Acts of Reading
Lectures & artist talks
‘Acts of Reading’ is an initiative of the Ghent research cluster Art, Imagination & Language. Where does reading intersect with creating? What forms of reading nourish an artistic practice? And which ones does it provoke? In eight different ‘acts’, starting with the staging of a reading space in the Carré of the Ghent campus, artists and researchers explore the role that reading can take within artistic practice. Or how art can sometimes change our perspective on what reading actually is, as if it sets us on the trail of a desire.
This is an activity of the expertise team Imagination & Language (Ghent).
PROGRAM:
ACT 0: SETTING THE SCENE, READING THE ROOM (11.02-06.03)
Imagine a room for reading in a school of art. If to read is to assemble (words, images, traces...), how can reading be a common ground? The reading room will be only accessible during the acts.
ACT 1: THESIS-EVENT (11.02, 14h-18h)
Coffee, cake, and remarkable theses à volonté, accompanied by a refreshing conversation about reading and writing, making and feeling. (NL)
ACT 2: READ: ACTIONS (13.02, 13h-19h)
We learn to read with our eyes, but what happens to reading and viewing a visual artwork when we can also touch, alter, and rearrange it? An invitation to dialogue. (NL)
ACT 3: LOOKING FOR THE READER (19.02, 10h-13h)
Bring a book that inspires your artistic practice and share a fragment during this reading assembly. The collected fragments will be part of ACT 7. Feel free to join without a book as well. (NL/ENG)
ACT 4: GROOT DICTEE DER NEDERLANDSE TAAL (25.02, 20h-21h30)
A dictation is a form of collective reading, listening, and writing. Legendary in this genre is Het Groot Dictee der Nederlandse Taal, now landing at LUCA Ghent. Who will claim the title of Flanders' ultimate spelling champion? (NL)
ACT 5: TRACES OF READING, SIGNS OF LIFE (27.02)
Reading leaves traces. An artist reads the space, intervenes, and makes markings. (NL/ENG)
ACT 6: LEZEN ALS AMBACHT (06.03, 16-18h)
The artistic practice of Patrick Van Caeckenbergh is rooted in a lifetime of reading. Again and again, he tries to capture it in a single glance—through installations and books. A conversation. (NL)
ACT 7: MAKE YOUR OWN BOOK (06.03, 18h-20h)
Reading is a performative act. During the closing event, book fragments that were collected during 'Looking for the Reader' will be on display to (re)compose and take away. Make your book and share the party. (NL/ENG)
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