“The Digest”, Kunstraum Memphis, Linz, exhibition

29 May – 27 September 2024

The Digest is a new format of Pickle Bar with a reading room and scenography by Slavs and Tatars bringing together the unlikely bedfellows of fermentation and books: including a selection of research material and bibliographies collected over several years of public programs at Pickle Bar in Berlin as well as abroad.

Within the Slavic equivalent of an aperitivo bar, where instead of cheese and wine, different fermented juices and bites are served, Pickle Bar extends its reading list for the first time in a physical space at Memphis Kunstraum. The Digest not only shares a part of its growing library, dedicated to the exploration of language amidst the communities and diasporas in the Eurasian space, but also aims to delve into the contemporary literary and cultural landscapes to explore the performative potential of readership, the essence of reading, our reading methods, and preferred reading locations. In a time when new technologies are reshaping our approaches to reading, and encounters with books, The Digest suggests reading as a collective practice where tastes and texts are being consumed altogether. ‍

By exploring language affects specific to artists, poets, writers and activists, The Digest intends to illuminate the various processes of adaptation, evolution, and hybridization – from slang to queer linguistics – amidst great geopolitical changes and cultural upheavals. More than 20 volumes offer a survey of Pickle Bar’s past public programs such as Azbuka Strikes Back (2021), Lavender Languages Institute (2022), Slurs (2023) and Sturm and Slang (2024) celebrating the necessarily fluid nature of language as an agency of self-determination and empowerment. ‍

Opening: 28 May 2024, 19:30

28 May, 2024, 19:30
Zishi Han and Wei Yang, “Hairpin Beneath 钗之后”, performance

5 September, 2024, 20:00
Olia Sosnovskay, “Citing sources”, performance
Curator: Anastasia Marukhina

More information on Memphis website.

MERCH: new t-shirt available “Traduttore, Traditore” UPCOMING: Mekhitar Garabedian, Garine Gokceyan, "Auditive Voyeurism", 8 November 2024, storytelling in dialogue