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INPRIMATU
David Martínez
"Poems to reflect on Euskera, technology and nature"
  • The arminist Dabid Martínez Pérez is a computer scientist and an official activist. In August, he carried out the Poetry in the Near Space initiative, a proposal that combined poetry, technology and nature.
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Dabid Martinezek Eremu Hurbileko Poesia egitasmoa burutu zuen abuztuan Armintzan. Argazkia: Hiruka

Martinez says that it was a pilot project: "I took advantage of the famous route from the Roman Bridge of Armintza to Urizar to encourage people to read poetry in Basque." To do so, 11 Basque creators placed posters with shared poems in the area. As the signs were hidden, visitors must use NFC technology (Near-field communication) and QR codes to locate them: "I am part of the free software movement and wanted to carry out this small project to promote and reflect on the use of technology, nature and poetry through this technology and the use of poems"

At first, the Bermeotarra settled in Armintza recognized that it had very low expectations: "We have to bear in mind that poetry, Euskera and technology were the themes of the project, therefore, there was nothing mainstream." In addition, it indicates that the deployment took place only at the local level: "The writer and friend Aritza Bergara shared it on his social networks and, in general, I only spread it among my friends." However, in a single month, 146 people participated and 91 of them traveled the entire route. "For me the result has been very nice, considering what the media were."

For free culture

Martínez emphasizes that the license of Poetry in the Near Field has been Copyleft, in this case CC BY-SA, license to easily share creative works around the world. This Creative Commons license aims to reduce legal barriers to content sharing by recognizing (BY, Attribution) and sharing them in the same way (SA, ShareAlike). The author wanted to highlight this aspect of the project because he believes in Copyleft. "I believe that this type of special license, both for the Basque Country and for the culture of the Basque Country, can bring many benefits, and that is why I try to freely disseminate the materials generated in all the projects I carry out." In recent years, at the request of the groups that bet on free culture, he has acted in an itinerant way and has expressed his desire to promote reflection on Poetry in the Near Space, among other issues.

In addition, I also wanted to claim that culture has to occupy the public space with the project: "I didn't ask anyone for permission to move the project forward, and I made the decision consciously." He also says that "to prove that there is the possibility of approaching technology and culture without being a great museum", that the materials for the project were made repeatable by anyone anywhere. In addition, he adds that it can be an interesting example of project promotion for other projects: "Local tourism, mythology, historical memory... The only limitation is imagination."

11 poets

These have been the names given to him by poetry: Ainara Maia Urroz (Irun), Ainhzie Errekatxo Rekalde (Algorta), Asel Luzarraga Zarrabeitia (Mundaka), Dabid Martinez Perez (Armintza), Ibon Zubiela Martin (Bilbao), Jon Etxebarxo