Mit Anderen Worten

Creative writing workshop series and collaborative publication

February–March 2026

New East cultural space, Daugavpils, Latvia

Mit anderen Worten — “In Other Words” — was a series of creative writing workshops led by German writer Jana Geldner during her residency in Daugavpils. Across several meetings, participants from different linguistic, cultural and generational backgrounds experimented with writing through everyday objects, found texts and simple creative prompts.

The workshops were neither lectures nor conventional literary events. No previous writing experience was required, and participants were not expected to prove their ability to produce a “good” or finished text. Writing became a practice of attention — a way of seeing familiar surroundings anew, listening to the nuances of language and approaching experiences that may remain unspoken in everyday conversation.

Daugavpils itself became the material of the process: its multilingual environment, urban spaces, objects, fragments of conversation and the participants’ personal relationships with language. Latvian, Russian, English, German and other languages did not appear as separate systems. They overlapped, resisted precise translation and revealed how language shapes memory, identity and the experience of belonging.

The title Mit anderen Worten suggests the possibility of expressing the same experience again — in another language, through another form or from another point of view. Translation was therefore not simply a technical tool but part of the artistic process. By searching for other words, participants also searched for other ways of speaking about themselves and the city they inhabit.

The workshops were grounded in voluntary and supported participation. Participants could write privately, share their work with the group or contribute it to a collective publication. No one was expected to make their writing public without consent. This low-pressure approach created a space in which experimentation mattered more than evaluation.

Texts, impressions and fragments of language gathered during the residency formed the basis of the artistic zine Mit anderen Worten. Created in collaboration with workshop participants, the publication preserves Daugavpils not as a single coherent portrait, but as a constellation of voices, languages and unfinished stories.

The workshop series transformed writing into a community practice. Rather than searching for one language through which the city could be explained, Mit anderen Worten embraced its polyphony as a starting point.

Information

Residency period: 23 February–8 March 2026

Venue: New East cultural space, 41A 18 Novembra Street, Daugavpils

Workshop language: English, with Latvian and Russian translation

Artist and workshop facilitator: Jana Geldner, Germany

Outcome: the multilingual collaborative zine Mit anderen Worten

Programme and Support

The workshop series took place within NEAR — New East Artist Residency as part of Culture Moves Europe.

Residency organised by: New East Culture Institute

Supported by: the European Union, Goethe-Institut and Goethe-Institut Riga