I participate in the exhibition living library of becomings in Austrian Association of Women Artists (VBKÖ).

living library of becomings

March 1 – April 10, 2024

Opening: Thursday, February 29, 7 pm

Opening times: Wed – Sat 14:00-18:00
and by appointment (info@vbkoe.org)

Paloma Ayala, Nikita Yingqian Cai, Kyungrim Lim Jang & Hannah Sakai, Tina Omayemi Reden, Salma Shaka, Kanako Tada, Sophie Utikal, Volume Archive, and diverse publishing practices

Curated by Miwa Negoro
Exhibition design by Shi Yin

living library of becomings is a group exhibition derived from a performative library project dedicated to multiple narratives of intersectional, decolonial, queer feminist spirits. It draws inspiration from influential writings, Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s DICTEE, and Audre Lorde’s Uses of the Erotic that challenge the binary confines of destructive colonial modernity to transcend geopolitical, linguistic, and spiritual boundaries while nurturing an emancipatory power from within. Weaving together the resonating voices, the exhibition features the works that explore the shape-shifting bodies of water, thoughts, languages, and feelings as the fluid, transformative agency. It embraces the margin, the liminal, and its relation as an assemblage, recognizing the affects of proximity, displacement, and (dis)orientation in the moment of grief, loss, and liberation.

living library of becomings is a portal of encounters, bridging the past, and the present, to the future of intergenerational and transcultural feminist imaginations. Taking a library, as a living archival practice of voices, it transfers and shares the process of (un)becoming through knowing, listening, and touching, as something plural. The visitor is invited to spend their time reading a selection of textual materials from the library, including various artistic zines and collective publishing practices. During the exhibition, the space will be activated by a talk, performative interaction, somatic reading session, and reading performance.

The library includes the selection from VBKÖ Archive, Kunstraum Niederösterreich Library, VOLUMES Archive, and Mai Ling Library.

The performative library started in 2020, and its research phase is supported by the School of Commons (SoC), a community-learning space, located at the Zurich University of the Arts, in 2023-2024. The exhibition is supported by Culture Moves Europe, a project funded by the European Union.

Program:

Wednesday, March 13, 7 – 8:30 pm
Online talk “Decolonial Curatorial Practice as Collective Care
and Solidarity” by Kathy-Ann Tan
[Hybrid via zoom and onsite, in English]

Thursday, March 21, 7 – 8:30 pm
Activation “Preserving / Persevering: Food Containers”
by Salma Shaka
[in English]

Tuesday, March 26, 6 – 7:30 pm
Somatic Reading Session by Daliah Touré
[in English]

Sunday, April 7
Reading Performance of Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s Work by Auro Orso, with an Introduction by Verena Melgarejo Weinandt
[in German, English]

*Detailed information will be announced

Link: living library of becomings

『英語がペラペラ』になりたい、という文句がある。ペラペラと聞くと、口はうまいが中身がない人、まるで公園でお弁当を食べていると風が吹いたら一番にさらわれる紙ナプキンみたいな脳みその人、を思い浮かべるし、こんなペラペラの紙切れ一枚で、など否定的な意味でこのオノマトペは使われることが多い。『英語ベラベラ』という言葉も耳にしたことがあるが、艶のあるピンク色に塗られた唇とくちびるの狭い隙間から見える、訓練された細い舌が口内のあちこちをちろちろと動き回っている様がうかんで、どぎまぎしてしまう。『ネイティブ並み』という表現を使う人もいるが、ネイティブに近づくことがよしとされるような言語を測るものさし、に、すこしでも有機的な形を与えるため、母語の外に出て、第二、三言語と共に生きている人がこの世界には実はたくさんいるのだから、『ネイティブに近づきたい』、などのフレーズはとっととまとめて燃やしてしまおう。

8/11/2023

興味があったので市民講座が無料で開講していたドイツ語手話の講座に参加した。講師の人から、ドイツ語手話には冠詞が無い。という話を聞いて私はとても驚いた。しかし帰り道に電車に揺られながら、そういえば、自分も冠詞が無い言語(日本語)を使っていることを思い出した。

29/10/2023

I contribute a poetry Love is Considerable (2022) and an illustration One Day I Met the Rubber Duck on The Shore (2022) at Migrazine2023/1.

Link: AUSGABE 2023/1