The complex and imprecise relations between representation and power are the basic problem in this series of workshops: specifically, as economies of visibility and invisibility, of noise and silence, of affirmation and suppression in existing representational structures (linguistic, mediatic, artistic …) determine the conditions of possibility – or impossibility – of certain speaking bodies, certain subjectivities and certain places of articulation. Along with the theoretical reflection, it is proposed the production and regular discussion of creative writing performed while elaborating these starting questions.

In this first session, we will work around silence, framing it as a multiple and indeterminate substance which, rather than signifying or symptomatic linearly and unequivocally an absence (as it tends to dictate the aesthetically and politically normative perception of it), often consists of an ambiguous power , ambivalent and dense, of multiple purposes, uses and senses. Materials under discussion will include the poetry – and the historical legacy – of the lyrical author Sappho, reflections of such authors as Michel Foucault and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, or American political protest language, to cite just a few examples. Participants should feel free to bring their own materials for discussion if they appear to be of interest.

The session will consist of three key moments: a) presentation of a series of motivating contents and facilitators of the joint reflection, energized by the articulator of the session; b) dialogic collaboration in shared reflection on the materials and issues raised, and c) a brief exercise in creative writing that combines the concerns and possibilities articulated throughout the workshop.

///
1) Some understanding of the English language is necessary, given the use of materials written on it.
2) It should be noted that, unfortunately, space does not have access conditions for those with reduced mobility.

/ credits

concept and coordination Daniel Lourenço
production Rua das Gaivotas 6
graphic design Ana Farias
special thanks to Jota Mombaça