2022

Can erotic writing become a place for decolonial and feminist exploration?

How could one embrace the tools of erotic writing to investigate power processes of discrimination, nanoracism, marginalization, exoticization, abuse and seduction from diverse perspectives?

“Am I Evil?” is an erotic writing workshop, curated by Simone Basani & Alice Ciresola “Am I Evil?” is a collective research journey that navigates these questions through a methodology of peer-to-peer mentoring and reviewing.

The workshop borrows the title from, and is introduced by, a semi-fictional lecture performance** by artist Roger Fähndrich about the life of African art dealer Jeanne Walschot.

In the days following the lecture performance, the participants will start working together with writer Els Moors, artist Roger Fähndrich, and curators Simone Basani and Alice Ciresola.

The process of text writing and reviewing will take place throughout 2022 and 2023, both in collective meetings and individual sessions at home.

The texts created during this collective journey will be shared with the public through an audiobook, public presentations and an online publication as part of Memento 2023, apap/Feminist Futures 2023 and other channels.

Publication of the texts

Download the ‘Am I Evil’ Booklet here

Presentations:

Memento 2023: 17-18-19 March 2023
Almost Summer // Feminist Futures Festival 2023: saturday 8 July 2023 at arts centre BUDA

Calender

20 May lecture-performance and workshop introduction(18:00-21:00)
21 – 22 May 2022: first workshop (10 am – 4 pm) @ Kunstencentrum BUDA, Kortrijk
June – mid-August 2022: review process of other participants’ texts (in these months the group will meet informally one or two times, date tbc)
27 – 28 August 2022: second workshop (10 am – 4 pm) @ Kunstencentrum Buda, Kortrijk
End of August/first week of September: final text submission
September – October 2022: text editing

Simone Basani en Alice Ciresola (IT/BE) work together since 2016, developing participatory projects, collective performances and educational activities for art schools, communities and cultural institutions. They research the boundaries between public and museum spaces, question the notion of heritage and to whom it belongs, explore collective processes of remembrance and forgetting.

Roger Fähndrich (CH/BE) is an artist, musician and performer. In his practice Fähndrich explores the interplay between personal and societal narratives and how they influence lived realities. As sensitive rock musician Roger F. he gives a voice to the inner and outer tensions and discrepancies of modern life.

Els Moors (BE) studied Germanic Languages at the University of Ghent and Text and Image at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. From 2018 to 2019, she held the title of Poet Laureate of Belgium. Moors teaches Creative Writing in Brussels, Antwerp and Arnhem ArtEZ. In June 2021 the novel ‘Mijn nachten met Spinoza’ was published by the Arbeiderspers.

**“”Am I Evil?” by Roger Fähndrich is the second work of JEANNE. Or the Western Touch, a performative art collection curated by Simone Basani and Alice Ciresola.

JEANNE. Or the Western Touch is a curatorial format inspired by the controversial relationship Belgian art collector and dealer Jeanne Walschot established with her collection of African artefacts. JEANNE aims at exploring European desires to meet the Other and the Unknown but also to control, own, and exoticize them.

Workshop curation: Simone Basani and Alice Ciresola
Lecture-performance as workshop introduction: Roger Fähndrich
Invited writer: Els Moors
Co-produced by: Kunstencentrum BUDA, Letterzetter/ Bib Kortrijk, C-Takt & radical_hope