Radical media, politics and culture.

Potosí Principle Workshops (Berlin, October 8-9)

POTOSÍ PRINCIPLE WORKSHOPS October 8–9, 2010 Haus der Kulturen der Welt John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10 10557 Berlin

Admission is free, but please register at anmeldung-arbeitstage@hkw.de.

Artists, curators, theorists, and “correspondents” will come together during the workshops which are part of the Potosí Principle exhibition to discuss and elaborate the following topics: How can we describe colonial as well as contemporary global contexts with Marx’s principle of “primitive accumulation”? How and where is cultural hegemony being produced? Which artistic interventions or practices and which dissenting voices can undermine the standards of a “universal museum” within an internationalised world?

With: Thomas Kuczynski, Silvia Federici, Peter Linebaugh, David Riff, Tom Flynn, Anthony Davies, John Barker, Edgar Arandia, Maria Galindo (Mujeres Creando), Elvira Espejo, Eduardo Molinari, Isaías Grinolo, Matthijs de Bruijne, Sonia Abian, Konstanze Schmitt, Christian von Borries, Zhibin Lin and Sun Heng (Migrant Worker Museum) as well as the curators of the project.

Workshop Day 1 • Friday, October 8

“There is a primitive accumulation that is merely so called”

Neither the conception and formation of modern European society nor its economic system can be fully understood without considering its colonial past and its crimes. This demanding conditionality has persisted to the present day and continues to do so on a global scale. The Marxist concept of primordial accumulation serves this workshop day as a research tool for looking at current and historical conditions, using three concrete case studies: “strawberries, soybeans, cocaine.”

12:00 – 14:00 h “So-called Primitive Accumulation”

Workshop I venue: K1, HKW I Simultaneous translation (english-spanish)

Re-reading of the 24th chapter of the first volume of Karl Marx’s Capital, “Primitive Accumulation”

Moderation: Thomas Kuczynski

14:00 – 15:00 h Break

15:00 -18:00 h “Strawberries, Soy, Cocaine”

Workshop I venue: K1, HKW

- “The strawberry industry in Huelva,” Isaías Grinolo

- “The soy-republic,” Eduardo Molinari

Moderation: Max Jorge Hinderer

16:30 – 17:00 h Break

17:00 – 18:00 h: “The Long Memory of Cocaine”

John Barker and Max Jorge Hinderer

18:00 – 19:00 h Break

19:00 – 22:00 h “A primitive accumulation that is merely so called”

Lectures and discussions I venue: Theatersaal I Simultaneous translation (english-spanish)

From Potosi’s perspective, the history, persistence and presence of primitive accumulation is predicated on a globalized economy. Also, attributions of territory or identity can be understood from the perspective of a political-economic and / or feminist approach as a ramification of this world system. Silvia Federici and Peter Linebaugh consider this transatlantic colonial history and its “blind spots”. Three inputs connect the Key Notes to concrete positions in the exhibition.

- Short input: “Triumph of the female house workers: About a campaign of the group ‘Territorio Doméstico’ in Madrid,” Konstanze Schmitt

- Keynote: “Women, The Body and Primitive Accumulation,” Silvia Federici

- Short input: “Punitive Accumulation” CVA/ TIPPA

- Keynote: “A world upside down: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic,” Peter Linebaugh

- Short input: “No de-colonization without de-patriarcalization,” Maria Galindo

- Discussion

Moderation: John Barker, Max Jorge Hinderer

22-23.30 h Late Night Special venue: Café Global

Matthijs de Bruijne recorded the dreams of workers and migrants during his trips to China in 2008 / 2009. He discovered Migrant Workers Home and invited the founders to participate in Principi Potosí. Sun Heng is a traveling musician and founding director of the Cultural and Art Museum of Migrant Workers in Picun/ Beijing. In his songs, he grapples with the reality and dreams of the new Chinese working class. The texts will be projected in English translation.

- Matthijs de Bruijne about “1000 dreams.org”

- Sun Heng (Migrant Worker Museum) – Migrant Songs: „Our World, Our Dream“

Workshop Day 2

Saturday, 9.10.2010

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land

The enormous dynamic of primitive accumulation in the 16th century triggered a mass production of images that were initially shipped to the colonies as an impetus for their own image production. The images make clear that cultural hegemony is not a symbolic value but a form of violence. Though there is no linear connection or continuity between these image worlds and the creation of value in today’s globalized world, we do believe there are parallels between the function of colonial painting and the function of art today, in terms of providing the new elites of globalization with legitimacy. The second workshop day is dedicated to this assertion and the ways in which we, too, are “entangled” in these contexts of power.

12-14 h “Field reports of the Potosí Principle project”

Workshop I venue: K1, HKW I Simultaneous translation (english-spanish)

Short lectures, field reports of the curators, artists and correspondents of the Potosí Principle project (with final discussion)

14 -15 h Break

15-18 h Angels, Circulation, Biannuals

Panel I venue: Theatersaal I Simultaneous translation (english-spanish)

-Introduction: “About the circulation of images and the art industry in the former viceroyalty of Peru,” Alice Creischer

-”Karl Marx School of Reading English and the angel of censorship,” David Riff

-”Angel apparatus,” Sonia Abian

16 -16.30 h: Break

16.30-18 h “About the Biannualisation of Sevilla”

Miguel Benlloch for PRCP (Plataforma de Reflexión sobre Politicas Culturales)

-”Dubai – extended horizons: Re-enactment of a press conference,” Andreas Siekmann, Christian von Borries

Introduction and Moderation: Alice Creischer / David Riff

18 – 18.30 h Break

18.30-20 h Universal museums

Panel and discussion with all participants of all panels on Saturday I venue: Theatersaal I Simultaneous translation (english-spanish)

- “Khipus in the presence and Khipus in the anthropological museum in Dahlem,” Elvira Espejo, Alice Creischer

- “The Universal museum,” Tom Flynn

- “Looking back at the Humboldt-forum,” Susanne Leeb for “Alexandertechnik”

- “The War of the Imaginary and the Decolonisation of the Museum,” Edgar Arandia Quiroga

Moderation: Alice Creischer, David Riff

20.30-22 h Ships

Final discussions with all participants of the previous panels venue: Theatersaal I Simultaneous translation (english-spanish)

Introduction to short lectures

-”The poets on the steamboat on the White Sea/Baltic Sea Canal,” David Riff

-”The play of Alzire on board the ‘Comte d’Hérouville’” (1766 ) Moderation: David Riff and Alice Creischer