Kestner Reading Group

Parallel to the exhibition The Volcano Manifesto by Cauleen Smith, Kestner Gesellschaft hosts a weekly reading group every Thursday from 5 to 6 pm in the artist’s Reading- and Listening-Room. The group now begins reading Poetics of Relation by Édouard Glissant.

“Glissant defines his "poetics of relation"--both aesthetic and political--as a transformative mode of history, capable of enunciating and making concrete a French-Caribbean reality with a self-defined past and future. Glissant's notions of identity as constructed in relation and not in isolation are germane not only to discussions of Caribbean creolization but also to our understanding of U.S. multiculturalism. In Glissant's view, we come to see that relation in all its senses--telling, listening, connecting, and the parallel consciousness of self and surroundings--is the key to transforming mentalities and reshaping societies.” (The University of Michigan Press Verlag)

The joint reading of selected excerpts from the book serves as a starting point for discussions that further explore the social and political questions raised by Cauleen Smith’s current exhibition. No prior knowledge is required. The texts will be provided on site in German, read together, and subsequently discussed in an open conversation.

Participation is included in the exhibition admission.

Registration is requested:
empfang@kestnergesellschaft.de