Qalqalah قلقلة, “Speaking against the unspeakable: on institutional agency against censorship“, working group 



5 December 2024, 18:00


BERLIN, STURM AND SLANG, UPCOMING



As part of the ongoing program Sturm and Slang, Qalqalah invites other Berlin-based collectives to investigate the weaponization of language in relation to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, looking specifically at the political agentivity of cultural institutions and workers facing such breaches on language. Within the public sphere and particularly the media, language has been used as a tool of power to control and silence voices rather than to express solidarity. This event reflects on a set of case studies to address the following questions: which cultural spaces and workers have taken a clear stance, and how have they done so? What have been the costs and challenges of these positions? How can we foster safer conditions for cultural workers to organize, both within and outside institutional frameworks?
Closed event
Language: English
Duration: 2 hours

Qalqalah قلقلة is an editorial and curatorial platform dedicated to the production, translation and circulation of artistic, theoretical, and literary research in three languages: French, Arabic, and English. Founded in 2018 in France, in the midst of a political and intellectual context, and a media coverage marked by reactionary, authoritarian and discriminatory speeches and acts, Qalqalah قلقلة asserts a feminist, inclusive and intersectional stance. It relies on translation as a tool for the production and reception of situated knowledge, capable of making visible the relations of power and the possibilities of invention and affection that are at play between languages, temporalities and contexts that are marked by the colonial legacy, conflicts and contemporary revolts. Its editorial committee is composed of Line Ajan, Virginie Bobin, Montasser Drissi, Victorine Grataloup, Vir Andreas Hera and Salma Mochtari.