April 30, 2014
Various
For MIAMI PROPER / A FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR JUAN GELMAN was a performance and public transmission of a bilingual reading of the poetry of Juan Gelman throughout the streets of Miami, Florida in April 2014.
Utilizing a customized mobile FM transmitter, artist Jordan Marty broadcasted Gelman's work on FM radio while criss-crossing Miami in a pick-up truck.
The poems, which come from Gelman's "translations" of his fictional American cowboy poet Sidney West, were read in both in English and Spanish simultaneously. The trip was made a few months after Gelman's death and was intended as a local funeral procession for the great Argentine poet.
The aim of the project was to extend the reach of O, Miami, disseminating poetry - albeit fleetingly - to those within the community who are unaware of the festival itself.