the art of being many reader for 27/28-9-2014 an assembly of assemblies kampnagel internationale kulturfabrik, hamburg 3 ︱ content the art of being many

At the end of September 2014, ­artists, activists, researchers and participants from all over Europe and beyond will gather in Hamburg­ the art of being many – introduction 3 phd program assemblies and participation rehearsal assemblies – is this it? 5 for an assembly of assemblies. andreas blechschmidt the right to assemble 6 Sharing experiences from real-­ charter for europe 7 ivan casaola aka punk orgy tear gas democracy 10 democracy-movements and ­artistic program 11 experimentation they want to ex- amelie deuflhardt kampnagel and the art of being many 15 kai van eikels c.t. 16 plore new ways of coming together: tommy noonan the many deciding 17 collective insights into the materi- federica giardini art /// be(com)ing /// many 18 martin jörg schäfer the labor and leisure of performing the 20 ality, the timing, the agenda, the de- many sires and the catastrophes of being vassilis s. tsianos how to do sovereignty without­ people? – 21 & dimitris papadopoulos materialising experience and politics in many. At Kampnagel Inter­nationale the time fo crisis illias marmaras from ‘people’ to ‘many’ and maybe back? 22 Kulturfabrik, geheim­agentur* and magic. friends will build an assembly hall random people a blind date 24 and a camp to host them. Here, the assembly will become­ a laboratory of itself: a collective­ of friends and imprint strangers with many voices and the art of being many is a reader for an assembly of assemblies at kampnagel internationale kulturfabrik, hamburg, ­ 27/28 -09-2014, it is also a supplement of the weekly newspaper Jungel World bodies including those of ghosts

editor: geheimagentur, edited by: Sophie Domenz, Sibylle Peters, Esther Pilkington, Liz Rech, Martin Schäfer, Vassilis S. Tsianos, translation: Daniel Ladnar, Esther Pilkington, Liz Rech, Martin Schäfer, editing: Liz Rech, graphics: bseiten.net, and things. Feel free to join! print: A. Beig Druckerei und Verlag GmBh & Co. KG, circulation: 15.000, website: www.the-art-of-being-many.net

* geheimagentur is an open collective and part of the many who initiated the project THE ART OF BEING MANY ︱ 4 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 5 ︱ ... rehearsal assemblies – is this it?

Many of us will meet for the first time, but we all have something incommon: ­ by Esther Pilkington We witnessed moments of assembling that made the word ‚democracy’ sound ­important again. Those moments may not have brought about the political­ ­changes, we hoped for. Still, we believe them to be important. We want to ­acknowledge them as a starting point for a new art of being many.

phd program assemblies and participation Collectively chatting with activists from should be, or maybe rehearsals for as- Really? But isn’t it the feeling of NOT being names, open collectives and open sources in form of the many. Furthermore, representa- /esther pilkington Syntagma square in an internet café in semblies. The projects in the research many that art and activism share most of the our work, and we were often treated like fools tive democracy is based on the idea that the Hamburg. Having a “research dinner” programme do not only engage with the time - not enough of us to realize the desired when we refused to send in our personal CVs many can only govern themselves or be gov- while listening to lectures on sensual topic of assemblies and participation the- changes or to win the important battles? Their to appear in programs or identify the “head erned by being reduced to the few. This re- is a performance artist and part of the many at the PHD knowledge production. Going on silent oretically but also practically and perfor- shared desire for being many doesn’t make artist” of our collectives for the press. For us, duction again is organized and legitimized by Program Assemblies and Participation: Urban Publics and walks. Exploring scenarios of the future matively by producing different settings art and activism perfect accomplices. It can it was indeed like a miracle to witness how seemingly rational procedures of counting, Performance with the Young Institute for Future Re- and strategies of assembling. Creating reduce “the many” to an economic feature: this very gesture of refusal became so import- dividing, collecting, and, therefore, of repre- search. Watching films made by teen- assemblies to investigate assemblies – not prosumption, participation, social media, ant to real democracy movements all around senting. Modern representative democracy agers on monitors in buses and under- only do research subject and methods co- data mining — in all these discourses “the the world. Of course, we do not claim that this produces a certain version of the many just to ground trains. Listening to stories told incide here, the research to some degree many” are potentially treated as a resource. gesture of refusal was first rehearsed in the have it easily reduced again afterwards. by elderly people, and to the sounds of produces its own objects. A question that And success is defined as providing access arts. It has its roots in radical activism’s self- their bodies. Coming together to make has thus emerged in our discussions about to this resource one way or another. protection against repression. But after 2008, Now, what we have found in the social move- decisions, using light, chairs and doors these assemblies is: is this still a rehears- Nevertheless, the desire for being many is the means of radical activist self-defense and ments of recent years is that the many are to vote. Meeting seafarers at a Seaman‘s al/a test-run/a scenario/speculation, or nothing to feel bad about. For good reasons, the cultural critique of representation merged actually not equal to countable members of Club to play a game. Protesting and re- is this already it? And: to what extent do it rises up against the cultural tyranny of the and produced something beautiful: the will- parties or to statistical figures of biopolitics. membering the demolition of the Esso these assemblies – which in many cases individual. The individual, who has long been ingly-not-represented, the unrepresentable The given procedures for producing and then Houses in St Pauli with the Megaphone involve or incorporate people from very captured and redesigned as the self-opti- many. reducing the many to the few have turned out 1 Research projects by Margarita Tsomou, Inga Reimers, Choir.1 different backgrounds, not only artists and mizing subject of cognitive capitalism. The to be invalid, as they notoriously fall short of Martin Nachbar, Eva Plischke, Dorothea Grießbach, scientists but also so-called “experts of the desire for being many rises up against the So, who or what are the many? The many are the potential, the richness, and the essential Stefanie Lorey, Hannah Kowalski, Esther Pilkington, Since 2012, we have devised, staged and everyday”, children, seafarers, activists - economics of attention, its imperatives of the what emerged after the bubble of individu- horizontality of the many. Sylvi Kretschmar. tested many different kinds of assemblies feedback into socio-political contexts from big name, the keynote, the star, and the prin- alism crashed: the many failed to be auton- as part of the artistic-academic postgradu- which they emerge, to which they respond ciples of scarcity and accumulation. It rises omous subjects and then stopped feeling What to do with this insight? Maybe we could ate research programme “Assemblies and and with which they interact? up more generally against the ongoing con- guilty about that. The many are those who start by admitting that most of the time we Participation: Urban Publics and Perfor- centration of power and capital in the hands realize that, as individuals, we are precarious, are not many. We are actually few. Even in 2 The programme was founded in Hamburg as a co- mance”.2 Some of these events attempt- At this point, it is important that all these of the fewer and fewer. And if then, all of a fragile, and totally incapable of living, where- those moments when we seem to be many, operation between the HafenCity University, FUNDUS ed to invent or introduce new types of experiments with assemblies, even though sudden, there are many, it feels like a mira- as, on the other hand, we are totally capable as, for example, in the Occupy Movement, Theatre/Researchtheatre and K 3 / Centre for Chore- assemblies, others took well-established they can be described as rehearsals, take cle. When the many emerge and start to en- of producing a common life together. The “we” have never for real been the 99 percent. ography. For more information see: www.versammlu- settings for assemblies as their starting place in public. Thus, they also convey gage in the constituent process of becoming many have a special kind of knowledge—the Compared to this claim we have always been ng-und-teilhabe.de points and modified them in a way that new certain ideas of how the public for this a “we,” terrible and wonderful things can so-called “wisdom of the many” identified few. But we acted “as if we were many.” And hybrid forms could emerge. These differ- particular event should be composed and happen. The wonderful part is that, at such as typical of digital societies. The many are what is this acting “as if we were many” if not ent approaches share a belief that what organised. In his book Publics and Coun- moments, the most important things can be those who collectively produce the commons. a kind of rehearsing to be many? is at stake in identifying and investigating terpublics, literary scholar Michael Warner reinvented: care, dignity, and the power to The many are those who organize themselves these experimental formats is the question has shown how publics come into being change our lives collectively. horizontally, rather than vertically—those who During this rehearsal we may find that the of participation. They constitute attempts “by virtue of being addressed”: the ad- are essentially irreducible to the few. This is relations between the few and the many can at facilitating a broader participation in dress calls a certain public into being by So, let us ask: Is there an art of being many? what lies at the core of the conflict between actually be quite different: to act “as if we the artistic and/or academic research envisioning it as if it already existed and at How to learn, to embody, to continue the art the many and representational systems of were many” is not the same as speaking for process, and, more generally, they try to the same time the public constitutes itself of being many? To discuss these questions all kinds, as almost all representation relies, the many, embodying the many in leading fig- explore the potentials and possibilities of by at least partially identifying with that ad- geheimagentur initiated the art of being many in one way or another, on reducing the many ures, or representing the interest of the many. democratic participation as such: how can dress– it is both called into being and calls and invited the many to an assembly of as- to the few. Therefore the art of being many Instead it is a way to act that bears witness to people come together who usually do not itself into being. What Warner describes semblies: Can being many be rehearsed? consists of all the attempts to to organize and the abundance of people, beings, things, and meet, what does it mean to produce knowl- for publics can also be said for the pro- to assemble, to basically act together, without ghosts, who are always already present in our edge together, what about the assembly gramme’s experimental assemblies: they Many activists we know would probably say constantly being tempted to reduce the many action, enabling it, framing it, carrying it. To of people who cannot actually be in one are rehearsals exactly because they are it can’t.They argue that the many only come to the few. act as if we were many performs an aware- place at a certain time, how can people public, because their public nature gives into being through an uprising, a power vacu- ness of the many, who are actually there with communicate in groups, why it is so diffi- them the character of something unfin- um, inverting the fatigue of gouvernementality Modern representative democracy is based us, though many of them, unfortunately, again cult to reach decisions, how can the voices ished, imagined, of a try out, yet for the into a moment of collective self-governance. on the idea that the many are a given. This couldn’t make it here tonight. of the assembly be made heard, how can same reason they are more than a rehears- But our experience as performance artists is idea is a black box hiding a complex produc- they be amplified, and so on. al, they manifest, they constitute them- somewhat different. We actually rehearsed tion process from our sight. As, actually, this In a way, they are wishes for assemblies, selves, they might already be it. and tested anti-representational strategies “given” is constantly produced by biopolitical prognoses for assemblies and how they like for example anonymity and multiple regimes in the form of data, it is a very special

Together with geheimagentur and the Institute of Sociology at the University of Hamburg the PHD-programme initiated the art of being many as an assembly of assemblies. There we would like to discuss these questions with the many who feel addressed by this name and therefore will emerge as a public at Kampnagel in Hamburg in September 27th to 28th 2014. ︱ 6 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 7 ︱ the right to assemble charter for europe

by Andreas Blechschmidt http://chartereuropa.net/wiki/charter_1.1

andreas blechschmidt Public protests in public spaces indicate the exis- End of February/Beginning of March 2014, a hundred activists from various parts

is a political activist. He is part of the many who run the tence of ­political conflicts in societies. Such mass as- of Europe gathered in Madrid for the conference ‘El nuevo rapto de Europa: deuda, social center Rote Flora in Hamburg and part of the many semblies in public spaces were characteristic for the ­guerra, revoluciones democráticas’, to discuss the topics of Debt, War and Demo­ who prepare the session on materiality and decision for the assembly in September ­protests in the Arab states as well as for those against cratic Revolutions. While a number of panels debated questions of organization in the neo-liberal cutbacks during the Euro crisis in e.g. times of institutional crises and new forms of participation and the common, five work­ Portugal, Spain, and Greece. But since these assem- shops provided the ground for drafting a Charter for Europe. The conference partic­ blies are part of political confrontations they are also ipants developed both the foundations and a preamble for the entire paper, taking ­subject to the respective interpretations of hegemony. account of the themes of democracy, debt, commons, governance and borders. In the following months, a first version of this Charter emerged and circulated via In its 1985 landmark “Brokdorf-Decision,” The Hamburg police forces revealed their the Federal Constitutional Court of Germa- underlying understanding of the law in a ­mumbles, skype-conferences, wikis and diverse other virtual communication chan­ ny states that assemblies in public space special meeting of the Home Affairs Ham- nels and spaces. This version is planned to proliferate and get distributed over the provide a legitimate opportunity to influence burg Senate Committee in January 2014. the political process and to contribute to They stated that whenever leftist groups next few months to discuss and further develop it. One place to do this will be the the development of a pluralistic society by registered a public assembly the routine ­conference THE ART OF BEING MANY. Rather than considering this proposition as a the means of critique and by highlighting al- protocol was to first check whether there ternatives. The judges even note that public were any legal grounds to ban this assem- text for a future constitution, it is supposed to operate as an impulse for a potential protests contain a form of undisciplined di- bly. In case this would not be possible they ­constituent process in Europe — in a way, it is already a component of such a process. rect democracy able to prevent the political would check then for possible restrictive re- establishment from running cold in its busy quirements. It hardly needs stating that the routines. constitutional requirement for the police to assist organizers in exercising their funda- So goes the theory, at least, and it still has mental right to freedom of assembly is little preamble democracy to prove its worth in practice. Progressive valued by the Hamburg police leadership . ideals like these have been caricatured by a 1. We live in different parts of Europe with different historical, cultural and 3. Representative democracy is in crisis. A crisis produced from harshly deviating reality: Public protests are Consequently, in recent years, the opera- political backgrounds. We all continuously arrive in Europe. We share above, by international financial markets, rating agencies, private considered illegitimate (i.e. radical-leftist) tional management of the Hamburg police experiences of social movements and struggles, as well as experienc- think tanks and corporate media. But the credibility of democracy challenges of the governing views, which has had to face dozens of court decisions es of creative political work among our collectivities, on municipal, na- is also questioned from below. To talk about democracy is to (re) are the views of those who actually govern. declaring obligations and resolution orders tional and transnational levels. We have witnessed and participated to appropriate and to (re)invent a common sense of democracy. The Accordingly, the common Hamburg police that concerned assemblies illegal. But this the rise of multitudes across the world since 2011. guarantee of rights to the commons, of the transformation of citi- practice to discipline political protests and has troubled neither politicians nor the Min- In fact, the European ‚we‘, we are talking about here, is unfinished, it is zenship, of equality, freedom, peace, autonomy and collectivity. demonstrations in an authoritarian way re- istry of the Interior––the unlawful practices in the making, it is a performative process of coming together. mains widely unquestioned and the funda- have remained without any consequences 4. The 2011 uprisings across the world have rescued the living mental right to assemble publicly is utterly whatsoever for the responsible police com- 2. In the wake of the financial crisis we have experienced the violence of meanings of democracy. When we claim democracy in Europe we disrespected. This happened on December manders. austerity, the attack on established social and labour rights, the spread do not aim to restore the lusters of the old national constitutional 21 last year when tens of thousands of peo- of poverty and unemployment in many parts of Europe. We have faced democracies, but rather to invent the institutions that can catch up ple gathered for a registered demonstration Therefore, the right to assemble as the a radical transformation of the EU which now has become clearly the with the cry of „They don‘t represent us“ spread by those upris- to protest against the destruction of the so right to proclaim differing and oppositional expression and articulation of capitalist and financial command. At the ings. We want to claim back our belief in the self-government of the called Esso Houses, for the preservation of points of view needs further defending on same time we have lived through a profound displacement of national ‚demos‘. Hold on to this concept. Hold on to its reinvention. Hold the social center Rote Flora as well as to the streets of Hamburg! constitutional frameworks, we have learned that they do not provide on to its transformation. demand the right to stay for the so called any effective defence against the violence of the crisis, and on the con- Lampedusa refugees. On this day, police trary are responsible for the dreadful governance of the crisis. In the 5. We are experiencing a post-democratic turn in Europe. National made the demonstration dissolve by attack- ruins of representative democracy, xenophobic chauvinisms, ethnic constitutions are being used for the private interest when the ing it from the very beginning with water fundamentalisms, racisms, antifeminist and homophobic processes, Troika imposes budgetary decisions as well as social policies cannons, batons, and pepper spray. new and old forms of fascism proliferate. without democratic legitimation. Security, in a similar way, has We rise up against all this. become a central process in the emptying of significance and ︱ 8 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 9 ︱

charter for europe

performance of democratic institutions. Austerity and security the many towards the many. It is the answer to the recognition that traditional party system. Distributed democracy instead relies on departure, independent from permanent or temporary residency are prefiguring a general transformation of the role of institutions wealth is something we produce in common. the possibility of the self-governing of the people regarding the in one place, not subdued to labour condition and instead ground- on the global level, that is rendering democracy impossible. main issues of our lives in common. ed on a shared, open and democratic social space.

6. The constitution of the people is what is at stake for us in what commons_state 15. The prerogatives of absolute command of a separate body of pro- 20. We need to constantly question any position of privilege that down- we term democracy. How can we re-think a democratic self-gov- fessional politicians and technicians cannot be the guarantee of a plays demands for ‘inclusion’, however this term may be contest- ernance in pluralist and participatory experimental ways? How 11. Democracy as a process goes along with the constant collective political process in the general interest. We have to get rid of the ed, of anyone who experiences material constraints and differen- can we learn from the democratic practices on the squares production and use of the commons. This collective production of idea itself of the State as One: The power of the One as a master tial treatment to access social rights and freedoms. Europe needs around the globe and think of them as re-invention of partici- the commons is the only way to prevent poverty and war and to and manipulator of complexity is incompatible with the practice to be a project of peace, not for the security of its own borders but patory processes in the assembly of the many, in order to give create social and cultural wealth. It is a matter not only of defend- of democracy for the many by the many. Representative democ- for the safety of economic, social and political rights. ourselves our own rules, laws and rights? How can this process ing the public policies that sustain education, health, culture and racy has degenerated into a technocratic authoritarian system, a The Charter for Europe is an open process be pluralist, federalist, based on networks and assemblages, social well-being, but also of moving forward towards new insti- “government of the unchangeable reality”, that is relying on the movements and relations instead of identities, functions and tutionalities of the commons as the means we produce to live to- administration of fear and submission. 21. We want to initiate a different kind of constituent process on the roles? We envision here something beyond the juridical form gether. To do that, the people of Europe have the right to organise basis of social and political struggles across the European space, of democracy bound to a national sovereign. We are opening themselves in the horizontal way of the many thereby creating and 16. Beyond a technocratic top-down federalism, we think a democra- a process towards a radical political and economic change of Eu- up this concept, to spread democratic practices into the social, performing a new form of democracy. cy of the commons has to rely both on the local dimension and the rope focusing on the safeguarding of life, dignity and democracy. the everyday, into production and reproduction of life. The state transeuropean one. Natural and artifical commons cannot be „na- It is a contribution to the production and creation of the commons, needs to be under scrutiny, challenged by the diffusion of rad- 12. New institutions of the commons are continuously invented and tionalized“, neither they can be managed by an oligarchic tech- a process of democratic regeneration in which people are pro- ical inclusion and the invention of democratic tools from below. created all over Europe to oppose the monopoly of decision of nostructure. A democracy of the many can only be a distributed tagonists of their own lives. In the squares and the networks we the State. Many of them are emerging in the struggles against the democracy; it can only be achieved by expanding open and bot- have learned something simple that has changed forever our way 7. Democracy in Europe means for us a two-sided process in crisis, the austerity policies and their impact on the everyday life tom-up networks for the common interest. There can be no One- of inhabiting the world. We have learned what ‚we‘ can achieve which both „democracy“ and „Europe“ are intertwined, (re)ap- of the people of Europe. They are the first steps to reinvent a po- and-only Power over the commons, but just a system of distributed together. propriated and reinvented on the basis of the transnational so- litical and social space beyond the dichotomy of the public and democratic counter-powers deciding on the basis their continuous We invite people across and beyond Europe to join us, to contrib- cial and political struggles of the many. Democracy as a prac- the private sector that sustained the political and social space of interactions, conflicts and negotiations. ute to this charter, to make it live in struggles, imagination, and tice. Democracy for Europe. modernity, in which the state on the one hand and the market on constituent practices. the other guaranteed the reproduction of power and profit. State and Market failed to create the well-being of the people of Europe. citizenship_borders income_debt Institutions of Commons break with the logic of social reproduction that have to be borne by other commoners and the commons of 17. A redefinition of citizenship in Europe must start from migrants’ 8. Nowadays, debt has become the main mechanism of both the world. They create collective forms of the reproduction of life practices of crossing the borders and reclaiming citizenship be- economic governance and capital accumulation in Europe. It that are beyond the logic of capitalization. yond its nationalistic and exclusionary origins. The various mani- works as a multilevel system throughout the whole society. We festations of borders that we are challenging and fighting against are witnessing how debt is affecting everyone. Workers, stu- 13. The institutions of the commons are based on collective decision from day to day reflect different situations: they are geographical dents, unemployed: no one is allowed to escape from the new making and they have to grow stronger in order to have an im- and state borders, detention camps for migrants, electronic con- debtfare. pact on the everyday life of society for replacing step by step the trol systems, walls and barbed wires. But they are also internal dysfunctional structures of the nation states. We have to democ- controls and visa regimes. The borders of Europe now reach far 9. Debt and income are the two sides of the same coin, when the ratise governance and national institutions of education, city de- beyond the geographical limits of the EU member-States, estab- very reproduction of life is increasingly tied up with the access velopment, art, research, social and physical well-being in order lishing an externalisation of migration controls. to credit, and hence with the rise of private indebtment. This is to provide the means for these new institutions of the commons to the most distinctive contraposition of the crisis - a contraposition become real, to spread and to be sustainable. This can happen 18. Physical borders are continuously contested and reshaped by the between private and anonymous debtors and the many indebt- only at a transnational level, fighting the global logic of profit and movement of those who cross and are being crossed by them. ed. Rating agencies, bankers and financial institutions do not understanding Europe as the space of a democratisation from be- Various practices and routes bring people to enter, leave and represent us. low in the affirmation of the commons. re-enter the space of Europe. However it is also the multiple move- ments of the internal migrants, which express and respond to the 10. The struggle for democracy is about fighting against the blackmail- deepening disparities and inequalities in Europe. These practices ing of public and private indebtment, hence against the policies of governing_governance are central in contesting what is Europe today and in foreseeing austerity dreadful to the many . The challenge is to transform this what Europe may be tomorrow. generalised private indebtment towards the financial few, into a 14. The problem is not what form of state is the more appropriate for common indebtment of the many towards the many. Money and democracy, the question is how we want to be governed: Mod- 19. Challenging citizenship in Europe is perceiving it ‘from the border’ finance need to get back in the hands of the democratic many. ern representative democracy is based on the idea that the many itself - we imagine and practice an open, ongoing and inclusive Basic income is the tool we can use for our common indebtment of should be governed by being reduced to the few in terms of the citizenship, disconnected from the place of birth and the place of ︱ 10 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ program ︱ 11 ︱ tear gas democracy* the art of being many*

by Ivan Casasola aka Punk Orgy In the end of September 2014 ­artists, activists, researchers, and participants from all over ­Europe and beyond will gather in Ham- ivan casasola aka punk orgy The use of tear gas in combat is nothing new; in fact,

hier müsste noch die Kurzbiografie oder so hin ... ­Spartans took advantage of sulfur gas as a military resource burg for an assembly of assem- in the V century A.D. Contemporary history indicates that blies. Sharing experiences from this irritant was used during World War I, when the French army included in its arsenal, 26 mm grenades with tear gas. real-­democracy-movements and

These grenades and spray versions, be- than food - as a medicine used by healers artistic experimentation they came a common resource to dissolve pub- and shamans to treat coughs, tooth infec- lic demonstrations in Latin America in the tions, and cultural diseases such as “evil want to explore new ways of sixties, and are still the quintessential tool eye”. It is believed that the smell of burning against revolts in the streets, even though chilli scares the impure beings: when a liv- tens of years of scientific research have ing being is exposed to this smoke, it gets ­coming ­together: collec­tive in- shown that it is a poison that affects the purified. health of human beings. sights into the materiality, the tim- About its harmful effects, a 1999 study To develop this performance I combined called “Health Hazards of Pepper Spray” my experiences as an activist - fighting in performance by Dr. Gregory Smith of the University of public confrontations – with my college ed- ing, the agenda, the desires and | An electric grill will be on a table. On it hot peppers will North Carolina, found that in the 90’s, 70 ucation in gastronomy that introduced me be placed and left burning: the smoke will be a natural persons deaths, under police custody, to the work with chilis in the traditional Mex- the ­catastrophes of being many. tear gas. were related with the use of pepper spray. ican cuisine. | Small balls will be tossed to the participants (balls The pepper spray has the same ingredients Many people, invaded by fear of tear gas, symbolize CS gas grenades). as the tabasco sauce, but at much higher go in shock hurting themselves by not act- Many of us will meet for the first | All participants must wear glasses and surgical cloth concentrations. ing in an appropriate manner: crying and masks, and will be grouped into teams of 4 people: one The tear gas or CS gas is mainly made of running scared; something normal: humans time, but we all have something in will have a bucket, another will have protection gloves chili for its high content in capsaicin, which fear what they do not known. to collect the balls that will be put into the bucket, irritates mucous membranes and respira- I propose a performance in which activists ­common: We ­witnessed ­moments another will held a shield that will protect, the other one tory tract, and is used by state forces to come into contact with smoke of peppers will watch out and give instructions. disperse public demonstrations, protests so they can experience a similar dynamic | Participants must breathe slowly to avoid swallowing and riots. Being long exposed to this gas to a police brutality confrontation, asking of assembling which made the chili smoke and should remain calm despite working can cause lung, heart and liver damage. participants to face their fears. I also seek quickly. to have a positive impact in the minds of word ‚democracy’ sound important what are peppers (chili)? the participants, using the magical and The chili (from Nahuatl word “chilli”), also healing side of chilis. Prehispanic shamans called aji in South America and pepper in used chili for spiritual cleaning and heal- again. The square-squattings­ and Spain, refers to the immature, mature or ing, which drives away evil spirits. I’ll do dried fruits of a few species. the same and try to achieve a magical spir- ­neighbourhood-assemblies of the The fruit of most varieties of hot peppers itual healing upon the participants. contain high percentages of capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-monenamida, C18H- real-democracy-movement may not 27NO3) and related compounds, collec- tively called capsicoides. have brought the political changes­ The capsicoides bind to pain receptors in the mouth and throat that are responsible for the sensation of heat. These receptors we hoped for. But they have been send a message to the brain that some- thing hot is being consumed. the catalyst for a new art of being Chili also has other cultural purposes other many.

* tear gas democracy is a 35-minute-performance presented at the assembly the art of being many * the following four pages show the program of the art of being many _ take it out, if you want to ... ︱ 12 ︱ program ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ program ︱ 13 ︱

At Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik, geheimagentur, spaces. What is the possible shift in power re- tional ­video collectives and diverse social lations between police forces and protesters movements.­ The specific narra­tives and WAV and other artists from Gängeviertel­ Hamburg, Freifunk, if the assembly turns into a collective experi­ struggles of the places and documents af- Showcase Beat le Mot and the PHD-Program ­‚Assemblies ence of panic and blockade? A polyphonic fecting each other within a double screen discussion with the use of open-mic-tech- ­method. What affects are transported by and ­Participation’ will build an assembly hall and a camp niques. With protagonists­ from Enmedio Bar- the video image and the archive­ of politi- the art of being many is a project by ­geheimagentur. It is to host the many. Here, the assembly will become­ a labo- celona, from Syntagma Square in Athens in cal movements and how do they become also an experiment in ­collective curating. 2011, Placa del Sol in Madrid, Tahrir­ Square protagonists of the assembly? With activ- ratory of itself: a collective of friends and strangers with and Gezi Parc. ists, arch­ivists and producers from Gezi some of the many (individual ­names, not ­contained many voices and bodies including those of ghosts and parc, ­anti-miners-movement SOS Halkidiki, in collectives and ­movements ­mentioned, in the text): vogue and voodoo ­Syntagma, Tahir Square­ and PAH (the ones Andreas ­Blechschmidt, Vica Rogers, Serhat ­Karakayali, things. Before the public assembly starts about 120 peo- How do the trance-like states come about that affected by the mortgage) from Barcelona Vassilis ­Tsianos, Hagar Groeteke, Kai van ­Eikels, ­Katrin ple will meet in groups in order to focus on the art of being are sometimes ex­perienced when coming to- we discuss­ strategies of performance­ and Trüstedt, Martin Jörg Schäfer, Brett Scott, Veda Popovic, gether as many? By what rituals are they pro- image production driven and re-scripted by Daniel Kulla, Sophie Domenz, Ana Vujanonic, Robin many from different angles. Together,­ they will prepare an duced and/or abused? In this ­session Grupo the social move­ments. Transnational cate- ­Celikates, Giullia Palladini, Ramon Reichert, Raul Zelik, de Choque from Mexico City, Liebe Bar, Kick nations between collective practice are be- Katja Diefenbach, Gabriele Klein, Lena Ziyal, Enrique assembly for about 400 people which is going to last for Ass Queereeoké, Tätärä, SOMAL 21, Uschi coming possible. Potential political alliance Flores, Yara Haskiel, Margarita­ Tsomou, Angela Meli- two days from noon to midnight. In a second step, the as- Geller Experience and others want to employ visible. Lines of spaces of memory entangled. topoulos, ­Katharina Duve tbc. our pop-cultural imagination to examine tech- A real-time experiment to construct a room of sembly hall will be opened to the public. As an assembly niques of sampling and appropriation that possibilities by image streams and voices. in cooperation with of ­assemblies the conference is not meant to be a series of lead to enhanced states of self-­presentation Assemblies and Participation. Urban Publics and Perfor- (“vogue”) or self-loss/transcendence­ (“voo- real fictions mative Arts. PHD Program, individual presentations. It is meant to focus on what can doo”). The rituals,­ rhythms, music, dances To cooperate in new fashions often feels as if Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik be done together. There is no audience, no performers, only and stimulants that make up the art of being one is engaging in some kind of real fiction: many are to be explored,­ exchanged, and just made up but yet entirely true. Maybe ‘the registration those, who participate in the assembly for these two days. unleashed as well as exorcized. While drift- many’ themselves are such a real fiction,­ too. To register for the art of being many will get you a ticket. Just two days. Not the most important days in the history ing we will listen to some midnight-theory: When do we feel like ‘we are many’? Friends It will not make you an audi­ence-member, but a partic- Every assembly contains­ elements of ritual: from La Fundación­ de los Communes will ipant in the assembly. Tickets are only available for the of anything or the break-through of a new aesthetics. No. dress codes, seating arrangements, custom- talk about the horizontal technopolitics of the whole two-day-assembly. A normal ticket for the two days ary gestures constituting and transgressing many and analyze the digital communi­cation is available for 20 Euro. As we do not want to exclude We might just be sad together – remembering lost battles. thresh­olds, etc. Who’s speaking in whose of our assembly. Then we are going to work anyone for financial reasons you can also get a ticket for We might be very tired. But we will try to have an assembly name and why? on shared future projects which, for now at 10 Euro (no proof needed).This works, if those, who can least, look like real fictions: a constituent as- afford it, pay 30 Euro and thereby become sponsors for just the way we like, for two days or for as long as it takes. sembly process for a ­Europe from below, a the others. Please do! Before the assembly starts, we DAY II network of alternative currencies for the com- would like to send more information to all participants, to noon to midnight mons, a fleet to reconnect from the side of give everyone the opportunity to prepare and contribute. DAY I timing and breaks the sea, a network of squatted theatres and Therefore please leave your email-contact, when asked in noon to midnight Timing is crucial for assemblies – for the sound, systems and voices factories. Baldio Habitado, Observatorio and the registration process. Please register at: structure of the assembly it­self, but also for How is public space constructed by voices, many more collectives will join in. Meanwhile, www.kampnagel.de materiality and decision its formation: When do we get together? How sounds and sound­systems? How are tem- graphic protocols and sketches from our as- At the beginning of the assembly, we will put do we organise our time? Who gets to speak porary collectives produced­ acoustically? sembly will be presented and the Fablab-Bus more information the materiality of the meeting­ to the test. Col- when? What events will trigger our getting to- How are imaginations of political communi- from the Netherlands will provide ways and www.the-art-of-being-many.net lectives from art and activism like The Lab gether? Many assemblies are characterized ty linked to sound ma­chines and rhetorical means to produce agitprop material of all [email protected] of Insurrectionary Imagination, The Materials by the feeling of both urgency and boredom. techniques? For the session on sound, sys- shapes and ­sizes. The assembly might end www.geheimagentur.net ­Library, geheimagentur, Sweet and Tender Is there­ a way out of this predicament? And tems and voices LIGNA,­ Mobile Akademie, with a ­series of pep talks from the many to the www.versammlung-und-teilhabe.de Collaborations and others will examine the can we leave the norm-time-­regime behind? Megafonchor, metroZones, Magical Flying many about the many. Representatives of Te- material makeup of collective decision-mak­ In this session, Macao, Everybodys, theatre Lovelab, The Temporary Radio and others will atro Valle Rome and Embros ­Theatre Athens supported by ing. What media, what materials­ do we need of research, random people, Turbo Pascal meet to work together on questions of echo will start. You are most welcome to join in. Kulturstiftung des Bundes in order to decide as many? If and how we and others will rehearse, present and test and resonance. We want to exchange sto- Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung decide collectively will influence the char­ different strategies of measuring,­ organizing ries and experiences, tools and techniques Jungle World acter of a meeting: consensus or majority? and interrupting the time of the assembly. dealing with sound in public assemblies. In FREIFUNK Hierarchical or horizontal? Analog or digital? Can we predict what will happen? Are we this session the art of being many is all about FUNDUS THEATER/Forschungstheater Soft or loud? By lot or oracle? Intoxicated or ready? Are we able to plan ahead? Or has it hybrids of ­humans and technical devices like Performance Studies/Universität Hamburg sober? By applause-o-meter or by differing already started? radios, public adress systems, head­phones ­Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung light moods? Shared decisions are necessary and speakers. Professur für Neuere deutsche Literatur/­Theaterforschung, for joint actions. We will gather our knowledge blockade and panic Universität Hamburg about the different modes of collective deci­ In this session, participants from international­ affects and documents sion-making. What is going to be de­cided by social movements will report about strategies The panel will assemble documentary im- this assembly – and how? and experiences from their struggles in ­public age-production and -techniques of transna-

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-. ︱ 14 ︱ the art of being many ︱ program the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 15 ︱ kampnagel and the art of being many

by Amelie Deuflhardt thesome art of of being the manymany (individual ­names,materiality ¬ decision contained­ geheimagentur, in collectives the materials library, sweet and tender collaborations, the lab of insurrectionaryand ­movements imagination, mentioned,­ gängeviertel, hamburgin the text):... timing Andreas & breaks theatre ­Blechschmidt, of research, everybodys, Vica amelie deuflhardt What happens when activists and artists after having­

t-rich, macao, random people, turbo pascal ... block- is part of the many who run the Kampnagel Internationale ­encountered democratic movements at different places­ Rogers, Serhat ­Karakayali, Vassilis Kulturfabrik ade & panic with protagonists from gezi park, syn- come together for four days to exchange ideas? When diverse people experienced in collective structures­ ­Tsianos,tagma, plaza delHagar sol, tahir Groeteke, square ... vogue Kai & vodoovan share their thoughts at a real place? Without a fixed theatre of research, everybodys, t-rich, macao, ran- schedule in an open process? Is it possible to curate­ ­Eikels, ­Katrin Trüstedt, Martin Jörg participatory and non-hierarchically? Which action dom people, turbo pascal ... sound, system & voices strategies can be developed in such a gathering? Schäfer,ligna, the temporary Brett radio,Scott, the magicalVeda flyingPopovic, love- The political revolts of the last years in the mained a space that is open for the interna- Arabic and Western World raise the question tional and the city’s independent art scene. lab, mobile akademie, megafonchor, metroZones ... what democracy means today. With the art Daniel Kulla, Sophie Domenz, Ana of being many, Kampnagel approaches this Kamnagel has started its reorientation in Sep- affects & documents sos halkidiki, pah, enmedio, question by creating a laboratory: a space of tember 2007 referring to its historical point of open assemblage beyond traditional logics departure with the project Besetzungsorgie. Vujanonic,with protagonists Robin from gezi ­Celikates, park, syntagma, Giul tahir- of representation––a space for exchanging, Today, Kampnagel intervenes programmati- sharing, acting. cally in current discourses about the city, the metropolis and public space. It also contrib- square ... real fictions fablab-bus, la fundación de The terrain Kampnagel, a shut-down crane utes to discussions about political and global lia Palladini, Ramon Reichert, Raul factory, was conquered by artists in 1982, at questions. The transgression of spheres of los communes, baldio habitado, teatro valle rome, first in so-called “occupancy rehearsals.” The influence and artistic interventions at neural- first protagonists were free theater groups gic places of the city have been part of the Zelik,observatorio, Katja embros Diefenbach, theatre athens Gabriele... constructors that had been founded in the 70s to exper- programmatic objectives from the beginning. iment with new forms of expression. These By now, diverse actors use Kampnagel as a groups were founded as a reaction of young discursive platform. Formats that are partic- showcase beat le mot, freifunk, we are visual, ge- theater makers to the student movement: exit ularly fitting incorporate artists, academics, Klein, Lena Ziyal, Enrique Flores, from the institutions, creation of new con- activists, the audience or a city astutely into heimagentur, kampnagel internationale kulturfabrik, tents, politicization of the theater––that was the broader program. The Black Markets by their creed. The traditional theater space with Hannah Hurtzig, the Treffen Total, a plat- its representational function and the institu- form for artistic exchange by Sweet & Ten- Yarazunderbüchse, Haskiel, phd-program ­Margarita assemblies Tsomou, and partici - tional structures of the city theater were re- , or Matthias von Hartz‘s der Collaborations fused. Dissolution of traditional hierarchies, Orchestra Charaoke putting entire halls into pation ... and many more artleaks, fack, die koalition creation of other forms of community and ba- ecstasies should be noted in this context. … Angela Melitopoulos, ­Katharina sic democratic decision-making were central as should the project the art of being many der freien, baldio, here to stay - lampedusa in ham- visions. Kampnagel was rescued from even- that, for four days will put 400 people in a tual demolition in a paradigmatic fight led by many-voiced dialogue as a lively installa- artists, political activists as well as citizens. tion. A virulent laboratory of accomplices will Duveburg, jeux tbc. sans frontières, initiative esso häuser, uni- It was established and then secured for the emerge as a spatial and discursive compres- long term over a process of years and years. sion of a process that will further spread out. versität der nachbarschaften, s.a.l.e.-docks, your col- Today, more than 30 years later, Kampnagel It will have an impact – not only on Kampna- lective, strangers, fare dodgers ... is indeed a municipal “GmbH,” but has re- gel but also on Hamburg. ︱ 16 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 17 ︱ c.t. the many deciding

by Kai van Eikels by Tommy Noonan

kai van eikels One obvious problem with time on occasion of an as­ ­sem­­­­­bly

is a philosopher and part of the many who are preparing is that while I never seem to get enough time to voice the session on timing and breaks for the assembly in my opinions, express my thoughts, comment on what September ­others have said, the entire event takes too much time. A crisp meeting, which leaves us with some energy­ for ­further action, demands a tight schedule, to be supervised­ with authority. Granting everybody the desired extra­ tommy noonan Sweet & Tender Collaborations is an artist-driven initia- time results in an even more monstrous duration. is a performance artist. He is part of the many who tive and an artistic project in constant development. It founded the international artist network Sweet and Tender began as a grass-roots initiative from a group of partic- Collaborations and part of the many who prepare the The assemblies I have attended so far were hours or more to perform. In fact, Brecht’s script session on materiality and decision for the assembly in ipants in the 2006 DanceWEB program at ImPulsTanz nominally organized according to the former of this play within the play is almost absurdly September ­Festival in Vienna. The initiative focuses on self-organiza- principle, but often failed to implement it. Re- pompous, with many changes of scenery, doz- cently I discovered one that follows the latter: the ens of extras – very unusual for the notoriously tion of artistic processes and production and emphasizes Afghan Loya Jirga. Much to the chagrin of UN economic dramatist. ­collaborative forms of working. Apart from individually diplomats, this Grand Assembly of tribe chiefs The Loya Jirga and The Causasian Chalk Circle knows no previously agreed-on time limit. It lasts can teach us two things about the time of assem- produced projects, Sweet and Tender Collaborations exists as long as it requires the attendees to settle mat- bling. First, giving time is the munus, the tax that ters. The feeling during discussions therefore will must be paid for entertaining a temporal commu- as a shared practice of physical encounters. S&T meet- not be one of urgency, of a time pressure sup- nity. Yet only a rich gift will have the effect of en- ings are celebrating the art of being many by making the posed to ass-kick the process, but one of gen- riching the collective, of switching its default set- erosity. Although time to talk cannot be infinite ting on ‘affluence,’ which converts conversation process of deciding as important as the decision itself. (we’ll all have to die, most of us have others to into a luxury, elevating it above the necessary. come home to), the act of giving each other a Any assembly is also an attempt to get back the These days, the most common question the UK and other places. We had no hier- generous amount of time as a sort of welcome political freedom of being free to decide from the about Sweet and Tender Collaborations is: archy, no structure, no formal agreement or present establishes an atmosphere quite unlike socio-economic business of having to decide. „Does Sweet and Tender Collaborations procedure and most importantly, no single a scheduled convention whose every second at- We won’t achieve that by simply ignoring the still exist?“ This is a difficult question to an- shared purpose (though we were unified by tests to scarcity determining time’s value. necessities, and neither will nostalgic fantasies swer, simply because it is difficult to define many common goals and desires, such as Bertolt Brecht’s play The Caucasian Chalk Circle of recovering the pre-modern slow prove help- the existence of Sweet and Tender Collab- learning from one another, having space starts with a gathering of farmers conflicting over ful. However, we may put on the old masks and orations in the first place. It has no official and time to experiment and share informa- a valley: while a group of elders have been using smuggle an element of extravagance into the structure, no base of operation, no lead- tion, tools and skills). the green meadows to produce small amounts modern schedule. Every assembly needs one ership, no fixed membership and no defi- of high quality goat cheese, a younger, progres- element that exceeds the limited economy of nite rules to govern its actions. Normally, I We can best be described as an emer- sive-minded group are about to establish an time, turning its shortness inside out, as it were. answer: „I don‘t know“, which is also how I gent and fluid community that only exists efficient industrial system of agricultural produc- Second, time is involved in making decisions not answer people who ask me if I am part of because enough of us have used a com- tion. A professional facilitator has traveled to the only insofar as debate and ballot will consume Sweet and Tender Collaborations. mon name to describe a loosely formed countryside for the meeting. Being from the city, the time(s) of participant’s lives. Time’s passing and ever-changing collection of individu- he sympathizes with the progressives, and the also has a hand in the deciding. Time is nev- I can say this: starting in 2007, around als who believe in the sharing of resourc- elders too are aware, and ready to respect, that er neutral in respect to political decision, even 30 performance-related artists from many es and knowledge, and the notion that we the decision will ultimately be in favor of industri- though its inclination mostly won’t be as patent countries began to assemble periodically, can all benefit from gathering together. It alization. The facilitator is eager to get done with as Brecht’s notion of progress suggests. The or- in larger and smaller groups, sometimes is a radically simple idea, which many art- the affair and embark on his return trip as soon ganization of an assembly should acknowledge in formally produced environments, often ists, businesspeople, activists and citizens as possible. Still, after a meal, the members of this: a good way of organizing deciding will have in sporadic informal gatherings. The num- have been utilizing ever since the internet the progressive fraction who host the gathering a critical-affirmative sense of what will happen bers swelled to over 50 in one gathering, has dramatically dropped transaction and surprise him with a theater performance that em- anyway (since it already is happening), and of 10 in another, again 35 in another. We met communication costs, and travel has be- ploys “the old masks.” The play that, they vague- how the collective dynamics can be at ease with in France, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, come more affordable in the last decade. ly say, “has to do with our question” takes three this penchant of time. Mexico, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, ︱ 18 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 19 ︱ art /// be(com)ing /// many

the many deciding by tommy noonan by Federica Giardini

Of course, emergent, collective, and were successfully reached less through individual. We as individuals utilize one an- federica giardini The inhabitants of contemporary West are ­either swarm behavior are all related phenome- conversation as they were through a con- other as resources for our own needs, and na which have received great attention in tinuous back-and-forth between action and in so doing, we develop a way to support is a philosopher. She is part of the many who squatted the ­individuals or a collective profile traced bystatistics ­ recent years. Sweet and Tender Collabora- group reflection. Reflection and discussion and grow our communities, based on a Teatro Valle in Rome and part of the many who prepare and classification or the result of areactive ­ tions has been one of many interconnect- informed action; action propelled the need foundation of sustainable collaboration; the the session on real fictions for the assembly in September ed communities that can be described as for reflection and discussion. Many of us group is not the point, it is the result of a urge for local and territorialized identities. such, its emergent nature characterized felt an appreciation for the ‚group‘ as well shared principle of individual action. by a structure of decentralized control and as a sense of personal gain through our in- Being many is a counter-conduct, is entering­ a constantly shifting form, determined by volvement, and therefore we continued to With Sweet and Tender, the absence of multiple interactions between individuals. subscribe ourselves to the common we of agreement reflects the absence of a de- ­another field of passions and relations. In other words, no one in charge and no Sweet and Tender. cisive goal, which in turn reflects the ab- map. sence of competition for resources or po- Yet this has never been a fully functional litical power. This is of course not how our As individuals we are scattered around, ei- material – bodies are involved and gestures, It is notable that Sweet and Tender, unlike process. It has been, at best, a tendency political, economic and social institutions ther depressed or competitive or resigned the space inside-outside, the city – they are virtual communities, is based in embodied that emerged at times as the network con- function in most parts of the industrialized and isolated. But something is already at all significant. Politics as a material subver- meetings and relationships which exist in tinued to meet. Each meeting was a differ- world; and that is exactly why it is so im- hand, the urge, or even a need. And, from sion of the dominant narratives. built space(s); also, it has no defined goal ent group with a different character – yet a portant to carve out temporary enclaves like the very beginning it is transindividual. or reason for existence, other than the ag- kind of evolution was apparent over time; our meetings sometimes do, wherein com- Austerity EU policies have effected a materi- In action, in a starting action – occupying, gregate sum of the individual goals held there was a shift from goal-related deci- munities and groups may function togeth- al common sense with respect to what could re-owning, restituting – individuals become by its various participants. And yet Sweet sions to process-oriented ones that were er under alternative models for a period of have appeared as a sort of political ideal. many as a differentiated and, yet, connected and Tender gatherings have represented supported by the set of criteria which de- time. To momentarily step out of our con- There is a new awareness: water, education, subject. Action literally takes place. Space is much more than the meaningless actions fined our gatherings: horizontal exchange, structed social and political realities, and housing, culture – these are what we need redefined, new habits come out of alterna- of flash mobs. They have repeatedly con- sharing and common evolution. Rather than to experience the confrontation between for sure. No persuasion, no higher skill in tive forms of relating, inhabiting, producing. cerned themselves with the process of de- mobilizing large groups towards a specific Self and Other through a process-oriented analysis, just a motion and an urge. Art is in the awareness that each single act cision-making – not only to make decisions end, our project has been about mobiliz- emergent community, allows a moment to is both labor and emotional, discursive, re- themselves, but to decide how to to make ing large groups towards articulating in the air the possibility of other realities. It can Thus, something transindividual is already lational capabilities. Rather than production, decisions together, both in physical and in void of the unknown. also allow us to better access the resourc- at hand in our techno-cognitive-bodies, and the core is now social reproduction. virtual space. es and information we each require. only on an additional level this can be ideo- This had required several things of those logically separated in individuals, related to When the result of an action becomes a new In making decisions, we were always un- individuals: notably, engaging with the each other through contracts and cost-ben- reality, the art of being many is an art of re- interested in Democracy, and generally in- tension between the impulse to affect the efit computation. And the more the econom- maining. There is no division of labor, but capable at consensus-based agreement, direction of the group and acceptance of ical and juridical effects of neoliberalism rather rules that progressively take shape, due to our large numbers, our unbridge- its utterly uncontrollable nature. The ten- expand, the less its art of splitting the many as days go by, as action becomes a pro- able differences, or to the porous nature sion between these two modes of partici- into individuals succeeds. cess. The many start to feel familiar, famil- of our ‚membership‘. Still somehow, the pation is what drives the emergent actions iarity risks to transform the many in a com- overall project continued. An organic de- and decisions of the group as it hurdles If transindividuality is the trigger, being many munity identified by spatial and yet invisible cision-making process evolved through re- forward, alternating between action and re- is a becoming. Urge has to shape into an ac- borders. peated meetings; decisions were not made, flection. tion. Occupying a Theatre in Rome, for in- they were simply apparent in the move- And so what is the benefit of a group of stance. Or an abandoned skyscraper in Mi- The antidote: the art of welcoming, the art of ment of the group. Over time, we let go of people who do not agree, have no goal and lan. As soon as the news spreads hundreds the first words addressed to the newcomer, agreement as a requisite part of our deci- no idea where they are going? Though we arrive, joyful. To escape from individuality the art of dissemination by engendering new sion-making process (though some of us are dealing with the art of the many, the art has joyful effects. connections. still fought vehemently at times). Decisions of the many is still for the benefit of each Political action reveals to be an art, for any ︱ 20 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 21 ︱ the labor and leisure how to do sovereignity without­ people? of perfoming the many materialising experience and politics in the time fo crisis Martin Jörg Schäfer Vassilis S. Tsianos & Dimitris Papadopoulos

martin jörg schäfer The current Real Democracy Movements slaveholders any longer––nor on the theater vassilis tsianos The emergence of modern political sovereign- cape kept transforming the tissue of everyday have often been perceived as a reenactment aspects of democracy. ty is founded not on a subjugated, working, life itself. It is like a Beckett play – the actors is a cultural theorist and part of the many who prepare of the political assembly on the ancient Greek is a political scientist and part of the many who initiated tormented, reproductive, or disciplined body coexist on the stage and each actor‘s deeds the session on vogue and voodoo and the session on real agora. Equating democracy with gathering Arendt’s approach is constantly evoked the project the art of being many but on a stolen body. The establishment of are the precondition for the actions of the oth- fictions for the assembly in September shifts two sets of metaphors associated with when talking about the events on the various sovereignty through the punishment, con- er, but they never directly address each other “modern” politics: that of labor and that of squares since 2010. But it needs to be read- dimitris papadopoulis trol, productivity, and disciplinization of the or engage in systematic dialogue, they simply theater. On the square, the work and labor justed with regard to the theater of politics body is a recurrent theme of classic political act and change the other through the material of democracy has to be undertaken by each as to its labor and leisure: 1.) The “sponta- is a sociologis and part of the many who are invited and social theory: Hobbes’s genesis of Levi- effects of their doings. We name this as imper- and everybody. One of the catchphrases of neous” self-organization mainly consisted of athan, Marx’sprimary accumulation, Polanyi’s ceptible politics: politics that are imperceptible the “Real Democracy” movements pinpoints keeping the camp afloat: Who’s to provide great transformation, Foucault’s great con- firstly because we are not trained to perceive their anti-representational ambition: “direct” food and how? Who’s to cook? How to camp finement. These are the stories told from the them as ‚proper‘ politics and, secondly, be- democracy instead of a delegation of pow- on the square? What about lavatories? These perspective of dominant power: how power cause they create an excess that cannot be er while those who delegate just watch and labors weren’t on the outside of democracy gets inscribed onto the body, how the order addressed in the existing system of political listen to those who speak and act for them. but proved to be their center. 2.) When enter- of power absorbs the body and renders it fer- representation. But these politics are so pow- In the 18th and 19th century, the bourgeois ing the Arendtian stage the procedures and tile, creative, manageable, profitable, and gov- erful that they change the very conditions of a “representative” theater came to stand for the implicit scripts governing daily life weren’t ernable. In The Life of Romulus, Plutarch tells certain situation and the very conditions of ex- gathering public as a whole. The critique of left behind. Power relations were addressed; the story in a different way. The myth and birth istence of the participating actors. the leisurely gaze passively taking in what is procedures were adopted or invented. The of Roman power starts with the abduction of Representations do not exist independently presented has long been a starting point for theatrical elements of ritual governing assem- 1 Hier fehlt die Erläuterung der Fußnote!!! the Sabine women.1 By means of subterfuge, of the material world which they supposedly political theory from Rousseau to Rancière. blies (dress codes, seating arrangements Romulus kidnapped the women of the Sabine re-present. So politics is not about represen- It has also been at the heart of many theat- etc.) became part of the process. Instead tribe so that the future growth of Rome’s pop- tations but constructing the world. This work of rical practices aiming at the transformation of staging “freedom” or other political phan- ulation could be assured. In its very first mo- construction can be done through concepts, of the traditional performers/spectators-re- tasms the theatrical procedures themselves ment, the myth of modern political sovereignty affects, ideas. But these are not just outside lationship. The audience is to be activated, were put on. 3.) Assembling on the squares is founded not on the issue of the productive matter – they belong to it, they are made of the i.e. to be pulled out of some poisonous stu- was an “endurance performance” for every- transformation of the body under its power but same stuff. Concepts, affects, ideas are mate- por dreaded as the death of political life from one involved whether leisurely hanging out on the theft of bodies. The life of power is a rial, just as a cell, a neuron, tissue, water or soil Plato to the The Matrix. Would the dawn of a or toiling through time. Taking part in an as- primordial result not of a capacity to transform is material. democracy as we have not come to know it sembly means going idle over long periods the body into an available thing but of its dis- Radical politics are possible only when they yet mean the end of a certain kind of theatri- of time. But just going along with the flow can position over life. The life of power is parasitic. are anchored in the flow of experience be- cal leisure as well as political laziness, then? mean becoming part of the very “working” of It devours something it never owns. The stolen tween people and between people and things. the assembly. At times, it can even transform bodies are never completely absorbed into the In other words, politics is a practice which ma- There is a certain arbitrary character to the at- into a leisurely festive mode of gathering, e.g. order of power. terialises in the everyday life of people and in tribution of “labor,” “work,” or “leisure” to any shared states of intoxication brought about by The magic formula of social transformation their relations with each other and the world. given action. My labor may be your leisure cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, oxygen or the lack that we attempt to grapple with is that the so- Continuous experience works without being depending on personal tastes, cultural codes of it. Like democracy it is always in danger of cial changes not when people resist, respond mediated by some form of representation but and potential wages involved. In Hannah Ar- tilting over into a pervasive foul or even dan- or react but when they craft new situations, through constantly being in a process of ma- endt’s famous theory of Attic politics, women gerous mood. In such democracy (just like in new worlds, new ecologies of existence. Re- terialising. and slaves keep busy with the labors of dai- current capitalism), the distinction between sistance is only one of the things that sparks In respect to the 2011 Tunisian revolution, ly life while the “free men” leisurely stage the labor and leisure might lose its meaning. But people’s creative action – think of fantasy, mel- Asef Bayat talks of ‚social non-movements‘, play of democracy. Freed from other duties the ways both are performed when gathering ancholy, desire, boredom etc. Moreover, act- non-movements because for years they were they appear to each other, in Arendt’s words, remain crucial. ing sometimes produces a surplus which does sustained and nurtured silently through the on a “perpetual stage on which there are only not just respond to oppression but creates a continuous experiences of people, things and entrances.” Without preexisting procedures new occasion, an excess that is not reducible places. It is these non-movements that when and representative power, these men put de- to what existed before. The relation between they were confronted with the brutality of the mocracy in action. Writing in the 1950s and social movements and power that played out state, they crafted a non-identitarian collectivi- 60s Arendt finds such allegedly spontaneous in the 20th century can be depicted as an ale- ty of insurrection. But long before the eruption power of self-organization in the “local coun- atoric succession of encounters. In the case of of the insurrection they had already answered cils” of every political movement since the the relation of capital and labour for example, the question of ‚What is to be done?‘ simply by American Revolution. But she neither elabo- we can see that in every one of these encoun- silently crafting new political ecologies, by cre- rates on what has happened to the labor as- ters labour attempted to escape its own condi- ating new enchanted worlds. pects of daily life when these activists aren’t tions of existence and exploitation, and this es- ︱ 22 ︱ hamburg︱ september 2014 ︱ the art of being many the art of being many ︱ september 2014 ︱ hamburg ︱ 23 ︱ from ‘people’ to ‘many’ and maybe back? magic.

Ilias Marmaras

ilias marmaras In May 2011, a description of the so-called “phenomenon of no talks about the relations between the I and of subjectivity. When the Greek riot police de- the rage and at the same time experienced the many, referring to the theory of Lev S. Vy- cided to fully raid the square using thousands the tactics of the state. It was a crucial day is a media artist and part of the many who squatted the Syn- squares” in a mainstream Greek newspaper went like this: gotskij. He states that initially there is a “we,” of canisters of tear gas the many faced the because it was a necessary explosion for the tagma Square in Athens in 2011. He is also part of the many “It was a mosaic of ages, wages, and demands. A multitude but this “we” is not equivalent to the sum of emersion of the ‘no subject.’ What since then reproduction of power structures: A violent who made the website www.the-art-of-being-many.net many well defined “I’s.” On the contrary, the was loosely called “riots” encircled the move- re-integration into the state through discipline that was belonging everywhere and nowhere.” The journal- mind of the individual is the result of a pro- ment of the square, punctured it, penetrated and oppression but brought on by the state ist went further; he tried to categorize this multitude. First: cess of differentiation: “The real movement it and produced deviations from the practices itself breaking the law. It was a risky situation of the development process of the child’s of the movement so far. Violence was prac- for the state as well as a brand-new lesson for the newlyweds. Practically this category included just a thought is accomplished not from the indi- ticed as a ritual. the movement of the many. It was the day that couple that “celebrated their wedding with a kiss in the vidual to the socialized but from the social to many among the many realized the end of the individual. Gradually the child acquires Who was this emerging no-subject that prac- the workers’ movement. The rupture between square among the indignados.” Then: the activists defined­ the collective ‘we’ that can be defined as an ticed violence as a ritual? In 2011 we were al- power structures and the people was total. interpsychical dimension turning it into an in- ready in the middle of the crisis and the num- That day the many won the battle because as “these individuals” that came at the square holding trapsychical reality: something intimate, per- ber of the unemployed especially among the they stood in the streets in spite of the op- their bicycles instead of holding the Greek flag like others. sonal, and unique. However, this introversion youth was already high and still increasing. pression. Nevertheless, they lost themselves. of the interpsychical dimension, this singular- Precarity produced exclusion. For thousands They lost themselves not in fear but in hope. Then arrived: the gadget geeks accepting invitations from ization of the ‘primordial us,’ does not come of young people mostly belonging to the low- They went home expecting the promise of the “friends” in social media. Their goal being “to upload every- to a conclusion during childhood: it always er social classes the grounds they had stood One, like normal people. repeats itself during adulthood.” on were lost. Losing the ground means losing thing that happens.” Then: the unemployed described “as subjectivity. Where the objective conditions the many on demand (as people) those that hold one or two degrees but no job.” Finally came Can the manifestation of the Many on the of living, the objectivity of a social section, There have not been any significant protests square be interpreted before this back- and the vital space of desire production are since Sunday 12, February 2012. Attempts the veterans, experienced syndicalists and members of ground? Was there an upcoming desire cancelled there is no subject anymore. The to “reconstruct” a massive social movement parties, some “standing embarrassed” in front of the motley to form new institutions of communication subject disappears. But was this no-subject- failed. A new political landscape, which – based on a different relation between the group part of the many? stands until today, has arisen from the 2012 multitude, while some others feeling “pleasantly surprised I and the Us not constituting a People any- The answer is yet to come. The many kept a elections. The majority expects a “solution” by seeing colleagues that had never participated in pro- more? Was this the beginning of a new form rather contradictory stance towards violence. from parliamentary parties. of life? Maybe the answer is again in Virno’s This stance was visible during the two days However, hundreds of assemblies, collec- tests in the past now standing in front of the parliament.” claim: “For the people the One is a promise, of June 2011 when the police was raiding the tives, and social initiatives have spread all for the many it is a premise.” In any case at square. The first day many voices among the over the country. Maybe the many responded the square, consciously or not, the many per- many were against violent involvement with to the demand to become a People again but the many and the others The refusal of the many on the square to se- formed rituals for future institutions. But these the riot police. But this changed the second some practices and ideas of direct democra- Such a description was an attempt to give a lect representatives embarrassed state politi- peaceful rituals didn’t last long. day after experiencing the “hate for society” cy – regardless of the wildness of the land- representation of the “many” gathered on the cians because it was inverting the usual prac- that was performed by police forces. scape – remain alive. Will the magic – turning square for those who were not there (yet?). It is tices of power: practices that are based on violence as ritual the People into the Many – work again in the true that most of those gathered on the square the aspersion of the leaders and, as a matter Violent clashes during protests are nothing Sunday 12th of February 2012 was the day future and how? It remains to be seen. had no prior political experience. They were of consequence, the breakdown of the move- new. Going back in time, protests of workers’ the movement of the many as well as the vi- not organized, at least not in the way that peo- ment. It is characteristic that mainstream me- syndicates, students etc. were turning violent olence skyrocketed. This day was more or ple used to be organized in the past. Most of dia used a psychiatric term to describe the for several reasons. But all of these protests less expected. It was almost announced in them were sharing a common belief, a com- anti-representative will of the many by calling were protests of the people. the mainstream media. Nobody did some- mon feeling against parliamentarianism (and it “depersonalization.” Therefore what the occurrence of violence did thing to block its arrival and nobody could do some against the parliament building itself). In an interview with Alexei Penzin, Paolo Vir- to the many on the square was new in terms something about it. That day the many faced {excerpts from a first Departure: Hi there, wherever you are. [...] You look great in draft for a text those shoes. They will surely take you to wherever you need to be. [...] Please take a moment to anticipate where you are go- to be listened ing. Imagine the space. Imagine the furniture: rows of chairs, to on the way neatly organised, or piles of them, a barricade [...]. Please take a moment to consider what you are leaving behind. […] Every to the gathering, every assembly requires a journey, or, to be more precise, many journeys: the journeys that all participants un- assembly by dertake to come together. But this journey also opens up the ­assembly, connects it with other times and other places, like random the place where you are now. [...] is this already the beginning? [...] think of this as a rehearsal: repeating that which has not yet people*} ­happened: mic check one two one two protest test test test [...].

On the move: You might have noticed already that there is some ambiguity here in how you are being addressed: it is not quite clear if that “you” means you individually or a larger group of people, a collective, a public, something like the many. It can mean “you” who is travelling at this moment, alone perhaps, or it can mean all the people who are on their way. Let's enjoy this uncertainty for a moment. It will never completely go away […]. Maybe the possi- bility to not identify completely with this “you” or “we” introduces a certain openness that is needed to even conceive of something like the many: participation, not belonging. […] Think of the people­ who cannot make it: their number always exceeds that of any concrete gathering of people, because everybody is invited. [...] there are different manifestations of the many [...] those who turn up, and those who turn on, those who participate without being there, virtually, in spirit, but for real. Those who send their message of solidarity. Those who can't afford the train fare. Those […].

Arrival: Soon, we will be many. We might already be many, but soon, we will meet. Democracy is like a blind date: you don't know who'll turn up. The date might have been set in advance, or you might be reacting spontaneously to something [...]. There might be people there you know, there might be people there you've met, but it is a blind date nevertheless. You know where you are going, but you don't know where you're gonna end up. […] Soon. Very Soon. [...]. Perhaps you can see it already?

* random people is a performance collective and part of the many who prepare the session on timing and breaks for the assembly in September