[Sokrates] Veranstaltungsreihe: Politics of (Dis)Assembling

[Felix Werfel <felix.werfel@fu-berlin.de>]

Dear all,

We wish to invite you to Politics of (Dis)Assembling, a series of political and artistic gatherings at Savvy Contemporary (Reinickendorfer Str. 17, 13347 Berlin) that will take place June 19 and June 29, 19:30 h. The events bring together several correlated issues, like the role of assembly in creating solidarity, the aesthetics of activist art, and the possibility of aesthetic practices to make other intersubjective relations, futures, and social structures imaginable. They try to map out some of the contemporary developments of these questions with engaged artists, intellectuals, and institutions.

At the first event on June 19, artist Marwa Arsanios and art historian T.J. Demos will explore the potential of the arts to impact politics and redesign a different, more just future. While Arsanios hones strategies for structural and infrastructural change inside alternative and counter-cultural communities, such as feminist communes or artistic cooperatives, Demos explores potentialities for alliances, diplomacy, and solidarity between different struggles. Together, they will discuss the aesthetic dimensions of protest and political movements, or, conversely, how political action learns from aesthetic practices. Different ways of gathering and organizing will be addressed, as well as how institutions can deliver support.

At the second event on June 29, anti-racist activist group STOP DEPORTATION CENTER BER! and interdisciplinary scholar Dr. Jennifer Ponce de León will discuss assembly as a form of politico-aesthetic intervention into public discourse as well as a means to build solidarity and protest. STOP DEPORTATION CENTER BER! will give some insight into the events that took place at the protest camp against the planned deportation center at airport BER, which they held from June 1 to June 6. Dr. Ponce de León will give a talk about The Art of Class Struggle, in which she will examine the arts as a site and stake of class struggle, art practices connected to social movements, socialist vs. bourgeois theories of aesthetics, and issues regarding how activist art is theorized.

Both assemblies will have corresponding workshops. In a more focused and intimate setting, these activities are destined for those who want to interact more intensively with the participating scholars. These workshops will happen at the Villa of the SFB 1512: Intervening Arts (Grunewaldstraße 34, 12165 Berlin) on June 18th and June 30th (Workshop 1 & Workshop 2) . To register for the workshop, please send a brief email to Jannika Hinz: jannika.hinz@fu-berlin.de

Event in English (with a possibility for informal translation to German) | free admission | registration required | barrier-free access: Please indicate your specific accessibility needs|

Politics of (Dis)Assembling is designed and organized by the subprojects A01, A02, and C04 at the Collaborative Research Center Intervening Arts under supervision of Eric de Bruyn, Matthias Warstat, and Robin Celikates.

Cordially,

Naomi Boyce, Sambojang Ceesay, Judith Henrike Pieper, Lena Pozdnyakova, João Gabriel Rizek, Luise Willer, Felix Werfel as well as Imyeon Han, Tobias Yale Rosen, and Jannika Hinz