NEWS
Join our đź‘» Haunted Bookshelves_8M session on 18 February 2024, 3-5 pm
/ Moira Exporiment in Utrecht /
If you wanted to join online, please email info@read-in.info
Bring a quote to memorize, or some snacks,
but most importantly bring yourself and your rebellious spirit!
Until today, abusive systems of power continue to oppress women and girls all over this war-ridden world. We invite you to haunt the history of International Women’s Day and dive into the radical origins and memories of this day of resistance. Contrary to what capitalist society would like us to believe, we remember that 8 March is no day to get flowers or chocolate from our partners, it is no holiday so we can treat ourselves to a spa or a massage. International Women’s Day or International Women Workers Day came into being because feminists wanted to honor the women who went on strike, the women who fought for suffrage and the end of war. IWD exists because we remember women, both cis- and trans, that started revolutions. It is a day to rise, resist, revolt, unite and disrupt business as usual, to celebrate and stand in solidarity with women and girls all over the world.
As we are getting ready to heed the many calls to action and take the streets on 8 March, we ask you what should we memorize to prepare for this day? Or what have you memorized because of this day? Do you remember the lyrics to Bread and Roses? What feminist slogans continue to ring in your ears after the protest? What are the poems and the texts that give you the fuel you need to keep fighting back?
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After two Door-to-Door sessions in fall last year, artist Dung Nguyen requested Read-in to introduce her to another one of our practices. Haunted Bookshelves is a choreography for memorizing. It speaks to the missing pieces from our bookshelves, experimenting with techniques of (re/dis)locating text, learning by heart, (un)disciplinary pedagogies and listening intonationally. When something is missing though, it does not mean it is not (t)here.
We rather refer to what Avery Gordon writes in Ghostly Matters, as:
Haunting as a way in which abusive systems of power make themselves known and their impacts felt in everyday life, especially when they are supposedly over (slavery, for instance), or when the oppressive nature is denied (as in free labor or national security). (..) Indeed it seemed to me that haunting was precisely the domain of turmoil and trouble. (Avery Gordon, 2008:xvi-xvii)
Join us on Sunday 18 February from 15:00- 17:00. We will gather in Moira Exporiment, but you can also join online. In that case, write us an email at info@read-in.info and we will share with you the zoom link.
Image descriptions:
1: a dark blue stamp vaguely shaped like a ghost on a white wall with a hole in it. A power socket in the upper left corner with a grey cable
2: a photo taken from above showing seven people gathered around a table, huddled closely together while reading something from a book. Light from unseen windows on the left shines on the wall and the face of one woman. Lightbulbs hanging from the vide on the right give off a warm light
3: a stack of silver stickers with black text that reads: Why are the authors of the books I read so white, so male, so Eurocentric? There Is No Such Thing as an Innocent Reading!