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this lab will take place for 7 days in graz, in the framework of steirischer herbst festival. we will be working with the notion of “strategy” – what could its meaning and relevance be to us, in different situations etc?
notes, comments, feedback, images, ideas… from the workshop at sndo….
In this project, we work with the idea that a “vocabulary” is a toolbox of ideas and strategies , which we access in order to position ourselves, say things, and make sense in and of the world. As opposed to a dictionary, a vocabulary does not necessarily limit itself to one mode of relation to knowledge or deal mainly with canonical references. Rather, it is always connected to a voice, and hence to a body which moves and acts in the world. The ways in which we engage abstractions and concepts through our vocabularies offer us modes of strategically operating within the world. Via our vocabularies, we become vocal and position ourselves, not to arm ourselves against reality, or deny it, but to work and exist within it. As such, we consider a vocabulary as consisting of all kinds of conceptual or (pseudo-)discursive apparatuses, which we put to work and think through constantly. Vocabularies exist in an inter-subjective space, which is constantly in negotiation with instances and ideas we encounter in life. These negotiations help us displace ourselves and things – allowing us to move, relate, act, make gestures and statements.
We are preparing a print publication with some 20 entries from different contributors, which will serve as a kind of handbook or conceptual toolkit for the labs. The idea is that publication contributors, as well as participants and guests in the labs, propose an “entry” for other people to engage with, which contributes to the collective vocabulary that will grow across the different labs, and be available on the website.
What is a vocabulary? First, it´s something that everyone has. Second, it´s something that everyone works with. Third, it´s a toolbox of concepts, which we use in order to position ourselves, move, and make sense within the world. Fourth, it´s always in the language of someone, or a group of people. Also, it´s to do with the voice; it allows us to become vocal. It´s that through which we articulate what we do, how and why we do it. It´s where a concept meets a practice.
…entries are proposals and access points (or passageways), that give onto a practice and mode of thinking and doing things. They are based on words which we frequently use when asked to describe what we do, or why: words that we keep coming back to and which we invest with some meaning and ethics, without necessarily having formulated a theory around them.
keywords_speech act and performativity; legitimation; knowledge and power; episteme; pseudo-discursivity; the semiotic (that which signifies, symbolizes or takes on meaning, can be outside CONVENTION); the linguistic (language, logic, syntax, GIVEN method and register of human communcation):
initial notes (let´s revise, change, cut…)
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