Walter Benjamin's work could be described as an extremely precise and sensible/sensitive analysis of modernity. Or, more precisely, of the procedures through which modernity is affecting modes of life and of communication and, essentially, of relating to the world. In his "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" for example, Benjamin describes a practice of an intense “listening”, a mode of extreme attentiveness and generosity towards every-thing that surrounded him, as the precondition for any form of language. And in "The Storyteller", he views storytelling as a way of voicing such experiences of listening to and of experiencing the world. Yet storytelling makes use of almost everything that the modern individual is not or has not, most notably time and the ability to listen. In this mode of communication, the story resonates on multiple levels of meaning without ever assuming the position of an objective truth. In other words, storytelling creates personal narratives where truth and fiction are as much intertwined as the subject of the narration with its object.
Guided by a desire to take a closer look into Benjamin's work, we propose the feminist reading group.
What does it mean to read as a feminist? The question may seem odd, or even trivial, but it engages the very ground of our work as artists and thinkers. Indeed, how is our reflection oriented, if not by the very way in which we turn to the text? And yet, when we think about methodologies and epistemologies, we rarely interrogate the practice of reading itself. This is all the more surprising that feminists tend to engage with texts by seeking to counter and denounce what phallocentrism wishes to leave unseen. These oppositional readings are crucial: without them, the insidious fallacies and the fatal acts of bad faith cannot be undone and proliferate unhampered. Yet they also run the risk of turning feminism into a mode of thinking that does nothing but to say “no,” one that destroys but rarely creates, and one that produces its own form of alienation. We want to propose another form of feminist reading: instead of the critical, distrustful distance, we suggest that closeness and intimacy may form an equally powerful approach. In this reading group, we examine what feminist thinking can become when it takes the shape of a lover’s response to a text’s seduction, and when refutation and penetration are replaced by a mode of reading that is founded in an ethics of proximity.
The structure of the reading group is open. There are no experts. We choose, read and unfold the texts together and according to the interest and individual focus of the participants.
Meetings from 17:00-20:00 at a.pass studio, 4th floor
Next meetings & readings: 20.06 / 04.07 / 18.07 / 08.08
For further information about the texts please contact: marialena.pouskouri@gmail.com
index
- Caroline Godart and Marialena Marouda
- 04 June 2018
- 09 May 2018
- case of: Lilia Mestre
- Parallel Parasite
Instead of Needing to Know SOL/School Of Love in the frame of Parallel-Parasite
11 May 2018
posted by: Lilia Mestre
Out of the many definitions of love, SOL was always attracted to the one that describes love as the willingness to let go of what you thought you were before meeting the other. This kind of love can exist among strangers, not only within romantic couples. Schools should teach how to love this way. Schools should facilitate this mode of being.
If both Love and School engaged in the practice of being open to change through encounters with others, we might develop sensitivities to deal with unknown paths better. Maybe we would be better off improvising through, with and within the unknown, instead of needing to know. Maybe improvisation today can be approached as a mode of resistance to a life dedicated to an anticipated and defined future.
Proposing to put improvisation back in the agenda might seem like stating the obvious. Life itself is an improvisation, of course, we never stopped improvising. But as we already did with love and school, SOL would like to dedicate a special attention to improvisation in order to examine its relevance to contemporary realities. Not the improvisation that aims to emancipate repressed self-expression, nor the one that provides skills and the mastery to manouver within individual lives and careers, but an attitude of improvisation that may create an actualized set of relations between us and other people, us and other things, us and anything that is not us.
Lets call it a pre-research. The week we'll spend in Szenne gallery is mainly a theoretical exploration, aiming at beginning to understand what these thoughts might mean. Perhaps by the end of the residency we will prefer not to use the word improvisation anymore/at all, and will name things differently. For now, we will share our first thoughts on it, read texts together, practice and reflect on the directions that this process can grow into.tp://Please inscribe here : https://bimestriel.framapad.org/p/VoV7C6HGQX
www.schooloflove.info
https:///www.apass.be/parallel-parasite-platform-for-practice-based-research-in-the-arts/* * *
* Members of SOL develop projects collectively, or invite SOL to join a process they initiated individually. This process was initiated by Adva Zakai and will be practiced in collaboration with SOL members and whoever is interested in joining.** Participation conditions: Preferably follow the whole week, so that we share a process. If a whole week not possible, come for a full day. If planning ahead is too difficult, pop in and we'll see what this does to our and your process.
Please inscribe here : https://bimestriel.framapad.org/p/VoV7C6HGQXWeekly plan
Monday June 4th
11h – 12h Settle in, introduction of participants and their interests.
12h – 13h Listen to lecture On not knowing and paying attention / Tim Ingold + discussion
13h – 14h30 Lunch break
14h30 – 17h Read fragments from Speaking and Sensing the Self in Authentic
Movement: The Search for Authenticity in a 21st Century / Seran E. Schug
17h30 - 19h Socratic discussion on the term Authentic
19h - 20h Introduction of the School Of LoveTuesday June 5th
11h – 13h Read Improvisational Necessity and its After Affects / Sher Doruff
13h – 14h30 Lunch break
14h30 - 17h Read Improvisational Necessity and its After Affects / Sher Doruff
17h30 – 19h Socratic discussion on the term ImprovisationWednesday June 6th
SOL OFFThursday June 7th
11h – 13h Authentic movement guided by Julien Bruneau, (ONLY for those who follow other days in the process)
13h – 14h30 Lunch break
14h30 – 17h Authentic movement practice guided by Julien Bruneau (ONLY for those who follow other days in the process)
17h30 -19h TTTell (Time-Term-Tell discussion)
19h30 SOL interview by Lauren Grusenmeyer for the WORKOUT publication http://bureaugrusenmeyer.com/projects/WORKOUTFriday June 8th
11h – 13h Read Towards a Politics of Immediation / Erin Manning
13h – 14h30 Lunch break
14h30 - 17h Read Towards a Politics of Immediation / Erin Manning
17h30 – 19h Roumor Machine (discussion)Saturday June 9th
11h – 13h Read Towards a Politics of Immediation / Erin Manning
13h – 13h30 Break and lunch preparation
13h30 – 15h Final discussion, plans for the future, feedback on the week and goodbye.Additionally:
Tuesday June 26th
SOL will meet with Erin Manning and the Sense Lab at ZSenne Gallery at 19h, in an open public discussion about the text of Manning that was read during SOL's residency.
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Feminist Benjamin Reading Group 01 June 2017
posted by: Lilia Mestre