Events

Join us 13 and 15 March, 2023 at the Institute for European Ethnology (IfEE) in Berlin for 2-days of happenings around elements!

Organized by Marina Peterson and Megan Gette (from the University of Texas, Austin) and Gretchen Bakke (HU, Berlin), these workshops are directed toward the Errant Elements series of folded chapbooks based on the Periodic Table of the Elements. The form – 118 chapbooks designed to be combined in various ways – supports a collective exploration of the combinatory affordances and stories of the elements.

The first workshop is a discussion of readings related to folds and the second is a folding workshop. Participants are invited to develop a 500-word submission to the series, and time will be dedicated to elemental writing. You may attend one or both.

The workshops are supporting a wider editorial project. For those interested in contributing, the parameters include the following:

Chapbooks can be made not only of words, but also images and other combinations of elements that the author deems interesting. The goal is to see what we build and imagine through this lens – futures and pasts, heres and theres, knowns and unknowns – coming together in a folded book, to be read, gifted, combined and even displayed. Contributors to the series can select individual elements, or develop longer pieces across molecules. Texts should be 500 words, fewer if many images or other elements are involved. We urge participants to consider elements that are not as popular as Hydrogen and molecules less famous than Carbon Dioxide. Here is the classic table for your consideration (please consult with the workshop organizers before devoting yourself wholeheartedly to one element or molecule in particular). We encourage the invention of new elements, necessary but perhaps not yet existing, or long since forgotten. We welcome stodgy scientific writing and flights of fancy.

1. I) Elements Reading and Writing Workshop.

Monday 13 March, 9:30-12:30

IfEE, Mohrenstraße 40-41, 10117 Berlin Room 211, U2 Hausvogteiplatz

We will discuss common readings about folding and the elements, allowing time at the end for attendees to begin a draft of their own writing on an element or molecule.

To receive the readings please RSVP:

1. II) Elements Folding and Elements-in-Progress Workshop

Wednesday 15 March, 9:30 - 12:30

IfEE, Mohrenstraße 40-41, 10117 Berlin Room 212, U2 Hausvogteiplatz

We will experiment with techniques for folding and end with reading and discussing the 'draft elements' participants have written (it is not necessary to bring a draft to participate).