The Endotic Reader N.1 | The Institute for Endotic Research

The Endotic Reader N.1

 

—> Download The Endotic Reader N.1

The endotic is a subtle but powerful tool to generate a situated practice of an institution. It is subtle because it looks to the imperceptible of the everyday life, to the visible but hidden details of the space and gestures of bodies around us. It rescues the astonishment from the forgotten obvious, trapped by its naturalization. It is a powerful tool because it leads us to read and listen to our surroundings, always looking from unexplored stances. From this immanent display, the very local traces a priceless threshold from which to approach the complex global. In its well-known methodology, Oulipo—the group to which Georges Perec belonged—was a great pioneer of crossing knowledge fields in order to practice a critical fascination. They developed a system in which constraints were an efficient driving force, merging mathematics, literature and artistic positions. These constraints can be translated from writing to cultural practice to think about spatial design, funding or ways of cooperation, looking for more sustainable practices.

To celebrate TIER’s first year at Donaustrasse 84 in Berlin-Neukölln, we published the first reader on the topic of the endotic, The Endotic Reader N.1. It brings together contributions by some of the participants we hosted over the year, as well as people we look forward to inviting to the space. The contributions explore some of the paths that the Perecquian word offers, as a way of approaching the territory of complexity that we live in and through. The topics explored in the reader range from a meditation on the practice of dis-othering to a reflection on trauma and on to thoughts on the future of reading.

This celebratory reader, available digitally as well as in the physical form of a limited, handmade print edition, is one of the first results of TIER’s collaboration with ON/OFF, whose Risograph machine, part of the Guerrilla Printing Press, we are hosting at the space.

Contributors: Linda Zhang, Nelly Y. Pinkrah, Vanessa Gravenor, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Repec Segroeg, Lorenzo Sandoval, Barbara Marcel, Biko Mandela Gray, John Holten, Louis Henderson, Pia Chakraverti-Wuerthwein, Benjamin Busch, Ayami Awazuhara.