co-organised by Simon Sheikh
for documenta 12 magazines
in collaboration with LabforCulture.org

LabforCulture.org and documenta 12 magazines collaborate to present two workshop weeks during the 100 days of documenta. Read the full news release here. The first of two workshop weeks, Paper and Pixel, took place from July 16-22 in Kassel, co-organised by Nat Muller (NL) and Alessandro Ludovico (IT). Read all their reports and comments in their blog on LabforCulture.org.

From August 13-19, the second workshop week titled The Position of the Speaker, co-organised by critic and curator Simon Sheikh (DE/DK) for documenta 12 magazines, will take place in Kassel. The theme for this workshop will be the constructions and delimitation of a specific figure; the speaking subject. How does this figure emerge through discourse, and what are its functions? What can be said and not said in order for a speaking subject to appear as real, as authentic, as authoritative and/or as truthful. We will discuss what is implied in certain speech acts and subject positions, such as the figure of ‘the reporter’ and ‘the artist, as well as the ‘witness’ and the ‘source’.

As well as taking a philosophical and political approach, this workshop will also attempt to integrate the exhibition, not as objects to be analysed, but rather as propositions from which to depart: How are subjects positioned, and how is truth produced, and subsequently, staged? This could be a way to make the editors reflect on their own work in a performative and productivist way rather than as merely observing and commenting. Or, to put it another way, what role as a speaking subjects is occupied through such an approach, and which are evacuated? What will a phrase such as ‘the editor as producer’ indicate, and how is this related to acts of reportage within art and within documenta 12? Obviously, the workshop will also discuss what these roles mean in our current moment of (permanent?) crisis in the public sphere during times of war. Read the schedule and see the list of participants

Visit LabforCulture.org regularly to read and comment on blog entries from the participants in the workshop. Over the course of the week, David Riff, one of the editors of Chto delat (RU), and Jelena Vesic, editor of Prelom magazine from Belgrade, will be blogging and reporting here. Download podcasts of the lunch lectures. Participate in debate with leading editors, writers and thinkers. Access key texts, images and online resources related to the work of the participants and topics of the lectures and panels. Share your views online.