NOVEMBER 14, 2023, 7 PM
CHAPTER 1: THE UNFINISHED CONVERSATION
Akomfrah's work The Unfinished Conversation (2012) is dedicated to the cultural theorist Stuart Hall. Hall's autobiographical narrative Familiar Stranger. A Life Between Two Islands describes personal experiences and thoughts on attribution, belonging and identity - not fixed categories for Hall, but rather the content of an "unfinished conversation". Hall's remarks will be juxtaposed with a contemporary perspective at the SCHIRN BOOKCLUB's first meeting with Elisabeth Wellershaus. In her book Wo die Fremde beginnt, Wellershaus writes from the perspective of a Black German woman and explores questions of identity, belonging and foreignness.
Due to delivery problems, the Bookclub edition will not be published until after 14.11. In preparation, you can view the texts here

DECEMBER 12, 2023, 7 PM
CHAPTER 2: VERTIGO SEA
Akomfrah's work Vertigo Sea (2015) focuses on the ambivalent relationship between humans and the sea. In it, Akomfrah questions exploitation structures and ecological aspects. He combines self-filmed landscape footage with archive material and spoken fragments from Heathcote Williams' Whale Nation, among others. An excerpt from this poetic hymn to the beauty, intelligence and majesty of the largest mammal on earth is juxtaposed in the second chapter with a current journalistic contribution by Gaia Vince. In it, the author analyzes the extent to which the effects of global warming should lead to a rethinking of national borders.

JANUARY 23 2024, 7 PM
CHAPTER 3: BECOMING WIND
In his most recent work, Akomfrah finally shows an allegorical representation of the Garden of Eden - and its disappearance. The artist is concerned with a specific experience from which something very universal can be read: the deep need to freely develop one's own identity. The selection of texts in the third session takes up the aspect of fluid identities and focuses on the history of the LGBTQ+ community, which has repeatedly defied the most diverse challenges in its diversity and love of freedom, using Peter Ackroyd's Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present and Eliza Steinbock's t4t: Proof of Love in the Archive.

SCHIRN BOOKCLUB EDITION #4 coming soon to the online store

The fourth edition of the SCHIRN BOOKCLUB is available in the online shop. The small booklets combine art and literature and invite visitors to delve into topics related to the SCHIRN's exhibitions with the help of selected texts.

The second edition of the SCHIRN BOOKCLUB is available in the online shop. The small booklets combine art and literature and invite visitors to delve into topics related to the SCHIRN's exhibitions with the help of selected texts.

Edition #1 celebrated its premiere with the exhibition ART FOR NO ONE and is still available in the online store.