The Art of Being Many, which will take place on September 27th and 28th at Kampnagel in Hamburg, is an assembly of assemblies. Collectives from Europe and beyond are coming to Hamburg. Many of them have emerged from the large assemblies that have taken place around the world in the last four years – in public squares, in occupied factories, theatres, at art events and in local centres. Others have been engaging with the art of assembling for a long time.
Without aiming to be representative for the state of things, The Art of Being Many is nevertheless one of the big transnational networking events of the real-democracy-movements, and the first such meeting that deliberately negotiates the assembly of the many itself – and thus the practice from which all other collective structures of these movements emerge.
Our aim is a collective exploration of that practice. The site for this exploration is the theatre, not the street or the plenary meeting of a project – a site where we can allow ourselves some distance from the immediate pressure to act, which accompanies the collective organisation of life in a state of crisis.
We need this luxury. Spending two whole days together in a public assembly in which we can experiment: with the bodies of the assembly, with the timing of the assembly, with blockade and panic, vogue and voodoo, with the sound, the affects, the documents of the assembly. And ultimately with what the assembly could become and what could come from it – real fictions. It is about a new consciousness of the many. Because life in a state of crisis demands a restructuring of collectivity, a collective production of the commons which enables the many and not only the few to have a good life. On this path, real democracy will always only be as good as its assemblies: which assemblies do we come from and to which assemblies do we go next?
The assembly at Kampnagel is self-organised by 150 participants. This is not least about enjoying the assembly: is that even possible? And how can the practical questions of assembling shift or change the theoretical and political debates? Currently, geheimagentur is building an arena for 400 people at Kampnagel together with numerous other artists‘ collectives – 400 people who listen, join the conversation, play, go to the sauna, discuss, tell stories, chat, drink, draw, dance, find a new way of measuring time, give speeches, sleep and work – all at the same time. Half of the seats in the hall will be filled by the collectives that have prepared the assembly in the previous 18 months. The other half can still be occupied. We invite members and makers of assemblies, collectives from near and far to participate.
Please register! All participants are invited to play an active part in the assembly and to share their experiences.
Registration here
Reader here
Programme here
Website here
The following collectives are part of THE ART OF BEING MANY:
The Materials Library (GB)
Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (Frankreich/GB)
Sweet and Tender Collaborations (Transnational)
Zunderbüchse (Hamburg)
We are visual (Hamburg)
Gängeviertel (Hamburg)
Grupo de Choque (Mexiko)
London School of Financial Arts (GB)
Cooperativa Integral Catalana (Spain)
Baldio Habitado (Portugal)
Die Universität der Nachbarschaften (Hamburg)
STRESS (Portugal)
Observatorio (Portugal)
Teatro Valle (Italien)
MACAO (Italien)
FACK (Serbien)
Tuzla Forum (Bosnien)
Somal 21 (Wien/Somalia)
Uschi Geller Experience (Hamburg)
Liebe Bar (Hamburg)
Showcase Beat le Mot (Berlin)
FUKK (Denmark)
FLOATING COLLECTIVE (Denmark)
Errant Bodies (Berlin)
Vorsprung durch Technik (Leipzig)
Mobile Akademie (Berlin)
Megafonchor (Hamburg)
MetroZones (Berlin)
LIGNA (Hamburg/Berlin)
Magical Flying Love Lab (Leipzig)
Yes We Camp (Frankfreich)
Teatro Embros (Griechenland)
Random People (Hamburg)
Everybodys (Estland)
La Fundacion de los Comunes (Spain)
Enmedio (Spain)
PAH (Spain)
Maiden Monsters (Berlin)
Fablab-Bus (Niederlande)
SOS Halkidiki (Griechenland)
VIOME (Griechenland)
The Temporary Radio (Hamburg)
KICKASS-Queereokee (Hamburg)
Tätätärä (Hamburg)
Artleaks (Serbien)
FREIFUNK (Hamburg/Berlin)
Lampedusa – here to stay (Hamburg)
S.a.l.e.Docks (Italien)
Turbo Pascal (Hamburg/Berlin)
CharterEuropa (transnational)
and many more people from GEZI Park Movement, Tahir Square Movement, Syntagma Square Movement, 15M-Movement, Occupy London etc.
THE ART OF BEING MANY is a project by geheimagentur
in collaboration with
Graduiertenkolleg Versammlung und Teilhabe
Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik
with support from:
Kulturstiftung des Bundes
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
Jungle World
FREIFUNK
FUNDUS THEATER / Forschungstheater
Performance Studies / Universität Hamburg
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Asta HAW Hamburg
