Dynamics of the Intransitive. Undirected Interventions (English)
The annual conference opened the dialogue between artists, academics and the public, featuring a programme distinguished by a wide range of formats. Inspiring lectures and discussions alternated with shared spaces of experience, such as the emancipatory city walks F_WALKS by fem_arc or the panel »Scheiter eiGEnSiNn Umpruvusutuun - try again« by CRC members Eva Backhaus, Andrea Schütte, Sophie Schultze-Allen and Mimmi Woisnitza. The programme also included various performances, such as the performance »Interwoven Sound Spaces« with Robert Ek, Cosima Gerhardt, Berit Greinke, Stefan Östersjö, Mattias Petersson and Federico Visi at the Roter Salon of the Volksbühne, the theater performance »Broken Bet« by Layla Zami and Oxana Chi, and the reading performance »Dreamtime X« by Brandon LaBelle at Pfefferberg Haus 13. The 2023 annual conference concluded on a resonant note with a closing party featuring DJ Calamidades Lola and DJ Radio Vampiro.
A selection of documented contributions from the 2023 annual conferenceare available on the ICI Berlin website:
- The conference opened with a welcome address (DE) by then CRC spokesperson Jürgen Brokoff and introductory remarks (EN) by CRC managing director Tim Lörke.
- In the lecture »Intransitive Institutionalisierung: Rechte der Natur« (DE), legal scholar Bertram Lomfeld reflected on institutionalisation processes of collectives from social, societal and systems-theoretical perspectives. At the center was the question of whether, in the course of institutionalization, a part of the directedness of interventions is absorbed by this very processuality – and whether, as a consequence, undirected actions or practices emerge. The lecture was followed by a brief panel discussion (DE) moderated by Matthias Warstat.
- In her contribution The Willful Artist: Getting it Built (EN), curator and philosopher Sue Spaid presented a series of collaborative artistic projects, each incorporating elements of well-being practices. The performative acts, originally intended as healing practices, were shown to give rise – undirectedly or by chance – to survival skills. At the heart of the talk was the question: What are we building? The presentation was followed by a brief discussion (EN) moderated by Eva Backhaus.
- As part of the program section »Literatur und ungerichtete Intervention«, author Heike Geißler gave a reading (DE) from her novel Die Woche, following a brief introduction (DE) by Isabella Tschierke and Andrea Schütte. In the subsequent discussion (DE), the three participants turned their attention – through the lens of »ambiguous clarity« – to the act of writing about activism and speaking about the social dynamics in Leipzig during the turbulent year of 2015.
- The aim of the performance-philosophical contribution (»(Just) Life…Becoming Philosophy?« (EN) by Philosophin Alice Lagaay was to evoke a collective reflection on something – tied to the central question: Is it even possible to think collectively? The session offered a scholarly yet anecdotal framing of the topic, opportunities for shared experimentation and curated moments of collective exchange.