ACHIM LENGERER (GERMANY) : THE TROTSKY REHEARSALS

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22 August 2013 - 8th September 2013 OPEN WORKSHOPS and PUBLIC REHEARSALS Friday 23 August — Saturday 7 September, 2-5pm daily (excluding Sundays and Mondays) EVENTS: Thursday 22 August, 7pm, Thursday 29 August, 7pm & Sunday 8 September, 6pm (please note new date) The Trotsky Rehearsals are based on Achim Lengerer's ongoing research on the ‘rehearsal' as an artistic method as well as socio-political format. Through open public rehearsals the artist and guests present and perform various historical documents concerning the controversial reception of the play Trotsky in Exile by Peter Weiss (1970). The fragile potential of the unresolved, the unfinished, the ‘in-the-making', that identifies the rehearsal as a format is laid open and performed with or in front of a public. In doing so Lengerer aims to question Weiss' differentiation between active political engagement, versus the staging of topics to activate contemplation on politics. EVENTS LISTENING SESSION - TROTSKY IN EXILE + OTHERS Thursday 22 August, 7pm As part of The Trotsky Rehearsals, Achim Lengerer hosts a series of participatory listening sessions featuring various audio materials. These include Peter Weiss reading his 1966 work The Princeton Speech, which declares Weiss' faith in the efficiency of an art committed to social change. Throughout the event, the audience are invited to intervene in or dictate the materials presented. SCREENING SESSIONS - FILMS OF PETER WEISS + OTHERS Thursday 29 August, 7pm Achim Lengerer hosts a participatory and performative screening session of extracts from early documentary materials, films, interviews and visual fragments focusing on Peter Weiss and his work. PUBLIC DRESS REHEARSAL and LAUNCH OF THE RESPECTIVE PUBLICATION — SCRIPTINGS #33 Sunday 8 September, 6pm (please note new date) For the closing night of the SIT|EV programme, Achim Lengerer presents the culmination of his project The Trotsky Rehearsals in a final public dress rehearsal. Launching alongside the dress rehearsal is the the 33rd edition of the artist's ongoing series of publications Scriptings, consisting of pages produced daily during the project's preparative rehearsals at Gasworks. THE TROTSKY REHEARSALS are part of SITUATION|EVENT (SIT|EV), a 60-day programme exploring live, durational and participatory contemporary art practice, bringing audiences in direct contact with the process of art making as it unfolds. Visit the SIT|EV page for the full programme of events.