We’re finally reading some autotheory/fiction with the #storytellings reading group:

• David Kishik, Self Study. Notes on the Schizoid Condition (2023)

“By filling one page each day in this empty notebook, I will write here mainly for myself and maybe also for some strangers. Rather than a diary revolving around my (boring) life and (insane) times, I see it turning into an autophilosophy. Wittgenstein said that working in philosophy is really working on oneself. Such a philosophy of myself, like every philosophy, cannot be dedicated to either private or public events, just as it cannot be labeled either fact or fiction. The aim is not to sketch a faithful self-portrait but to etch the surface of an entire mirror until it reflects only a blurry outline of me and my surroundings. These notes might also double as therapy sessions on a budget, since they will be less an attempt to imagine my form of life than to unravel it: they could unweave the fabric or disentangle the knots in preparation for a new fabric and the knots to come. So I first have to lose, not find, myself. The point is to exit, not enter, the monastery inside me. Auto-philo-sophy is therefore not the love of one’s own wisdom, but the wisdom of one’s love; which might sound sentimental, but it will soon reveal a darker truth. Hence a warning must be posted before I proceed: ‘If you want riches and old age, do not turn this very first page.’” (p. 2)

If you would like to join us, please send a short note to mail@diffrakt.space with the subject line “Storytellings”. Meetings of the reading group take place on Monday evenings every three weeks, at diffrakt and online, and discussions are normally in English.

The book is available from ICI Berlin Press, both in print and in open-access digital formats.

#selfstudy #davidkishik #autotheory #autofiction #bookstagram #readinggroup #diffrakt

Impliziertheit, Verflechtung und Verantwortung |
Künstlerische Forschung zwischen Theorie, Praxis und politischem Engagement
Donnerstag, 10. April 2025, 19.30 Uhr, diffrakt | zentrum für theoretische peripherie

Filmausschnitte und Gespräch mit
Yara Haskiel | Naomi Hennig

Die Institutionalisierung künstlerischer Forschung in Form von PhD-Programmen wirft grundlegende Fragen zu Positionalität, Wissensformen und Autor*innenschaft auf. Forschung entsteht in sozialen Netzwerken, durch affektive Verbindungen und geteilte Reflexionen. In Zeiten neoliberaler Marktlogiken ist es entscheidend, Autor*innenschaft neu zu denken – weg von Individualisierung und Konkurrenz, hin zu kollektiven Prozessen. Wie können künstlerische Werke als Ergebnis kollektiver Intelligenz verstanden und repräsentiert werden? Welche politischen oder sozialen Impulse lassen sich daraus ableiten?

Die Künstlerin und Forscherin Naomi Hennig, die sich in ihrer Arbeit mit extraktivistischer Landwirtschaft in Argentinien beschäftigt und die Videokünstlerin und Forscherin Yara Haskiel, deren Arbeit sich mit multiperspektivischer Erinnerung in Griechenland auseinandersetzt, diskutieren diese Herausforderungen an der Schnittstelle von Kunst, Theorie und Aktivismus entlang eigener Filmausschnitte. Beide Promotionen sind oder waren am PhD Research Programm des Department of Visual Cultures am Goldsmiths London verortet. Es wird die enge Verflechtung von Forschung, Verantwortung und Repräsentationsethik sichtbar gemacht und zur gemeinsamen Reflexion eingeladen.

#yarahaskiel #naomihennig #künstlerischeforschung #artisticresearch #autorschaft #autorinnenschaft #kollektiv #kollektivität #film #kunst #diffrakt

Many Books, Many Hands, Many Voices
Saturday, 22 March 2025, 7 pm, ACRE Studios (Skalitzer Straße 54b, 10997 Berlin-Kreuzberg)

A Communal Practice of Reading and Rewriting

The project space ACRE and diffrakt with its reading groups invite you to an evening of collective reading, annotating, and text-sharing. Taking inspiration from the exhibition (un)critical proximity (the pleasure of the text), we will explore the book as a communal space – one that is shaped by many hands, many voices, and many interventions. How do we inhabit texts together? How do we leave traces, transform margins into conversations, and make reading an open, participatory practice?

Bring a book – one you love, one you despise, or let chance choose one for you on-site. We will photocopy excerpts, annotate them together, and explore how texts can be inhabited and heard together rather than merely read. The Xerox machine becomes a tool of reimagination. No registration is required, but a heads-up is appreciated via (info@acrestudios.cc). Join us in unraveling the boundaries of the book and the pleasure of the text!

#books #texts #reading #rewriting #printing #photocopying #bookstagram #acrestudios #diffrakt