Finding the Erotic at LIDL: Georges Bataille and the Natural World

Finding the Erotic at LIDL: Georges Bataille and the Natural World



I often have this one particular thought and it usually occurs to me in the checkout of the Lidl around the corner from my office, and the thought kind of goes something like: these fellow shoppers, placing on the checkout conveyer belt all their canned goods, detergent, toilet paper and so on, bright and shiny in plastics and packaging, what are their sex lives made of, how do their bodies appear naked, fornicating, rubbing on top of another body and in turn being rubbed? And this thought leads on to another, somehow logically connected question: what do their bodies smell like, the crevices, the rolls of flesh out of sight thanks to their stone-washed denims, their ersatz tracksuits?

Tales Told in the Telling

Tales Told in the Telling: Fictional Strategies

A Creative Writing Workshop as Part of the Self-Publishing Archive

March 26, 11-17h

Buro BDP

This one-day (somewhat open and experimental) workshop looks at, reads and potentially initiates fictional strategies as a way to advance artistic practices and discourse. Not limiting itself to either the domain of contemporary visual art or literary / poetic fiction, but rather investigating the intersection, crossovers and contamination of both, the workshop is comprised of a close reading of selected texts chosen by workshop leader John Holten. These texts will be made available a week in advance of the session and hopefully will offer various diverse ways of thinking how fiction both operates and generates itself, as well as how it has been used to further the practice of a number of past and contemporary practitioners in a number of media and fields.

Depending on how the initial session develops there is the possibility that in the future the workshop will include the reading of participants’ work and feedback sessions, as well as looking at material ways of bringing fictional strategies into the world, for instance self publishing techniques, interventions, performance and filmmaking.

To apply please send a brief biographical paragraph and a recent example of visual or textual artistic output. Space is limited to a maximum of 10 participants. A donation of 15/EUR is suggested upon acceptance to attend the workshop.

John Holten co-founded the Berlin art publishing project Broken Dimanche Press in 2009 which published his novel The Readymades in 2009 and his follow up, Oslo, Norway, in 2015. The LGB Group, a fictitious art group created for The Readymades (with Darko Dragičević), has enjoyed exhibitions internationally including The Armory Show, New York. His writing has appeared in many national and international publications. Holten is also known for his collaborative art projects and his work has appeared in the Malmö Konsthall, David Zwirner Gallery New York (with Aengus Woods), Villa Romana, Florence, Plan B Gallery, Berlin, San Serriffe, Amsterdam amongst others. He lives in Berlin.

Reading and viewing material will centre around three areas:

SHUDDERING INTO EXISTENCE:

Ed Atkins, Even Pricks (text)

Ed Atkins, Even Pricks (video)

Supporting work: Roberto Bolano, Illness + Literature = Illness

SILLY WHITE MEN AND THE TALES THEY TELL:

Renzo Marten's Episode III: Enjoy Poverty

 Supporting work: Louis Althusser The Future Lasts Forever

THE ARTWORK AS PULP NOVEL:

K.D., Headless

 Supporting work: The Book Lover's Project (David Maroto and Joanna Zielinska)

APOCOLYPSE NOW:

Loretta Fahrenholz' Ditch Plains 

 Supporting work: Ben Lerner's 10:04