contributions to SLAG by email. We will then compile an album of photos, reports, texts and images from the Festival for distribution to all the contributors.

As with last year's Festival, we are inviting you not just to play alongside us but also to suggest your own games, events or other ideas. If you email your proposals for games, enquiries, events etc. to us by Friday 15th June, we will include them in the pdf booklet and distribute them on our mailing list. If you don’t like any of our suggestions, don’t just sit there wishing we had come up with better ones, invent your own and make them happen yourself. Adapt our games for your own purposes, or prepare to be struck by the Marvellous in a thousand unanticipated ways during those two weeks in July.

In the words of Lautréamont, “Poetry must be made by all.” The London International Festival of Surrealism is not designed for passive consumption. This is a DIY festival: it is up to you to make it happen.

To join our mailing list, email us at the usual address.