Closing out a weekend of art & activism for Creative Time Summit DC: Occupy the Future, we come together in front of the White House (on pedestrian part of Pennsylvania Ave, in front of Peace Tent) to envision representational leadership that seems impossible from where we stand now. Inspired by a 1992 text piece by artist Zoe Leonard and a series of similar readings around the world, I want a president…(a collective reading-DC)has engaged the public in adapting her list of demands to reflect the urgencies of today through in-person workshops and online discussions. On Oct. 16, we will read these two texts in unison, connecting the concerns of the past with the needs of the present, and collectively-voiced desires for an alternate future.
“I want a president… (a collective reading)” workshop cohosted by EXILE Books @ Transformer with E:13 resident writer Ikram Lakdhar
“I want a president… (a collective reading)” workshop cohosted by EXILE Books @ Transformer with E:13 resident writer Ikram Lakdhar
Co-organized by Natalie Campbell & Saisha Grayson, the DC iteration is presented in collaboration with Furthermore with thanks to the following community partners: Anacostia Arts Center, Bread for the City, Creative Time Summit, the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at The George Washington University, the DC Public Library Foundation, Pleasant Plains Workshop, Potter’s House DC, Transformer, and Visual AIDS.
An invitation to read together on the eve of the UK General Election.
On 6 May 2015, please join us on the steps of Trafalgar Square (directly outside the National Gallery) at 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start.
We will be reading artist Zoe Leonard’s manifesto “I want a president…” (1992) alongside an updated version for 1 hour, after which we will reconvene in a local park or pub (depending on the weather) to celebrate.
Bring yourselves, your lovers, your comrades, your family and friends.
Organised in relation to the exhibition Manifesto Show: Act I, artist Kajsa Dahlberg joined a public discussion focused on a series of collective readings that she has been involved in organising with collaborators Malin Arnell, Johanna Gustavsson and Fia-Stina Sandlund.
The on-going project began as an invitation, circulated by the group amongst their community in Stockholm, asking people to come together to read in unison a text written by Zoe Leonard in 1992. Organised to coincide with 2010 General Election, the reading was a ‘response to an increasingly neoliberal political climate in a country just about to give space in parliament to an upcoming fascist, racist and homophobic party’. It took place in Sergels Torg, a public square with long history of political activity that is situated in the centre of the city. It was never anticipated that the event, which was initiated by the group out of political urgency and not articulated within the context of their artistic practice, would continue to have a life beyond this first iteration. Yet, in response to further invitations from various individuals and institutions, the readings have subsequently happened in various centres across Europe.
The conversation between Dahlberg and UK based curator Laura Guy coincided with both the Swedish General Election and an important referendum, to establish the independence of Scotland, in the UK. It was motivated by a desire for a reading to take place in the UK in relation to the forthcoming General Election in 2015.
In dialogue with the themes of the exhibition, the event will attempt to unpack the project in relation to ideas of translation, temporality, feminist collectivity and forms of political speech.
Archive Kabinett
Dieffenbachstraße 31, 10967 Berlin
Les élections présidentielles françaises approchent. Pour exprimer notre désaccord avec les choix politiques proposés, nous lirons le 7 avril, le texte de Zoe Leonard, “Je veux une gouine comme présidente”, en français et en anglais.
Cette lecture a lieu à l’initiative d…’activistes féministes françaises et du collectif monté par des artistes suédoises “I want a president…”.
Malin Arnell, Kajsa Dahlberg, Johanna Gustavsson and Fia-Stina Sandlund ont lu le texte de Zoe Leonard pour la première fois en suédois au moment des élections législatives de 2010, qui ont vu l’entrée au Parlement suédois de l’extrême-droite.
Elles ont ensuite participé à d’autres lectures collectives à l’invitation d’activistes féministes d’autres pays européens (Finlande, Estonie, Danemark, Espagne).
Comme elles, nous voulons rassembler des activistes, des artistes, des amiEs et des collègues pour protester contre le climat politique de plus en plus néolibéral.
Rejoignez-nous le 7 avril, à 14h à la Fontaine des Innocents à Paris pour cette lecture collective.
In his article in The Chronicle, published January 1 2012, Michael Warner writes about the history of queer and queer theory.
… What is often forgotten about that moment is that the term came from grass-roots politics before it became theory. Act Up had already made possible a politics directed against shame and normalization, and aiming at a complex mobilization of people beyond sexual identity. It in turn gave rise to other groups, including Queer Nation—whose name seemed, as I recall, mainly hilarious to all of us who heard it.
The emblematic example of that kind of street politics, for me, was an anonymous, photocopied broadside that was handed around during the 1992 primary season. (Its author, the artist Zoe Leonard, was a member of Fierce Pussy, a lesbian feminist group with roots in Act Up.) It began with a simple declaration that looked like a familiar kind of lesbian politics: “I want a dyke for president.” (In queer studies, that would now be called “homonationalism.”) But very quickly, the prose morphed into a set of wishes that, from clause to clause, gained in evocative power as they moved away from anything that might be imagined within legitimate politics. I quote the remainder in full, because it is not widely remembered or reprinted:
And further down Warner continues: … At its best, queer theory has always also been something else—something that will be left out of any purely intellectual history of the movement. Like “I want a dyke for president,” it has created a kind of social space. Queer people of various kinds, both inside and outside academe, continue to find their way to it, and find each other through it. In varying degrees, they share in it as a counterpublic…
Michael Warner is a professor and chair of the department of English, and a professor of American studies, at Yale University. Among his books is The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life (Free Press, 1999).
Below is the invitation, as it was stated on facebook:
Soon there will be a presidential election in Finland. We are gathering in the name of art and democracy. We who dream of another system. We who dream of something better. Join us for a collective reading at Kolmen sepän aukio, one day before the election! We will be reading Zoe Leonards I want a president… from 1992. The text will be read in Finnish, Swedish and English.
We will meet 12:45 pm at Kolmen sepän patsas. At 1 pm we will start reading, again and again, until 2 pm. Bring your heart, brain and voice!
Spread the message to everyone you know.
The action is politically independent. The collective reading project is initiated by artists Malin Arnell, Kajsa Dahlberg, Johanna Gustavsson and Fia-Stina Sandlund in collaboration with artist Zoe Leonard in connection with the Swedish parliament election in 2010. The text that is read is an adaptation of I want a president…, Zoe Leonard, 1992.
Organizer in Helsinki is the network Kulturfeministerna
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Suomen presidentinvaalit ovat kohta. Kokoonnumme taiteen ja demokratian nimessä. Me jotka unelmoimme toisenlaisesta järjestelmästä. Me jotka unelmoimme jostain paremmasta. Tule mukaan kollektiiviseen lukemiseen Kolmen sepän aukiolla päivää ennen vaaleja! Luemme Zoe Leonardin I want a president… vuodelta 1992. Teksti luetaan suomeksi, ruotsiksi ja englanniksi.
Tapaamme klo 12:45 Kolmen sepän patsaalla. Aloitamme klo 13, ja jatkamme lukemista, yhä uudestaan ja uudestaan, klo 14 saakka.
Tuo sydämesi, aivosi ja äänesi mukaan! Levitä viestiä kaikille jotka tunnet.
Aktio on poliittisesti riippumaton. Kollektiivinen lukeminen on taiteilijoiden Malin Arnellin, Kajsa Dahlbergin, Johanna Gustavssonin ja Fia-Stina Sandlundin yhteistyössä Zoe Leonardin kanssa aloittama projekti Ruotsin eduskuntavaalien yhteydessä 2010. Luettavat tekstit on vapaasti käännetty Zoe Leonardin tekstistä I want a president…, 1992.
Järjestäjä Helsingissä on Kulturfeministerna verkosto
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Snart är det presidentval i Finland. I konsten och demokratins namn samlar vi nu ihop oss. Vi som drömmer om ett annat system. Vi som drömmer om något bättre. Kom med i en kollektiv läsning på Tre Smeders plats dagen före valen! Vi läser Zoe Leonards I want a president… från 1992. Texten kommer att läsas på finska, svenska och engelska.
Vi samlas vid Tre smeder kl 12.45. Kl 13.00 börjar vi läsa, om och om igen, fram till kl 14. Ta med dig hjärtat, hjärnan och rösten!
Sprid meddelandet vidare till alla som du känner.
Aktionen är politiskt obunden. Det kollektiva läsningen är initierad av konstnärerna Malin Arnell, Kajsa Dahlberg, Johanna Gustavsson och Fia-Stina Sandlund i samarbete med konstnären Zoe Leonard i samband med det svenska riksdagsvalet 2010. Texterna som läses är fria översättningar av I want a president…, Zoe Leonard, 1992.
Arrangör i Helsingfors är nätverket Kulturfeministerna
I want a president... 