IMS: Contemporary Poetry from an Intermedial Perspective
Dominik Bárt is a first-year PhD student researching contemporary poetry from an intermedial perspective in the post-digital age. He is joining IMS for one month in spring 2026 to engage in dialogue with leading intermedia scholars and contribute to its vibrant research environment.
We asked Dominik Bárt about his research and why he wanted to join IMS.
What is your research focus and areas of interest?
I am in my first year of doctoral studies, where I am exploring contemporary poetry from an intermedial perspective in the context of the post-digital situation. Contemporary poetry has fascinated me since the beginning of my university studies, partly because I write and create myself. I was led to the intermedial approach both by the realization that it is unavoidable today and by the fact that an intermedial approach is often absent from the theory of lyric poetry and poetry in general. Literary studies, and indeed even criticism and the whole literary field, are quite monomedial and traditional—not only in the realm of poetry—which has power-related reasons that literary studies and criticism try to maintain. In doing so, however, it completely misses the reality in which it exists. Book poetry is only a small fraction of what is happening in contemporary poetry.
Why do you want to spend time with IMS?
I consider the Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS) to be the most inspiring and precise in the field of intermedia studies. I based my master's thesis on the publications and theories of local researchers, so it is a great pleasure for me to be a part of this environment in person, to meet these colleagues, and to discuss intermedial topics with them. If I had to name just a few, they would be the researchers Beate Schirrmacher and Jørgen Bruhn. And also the entire inspiring group of doctoral students!
What do you hope to contribute during your time here?
I believe that every encounter and dialogue helps a person grow, whether or not it results in a physical output (such as a study, etc.). I find conversations with local intermedia researchers—especially the intermedia seminars—incredibly inspiring. I feel, and this is what matters most, that every conversation here is enriching for both parties.