Calendar

What can we expect from this space? In what ways can we hope to think about racism here, to trace it and enter into conversation? Perhaps searching, fragmentary, making us (sometimes painfully) aware of omissions, awakening desire and following desire, with help and support, irritating and thwarting, erroneous and error-friendly, using examples and (hopefully not too often) grossly generalizing, defensive, accepting and always critical.
 
The open study room of the HGB Gallery is less a place for viewing or (quick) visual addressing. It is a place that accumulates time and invites you to spend time in it. Conceived as a spatial extension of the racism-critical festival Danger zones - racism (in)secures, it represents an attempt to create a research and learning space that, based on critical knowledge production, questions the relationship between power and domination relations and one's own position within them.
 
Movable modules consisting of tables, chairs and bookshelves constitute the space, in which exhibition, library and study rooms overlap typologically, by alternating between hard and soft materials. The reading selection includes "classics" of racism theory, post-colonial theory, queer-feminist texts critical of racism and anti-Semitism, poetry and novels. Loosely connected to this are the work tables designed by Nelly Nakahara and Gerrit Brocks with debate material from contemporary historical junctures (1993, 2000, 2016), in which the existing migration society order was challenged and racist articulations increased. The materials refer to the decades-long and polyphonic commitment against racism and invite visitors to connect. Two additional tables show photographic, archival and research works by Schohreh Golian. With a cross-disciplinary approach of anti-racist collecting and arranging, Golian comes closer to her object of investigation: criminalized places in Hamburg and Berlin. It looks at both the banality and the power of these places and poses questions about dangerousness, norms of order and social control. A 2-channel video installation by Berfîn Karakurt and Hasan Gündogan entitled “gAze” (5.36 min) deals with the racialization of violence and the criminalization of BPoC. An abstract, 3D-animated figure and a collage of archive material illustrate the violent impact of attribution practices on Black people, People of Color and their living environments.

The open study room is not limited to individual book reading and invites people to meet in smaller or larger groups, read texts together, listen to the festival contributions and discuss the issues raised in them. It is open to all suggestions for events critical of power and racism. At the same time, it is a retreat open to all, where you can hang out, browse, work, linger or take a break over a free coffee.

The following events are planned:
 
12.12.2023: Strike-Revue 73/93/23 with Nuria Cafaro and others (organizer: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung)
2023, a year of massive labor disputes, marks the anniversary of some of the most significant strikes in German post-war history. Under the title 73/93/23, we will bring the wildcat strikes of migrant workers from 1973 at Ford, Pierburg and elsewhere, the unheard-of forms of struggle of East German workers from 1993 in Bischofferode and other factories, and current struggles onto one stage - and ask about similarities and differences.

14.12.2023: A practice room on the "Theater of the Oppressed" with Diana de Fex (theater maker, choreographer and educator). More info to follow. (Organizer: BUND Jugend/ ConnACTion Leipzig)

The (in)compatibility of criticism of antisemitism and racism: Lectures by Astrid Messerschmidt and Meron Mendel, moderated by Özcan Karadeniz, with an introductory reading circle.
18.01.2024: Reading circle, 2-4 p.m.
19.02.2024: Lectures and discussion, 14-16:30 (hybrid format)
Astrid Messerschmidt: Between innocence and superiority - anti-Semitism and racism as world views
Meron Mendel: In the combat zone. Racism, antisemitism and the struggle for interpretative sovereignty

On request: Study room-specific talks and discussions with Anna Sabel and Mehmet Arbag. (Please send your request to: galerie@hgb-leipzig.de)

The project “Danger Zones - racism (in)secures” was conceived by the Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften, iaf e.V. and realized with the HGB Galerie.
Supported by Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) as part of the national program „Demokratie leben!“ and the federal program „Weltoffenes Sachsen“ (WOS)
Partially financed by public funds allocated by the members of the Saxon State Parliament