el instituto

el instituto, currently headquartered in Mexico City, is a not-for-profit organization that generates exhibitions, conferences, workshops, courses and platforms for other events. el instituto is committed to the exploration of the overlap between art, culture, politics, activism and human rights theory and practice, both locally and internationally. Having no physical site of its own, el instituto functions symbiotically, hosted by cultural or academic institutions, while also operating in less official spaces and capacities.

current projects include
Not I: the Performative Speech Act and the Sovereign Subject, a research project.

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The research project Not I: The Performative Speech Act and the Sovereign Subject takes a look at the conditions - the who, why and where - in which one can speak and be heard. Not I proposes an analysis of different forms of speech acts and an exploration of the possibility of breaking with the inherent power relations, the "contextually bound formulas" and the conventions surrounding the right to successfully issue performative utterances.

The project deals with human rights issues specifically through the lens of the politics of performativity and the performative speech act. Emerging from research on dissident political art practice in Latin America - specifically the contentious and heavily censored period of visual art practice in Argentina in and around 1968 and the response to the 1968 massacre of student activists at Tlatelolco in Mexico City - the project will involve extensive study of the work of international human rights activists and theorists and of cultural practitioners deeply committed to the political uses of social space and the complexity of enunciation within those spaces.

The project freely crosses disciplines and historical periods in an attempt to draw out the discourse of human rights activists around the construction and deconstruction of the 'subject' (the modern subject), and the subsequent study of the complex contemporary political subject, (looking critically at theoretical constructions around the notions of sovereignty, displacement, exile and nomadism, among others) and taking into account work in visual art, film and other cultural, spatial and political practices that attempt to complicate notions of performativity and human rights discourse and action.

The project is conceived of as an extended platform for research around these sets of issues and is comprised of conferences, workshops, performances, an exhibition and other events.

Programmed public events include a conference on March 25th hosted by UNAM's Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco in Mexico City; a series of workshops led by international human rights theorists, activists, architects and artists in the autumn of 2011; and a large scale exhibition, also hosted by Tlatelolco, in the summer of 2012.

Research towards this project has been made possible by a Curatorial Research Fellowship awarded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts.

Untethering the speech act from the sovereign subject founds an
alternative notion of agency and, ultimately, of responsibility ...

- Judith Butler: Excitable Speech Acts, 1997

... suppose that, picking sides at a children's party, I say "I pick George". But George turns
red in the face and says, "Not playing". In that case I plainly, for some reason or another, have not
picked George - whether because there is no convention that you can pick people who aren't playing,
or because George in the circumstances is an inappropriate object for the procedure of picking.

- J.L. Austin: Performative Utterances, 1979

Spatial Practices in Revolution was the second series of public events in the ongoing research project Not I: The Performative Speech Act and the Sovereign Subject. The performances and workshops were organized by el instituto and took place at CCU Tlatelolco, UNAM and Casa del Lago Juan José Arreola .

"agency begins where sovereignty wanes"
- Judith Butler

Módulo 1

The Workhouse / The Dreamhouse

Módulo 2

La imaginación política y la
inteligencia colectiva

Módulo 3

I would prefer not to

Módulo 4

La Revolución Indignada

Módulo 5

Camuflaje, desaparición y la política de lo imperceptible

Módulo 6

War Primer 2: a betrayal and an homage to Bertolt Brecht

photo gallery

documents and materials

workshop information

presenter information

Free speech

In Discourse and truth, a series of six lectures at UC Berkeley in 1983, Michel Foucault explores the nature of parrhesia or 'free speech' - and the uses of parrhesia to tell the truth - tracing the term and its usage from Greek literature in Euripides [c.484-407 BC] throughout Greek and Roman culture: essentially from the Fifth Century BC to the beginnings of Christianity.

As it appears in Euripides' plays and also in the texts of the Fourth Century BC, parrhesia is an essential characteristic of Athenian democracy.

In Euripides play Ion, for example, the right to use parrhesia or the right to free speech is directly linked to Athenian citizenship:

Believing erroneously that he is Xuthus' son, Ion is seeking the identity of his mother:

"ION: ... one piece of good luck eludes me still: unless I find my mother, my life is worthless.

Why is it impossible for Ion to live without finding his mother ? He continues :

"ION: ... If I may do so, I pray my mother is Athenian, so that through her I may have rights of speech. For when a stranger comes into the city of pure blood, though in name a citizen, his mouth remains a slave: he has no right of speech."

For the purposes of the larger Not I project, and specifically for the Spatial Practices in Revolution program, what is interesting in Foucault's set of lectures is his elaboration of the very clear conditions under which speech was even possible in Greek and Roman cultures. For the autumn 2011 program, el instituto has asked the participants to think about the conditions under which the 'speech act' can and does happen.

The Speech Act

But firstly, what is a speech act?

As elaborated by the language philosopher J. L. Austin in Performative Utterances, he describes the performative utterance as one in which, in the saying, one is doing.

In the marriage ceremony one says 'I do' and in the saying it is done.

The same applies to utterances such as 'I apologize' or 'I name'.

But for Austin, the utterance is not always successful. The conditions must be 'right' for an act of speech to be felicitous, to function properly. If not, it is a 'misfire', barely recognizable as speech, it is mere 'noise'.

In Performative Utterances, Austin gives us an example of a 'misfire', of an infelicitous performative utterance, while describing the circumstances of the naming of a new ship: The ship is ready to be launched, the dignitaries are present, the champagne is at hand. At the point at which the champagne bottle is about to be used to christen the ship, a drunk emerges from the crowd, grabs the bottle, throws it at the ship, and christens it 'Generalissimo Stalin'. The verbal protocols were followed, the words were said, but of course the ship has not been christened thus. This is because, for Austin, the conditions were not absolutely correct: the speaker was a "low type" - the utterance could not possibly have been successful.

In reference to Austin's anecdote, Thomas Keenan, human rights theorist and director of the Human Rights Project at Bard College in New York, notes that for Austin, "The power does not reside simply in the words themselves, however necessary the words are. They are not magic words or incantations; they are contextually bound formulas."

But who is it that defines the conditions under which a speech act can be performed ?

Keenan would probably suggest we wonder where the 'low' type narrated in Austin's story ended up. In fact, Keenan picks up where Austin left off and asks: How do the uninvited come to take a rightful place in politics

This is one of the larger questions that the Not I project asks, although perhaps through this series of events and workshops, that question will be reconfigured somewhat ...

In his text Drift: Politics and the Simulation of Real Life Territories/Islands, Keenan quotes Rex Wockner describing the inauguration of the 5th Annual Aids Conference in Montreal in 1989 at which "more than 300 members of ACT/UP New York, Toronto's AIDS Action Now, and Reaction SIDA of Montreal marched into the Palais de Congres, commandeered the escalators, entered the main conference site, took over the stage, demanded that the microphones be turned on, and, in the name of persons with AIDS, 'officially' opened the Fifth International Conference on AIDS on June 4th ..." this was the first conference at which representatives of victims of AIDS were present and had a say in the discourse around AIDS. And it changed the configuration of these conferences forever.

Spatial Practices in Revolution asks the participants it will gather together in the autumn to consider the who, how, when and under what circumstances speech can occur, voices can be heard. But we will also ask ' who do we want to hear our voices ?' 'To whom are we directing ourselves ?' 'In what ways do we want to reconfigure ourselves as subjects ?'

The events and workshops will take a look at the dualism that historically has framed and predetermined the relation between state and subject (or citizen). We ask questions about whether there are ways in which this complex state/subject relation can be reconfigured, has been reconfigured and whether it is possible to think outside of this configuration altogether, on micro or macro scales.

There are no clear answers, and in fact, the purpose of this project is not to find clear answers. This is the second of a series of public events occurring within a long process of research-driven activities that attempt to deal with the ways in which we can rethink the "contextually bound formula" to use Keenan's term, under which the uninvited can invite themselves in and generate their own politics.

The project will deal with human rights issues specifically through the lens of the politics of performativity and the performative speech act. The project will freely cross disciplines and historical periods in an attempt to draw out the discourse of human rights activists around the construction and deconstruction of the 'subject' (the modern subject), and the subsequent study of the complex contemporary political subject, (looking critically at theoretical constructions around the notions of sovereignty, displacement, exile and nomadism) and taking into account work in visual art, film and other cultural, spatial and political practices that attempt to complicate notions of performativity and human rights discourse and action.

The issues will be tackled by artists, performers, human rights activists and theorists, sociologists, architects, and other researchers and cultural practitioners in the autumn of this year, primarily asking: Is it possible to shake our notions of power as a hegemonic entity that exists in and of itself and to instead reconfigure seemingly entrenched power relations ?

We will bring together a group of participants ( both tutors and 'students' ) interested in the proposed subjects who will follow the 3-month series of events and workshops. In this way, we hope to generate a forum for extended discussion around sets of issues related to contemporary cultural and political practice in Mexico and abroad. The Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, host to Spatial Practices in Revolution, is situated in the midst of a highly politicized working class housing complex, and houses the memorial to 68, the first major expose of documents and testimonies related to the 68 student movement massacre. Many of the participants will specifically address the context of Tlatelolco itself and the issues regarding political hierarchies and questions of sovereignty that unhinge the dominant models of state/subject of mainstream politics and society that are inherently embedded in the fabric of this urban site.

Theoretical thinking around notions of dissent as a spatial practice; around our ideas of protest; of non-participation; and of other political strategies, will be brought together with closely read case studies in an attempt to bring theoretical and practice-based research into close dialogue. The program will provide a platform for a group of interested thinkers to cross boundaries between cultural and political practice at all levels of academic, professional and political development.

The six workshops will run from September through November of 2011, taking place on weekends, and occasionally on weekday evenings. Participants can elect to attend all six or specific workshops (please indicate preference on application forms). There will also be a number of public events held which will be open to the general public.

Confirmed speakers include Avery Gordon and Ines Schaber (Session 1); Fran Ilich and Jennifer Flores Sternad (Session 2); Montserrat Albores Gleason and Pablo Sigg (Session 3); Tania Bruguera (Session 4) and María Berríos and David Levine (Session 5); Thomas Keenan and Oliver Chanarin (Session 6);

There is a suggested donation of 500 pesos for each workshop. Participants demonstrating financial need may be eligible for full or partial grants. Apply as necessary.

course details T.B.A.

Not I: The Performative Speech Act and the Sovereign Subject
an exhibition at Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco

Summer, 2012

details t.b.a.

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Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco
Ricardo Flores Magon 1, col. Nonoalco-Tlatelolco

To be held at UNAM's Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco in Mexico City as an element of el instituto's Not I project.

view project information

Not I: un encuentro sobre arte y politica
( Not I: a conference on art and politics )

March 25, 2011

10am - 1pm, 4pm - 7pm

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Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco
Ricardo Flores Magon 1, col. Nonoalco-Tlatelolco

To be held at UNAM's Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco in Mexico City is the first element of el instituto's Not I project.
Invited speakers include Maria Berrios, Avery Gordon, Pablo Lafuente and Javier Toscano.

Conference topics include:

Maria Berrios:
How to make a straight line invisible. On conceptual humour and the politics of vanishing;

Avery Gordon:
"Running Away.": Some brief thoughts on disobedience, running away and other promising conduits to abolishing the disposition to war.

Pablo Lafuente:
Can Emancipation Not Be Abstract?

Javier Toscano:
Resistance and Enunciation. The Drive to Anonymity

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Upcoming Events:

Summer, 2012
Exhibition

Not I: The Performative Speech Act and the Sovereign Subject

An exhibition hosted by UNAM's Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco in Mexico City

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go to workshop page

Sponsors and Supporters of el instituto
and the Not I project

Contact Details

Alfonso Reyes, 194-D
Colonia Condesa
Mexico DF
06140
Mexico

info@el-instituto.com

Tel (+52 55) 5256 4934
Mobile (dialing within Mexico) 044 55 34 88 90 11
Mobile (International dialing) +52 1 55 34 88 90 11

Links

Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco

The Octopus Business Solutions, Web Design and Hosting

Jennifer Flores Sternad is an independent curator, producer, and scholar currently living in Los Angeles, California. She recently produced and curated PUBLICo TRANSITorio | TRASITOry PUBLICO, an eight-day public event series in Los Angeles with artists, architects, and activists from throughout North and South America. Jennifer received a Bachelors degree in Literature from Harvard University, where she wrote her honors thesis on the work of the Los Angeles conceptual art group Asco. In 2005, she received a George Peabody Gardner fellowship from Harvard and a five-year Eugene Cota-Robles fellowship from the University of California, Los Angeles. As a Gardner fellow she spent a year in Argentina and Chile doing research on contemporary art, collective art practices, and urban interventions. While living in Argentina Flores was the South American Coordinator for the School of Panamerican Unrest, a public art project directed by Pablo Helguera, and a curator for the first DEFORMES Performance Biennial in Santiago, Chile.

In 2006, Flores began graduate studies in the Department of Art History at UCLA. She has also worked as the Coordinator for a monograph series on contemporary Latino/a artists at UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center and in 2007, she was a lecturer in the MFA program in Public Practice at Otis College of Art and Design. Jennifer has been doing independent research on socially-engaged art practices since 2001, and she has collected interviews with over eighty artists and arts scholars in the U.S., Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. Her interviews and essays have been published in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Contemporary Theatre Review, Aztlán, interReview, Journal of American Drama and Theater, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos & Latinas in the United States, and online at www.latinart.com.

Areas of expertise: Los Angeles, Mexico/US Border Region, Latin America. Performance art; Latino/a & Chicano/a art; feminist art; relational art practices; artist and media collectives

Jennifer Flores Sternad es una académica, curadora y escritora cuyo trabajo se enfoca en arte militante y activista, performance, y prácticas artísticas que se desarollan dentro de, o en correspondencia con movimientos sociales. Su trabajo sobre esta tema desde 2001 ha incluído investigaciones en Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Alta California y también trabajo sobre arte y teatro Chicano/a. Es curadora de la exhibición Arrhythmias of Counter-Production: Engaged Art in Argentina, 1995-2011, recién inaugurada en la University Art Gallery de la University of California, San Diego, y editora de la publicación aún inédita sobre esta.

Ha curado y dirigido conferencias y eventos artísticos en California, Argentina y Chile, incluyendo Público Transitorio, una conferencia internacional itinerante en Los Angeles (curadora y directora); el primer DEFORMES bienal en Chile (curadora); y el proyecto artístico internacional La Escuela Panamericana del Desasosiego (Coordinadora para Sudamerica y directora de las conferencias en Chile y Argentina). Es co-fundadora del Collective Intelliegence Agency con Fran Ilich.

Es autora de textos publicados en los libros Art and Activism in the Age of Globalization (NAi Publishers, 2011); Live Art in LA, 1970-1983 (co-autora con Suzanne Lacy, Routledge, 2011); Zona de Poesia árida: Coletivos de Arte (Universidad de São Paulo, 2011), MEX/LA: Mexican Modernisms in Los Angeles (Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011); Haciendo Tiempo: Arte Radical, 1999-2004 (Universidad Aut&oacut;enoma de la Ciudad de Mexico, 2010), Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinas and Latinos (Oxford University Press), y en las jornadas GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (Duke University press, 2005); Contemporary Theatre Review (Taylor & Francis, 2005); The Journal of American Drama and Theater (2004) y Interreveiw (2005). Recibió una licenciatura magna cum laude en Literature en Harvard y una Maestría en Historia del Arte der la Universidad de California Los Angeles (UCLA), donde era una Cota-Robles Fellow. Ahora es una candidata doctoral y MacCracken Fellow en el programa de estudios Americanos en el departamento de Analysis Social y Cultural de New York University (NYU). Vive en Brooklyn, New York.

Calendario.

Not I: Prácticas Espaciales en Revolución

Un taller en seis módulos
30 septiembre - 4 diciembre 2011

Prácticas Espaciales en Revolución es la segunda serie de eventos públicos como parte del proyecto de investigación en curso Not I: The Performative Speech and the Sovereign Subject. Los eventos, performances y sesiones del taller han sido organizados por el instituto y tendrán como sede el Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco y la Casa del Lago "Juan José Arreola", UNAM.

Cada módulo ha sido concebido y será desarrollado por reconocidos especialistas internacionales, cuya práctica explora las fronteras entre arte, política, teoría, sociología y medios.

Los módulos tienen un carácter independiente y se imparten alternativamente en inglés o en español (consultar detalles por módulo), en el siguiente horario: viernes 17:00-20:00hrs, sábado 11:00-18:00hrs, domingo 12:00-17:00hrs.

Es posible solicitar inscripción a los 6 módulos, o a ciertos módulos en particular. Se entregarán constancias a todos los participantes.
Los textos para cada módulo se entregarán al momento de inscripción.

Módulo 1

The Workhouse / The Dreamhouse
Asilo de pobres / Casa de sueños

presented Sept 30 - Oct 2, 2011
by and

Workshop Materials:

Picture Gallery

A workshop led by Avery Gordon and Ines Schaber and organized by Pip Day and el instituto for Spatial Practices in Revolution, the second series of public events in the ongoing research project "Not I: The Performative Speech Act and the Sovereign Subject." Held at Casa del Lago, Parque Chapultepec, México DF.

The Workhouse is the name for a series of activities and projects called rooms organized by Ines Schaber and Avery Gordon. Overall, The Workhouse's activities are broadly concerned with the cultivation of ways of living and working independently / autonomously of, or outside of, or in opposition to, or as an alternative to, or alongside of but not entirely inside of the dominant terms of social order. The traditional workhouses, first developed in the late 16th century and reaching their peak in the 19th century, were prisons where people, mostly poor, who refused to work or stay put or behave like "good" workers and obedient social subjects were confined, punished, and corrected. By contrast, our Workhouse activities are designed to provide a hospitable space for the critical and imaginative thinking / practices of "bad" workers, idlers, strikers, collaborators, runaways, and other individuals who do not want and need conventional "correction" and "re-education."

Room 3 or The Dreamhouse is focused on thinking through for oneself and with others working, sharing, directing, following, building, making, distributing, exchanging, behaving, etc. in a context in which their dominant organization is unsustainable and unlivable for too many, and in a (the same) context in which many of us are already doing it better and more equitably, even if without enough support. The centerpiece of the workshop will be a group participatory exercise in which participants will be asked to answer in common the question--what is your dream workhouse? - and to create a model in words or images or drawings or sounds of it.

We begin on Friday evening with a public event, an interactive screening of the film La Commune 1871, that we hope will provoke a first thoughtful encounter on the relationship between politics, work and life. On Saturday morning, we will facilitate a discussion of a small number of readings that will help prepare the group for the making of your desired workhouse, which will occupy us on Saturday afternoon. The presentation of the workhouse models and realizations will take place on Sunday, along with a concluding discussion.

Módulo 2

La imaginación política y la
inteligencia colectiva

presented Oct 14 - 16, 2011
by and

Workshop Materials:

Picture Gallery

La imaginación política y la
inteligencia colectiva
Jennifer Flores Sternad y Fran Ilich

Este taller explorará cuestiones relacionadas al potencial del espacio de la producción, así como las prácticas culturales en la transformación social y la creación de proyectos políticos radicales (y sus imaginarios). Tomar en cuenta el lugar que tiene la cultura en los órdenes sociales contemporaneos (y el que podrían tener en órdenes sociales posibles) puede abrir posibilidades para la creación que sean tanto innovadoras, artísticamente creativas, como comprometidas con el presente.

En la sesión pública del viernes (5pm - 8pm) estarán:
Jennifer Flores Sternad, Alberto HIjar, Cristina Hijar, Fran Ilich, e Inti Meza Villarino (como moderador).

Vamos a repasar una amplia gama de paradigmas y metodologías que conectan la práctica y teorización del arte a lo político y micro-político, incluyendo casos de estudio de trabajo generado por los coordinadores en México, América Latina, USA, Europa y Corea del Sur, así como trabajo de destacados invitados que están activos en la intersección del arte y el activismo en México, y que nos acompañarán en las sesiones.

Durante la sesión del sábado (11 am a 6pm) nos enfocaremos en cuestiones de narrativa política, innovación estética (y continuidades), trabajo de artistas con movimientos sociales, prácticas comprometidas sustentables y el asunto de cómo llevar la forma y lo conceptual a la práctica.

Entre los invitados se encuentran:

Gregory Berger, UAEM Cuernavaca ( http://gringoyo.com )
Mina Navarro, Jóvenes en Resistencia Alternativa ( http://espora.org/jra )

La sesión del domingo (12 a 5pm) tratará la investigación militante y medios creativos de mantener redes translocales, células que se conectan a las redes y esferas contra-públicas. Uno de los casos de estudio será la CIA (Collective Intelligence Agency), una plataforma y archivo de investigación militante fundado por los coordinadores del taller, y allí que esperan se integren algunos de los asistentes al taller.

Entre los invitados se encuentran: León Felipe Echenique
http://piezasdelrompecabezasdelaotra.org
Comité Cerezo
(http://revistarevuelta.org) (http://comitecerezo.org)
Maddy Vasallo

Módulo 3

La imaginación política y la
inteligencia colectiva

presented Nov 4 - 6, 2011
by
and

Workshop Materials:

Picture Gallery

I Would Prefer Not To. (Un taller para el proyecto Prácticas espaciales en revolución.)

Montserrat Albores y Pablo Sigg

El taller con el nombre de I Would Prefer Not To, organizado e impartido por Montserrat Albores y Pablo Sigg, pretende examinar el gesto deliberado del abandono del lenguaje como gesto de resistencia; es decir, el punto en que el lenguaje cesa de ser intermediario de la realidad e involuciona como otro lenguaje ya incomunicable, una suerte de revolución silenciosa.

El taller tiene como puntos fundamentales de revisión:

1. La pérdida del habla del testigo superada por los eventos de la realidad
2. El lenguaje incomunicable como resistencia
3. El silencio como comunicación

Habrá de funcionar en la presentación y discusión grupal de los siguientes
obras textuales y fílmicas:

- Poto & Cabengo de Jean-Pierre Gorin
- Bartleby the Scrivener de Hermann Melville
- Lecciones de oscuridad de Werner Herzog
- Texto de Giorgio Agamben sobre la figura del testigo en Auschwitz
- Tierra de silencio y oscuridad de Werner Herzog

Módulo 4

La Revolución Indignada

presented Nov 4 - 6, 2011
by

Workshop Materials:

( none specified )

Picture Gallery

Módulo 4
La Revolución Indignada
A cargo de Tania Bruguera

En tiempos de la Revolución de los indignados (España), utilizando el concepto de arte &uactute;til y prolongando su participación en la concepción y organización del proyecto Occupy Wall Street (EUA), Tania Bruguera nos propone reunirnos para pensar maneras y crear bases para "indignarnos" contra la violencia que se apodera de M&eactute;xico.

Idioma: español
Fechas: 11-13 noviembre 2011
viernes 17:30-20:00hrs, sábado 11:00-18:00hrs, domingo 12:00-17:00hrs.
Sede: Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, UNAM

Programa Módulo 4
Viernes 11 noviembre, 17:00-20:00 hrs.
Reunión: Plaza de las 3 Culturas Tlatelolco (en el Monumento a los Compañeros Caidos)
Encuentro para reflexionar sobre la historia y la experiencia en movimientos sociales.

Sábado 5 noviembre, 13:00 hrs.
Reunión: MONUMENTO A LA REVOLUCIÓN
Encuentro pensando un M&eactute;xico indignado.

Domingo 6 noviembre, 13:00 hrs.
Reunión: BOLSA MEXICANA DE VALORES, ubicada en Paseo de la Reforma #265, esquina con Niza, que es la Glorieta de la Palma.
Encuentro pensando un M&eactute;xico indignado.

Módulo 5

Camuflaje, desaparición y la
política de lo imperceptible

presented Nov 25 - 27, 2011
by
and

Workshop Materials:

Picture Gallery

Camuflaje, desaparición y la política de lo imperceptible

¿Puede la disolución estratégica del yo considerarse una acción política? ¿Qué tipo de agencia se ejerce al esfumarse? ¿Puede la intimidad del secreto crear un espacio para otro tipo de subjetividad política? ¿Qué tipo de rendimiento social conlleva ocultarse? ¿Hay maneras activas de perderse en la multitud? Indagando en diversas nociones y estudios de casos de mimetismo, secreto y desaparición este taller explorará las implicancias políticas y éticas de volverse imperceptible.

Active vanishings, camouflage, and the politics of the imperceptible

Is a strategic dissolution of the self a political action? What kind of agency is exerted by vanishing? Can the intimacy of secrecy provide a space for a different sort of political subjectivity? What is the social productivity of hiding out? Are there active ways of fading into the crowd? Through notions and case studies of mimicry, secrecy and disappearance this workshop will look into the tactics, politics and ethics of becoming imperceptible.

Día 1:
Intimando con Brecht. La malas nuevas como punto de partida.
Lectura: B.Brecht 'La Medida', 1930.

Día 2:
Insinceridad constructiva, escondites personales y desvanecimiento por opción
Traición documental, retrofuturismo e insinceridad.
Screening : Make it New John dir. Duncan Campell, 2009
Lectura: E. Horn, 'Actors/Agents: Bertolt Brecht and the Politics of Secrecy', 2008.

Día 3:
Mimetismo y la tentación de ser absorbido por el espacio.
Screening: Idénticamente Igual (o el Charles Bronson Chileno) dir. Carlos Flores, 1978-1984
Emprendimiento de lenguas y el esfuerzo de conjurarse uno mismo a otra parte.
Screening: Crazy English dir. Zhang Yuang, 1999
Lectura: R. Callois Mimicry and legendary Psychasthenia, 1935

Módulo 6

War Primer 2: a betrayal and
an homage to Bertolt Brecht

presented Dec 9 - 11, 2011
by
and

Workshop Materials:

Picture Gallery

Friday, 17h-20h:
War Primer 2: a betrayal and an homage to Bertolt Brecht

Saturday, 11h-18h:
The birth of human rights forensics in aesthetics.
"It is in the gestures, techniques, and turns of demonstration, whether poetic, dramatic, or narrative, that a forensic aesthetics can make things appear in the world."

Sunday 12h-17h:
"And so we put him up against a wall
A mother's son, a man like we had been
And shot him dead. And then to show you all
What came of him, we photographed the scene."
- Brecht, War Primer, 1955

viernes	17:00 - 20:00 hrs
sábado	11:00 - 18:00 hrs
domingo	12:00 - 17:00 hrs

viernes	17:00 - 20:00 hrs
sábado	11:00 - 18:00 hrs
domingo	12:00 - 17:00 hrs

viernes	17:00 - 20:00 hrs
sábado	11:00 - 18:00 hrs
domingo	12:00 - 17:00 hrs

viernes	17:00 - 20:00 hrs
sábado	11:00 - 18:00 hrs
domingo	12:00 - 17:00 hrs