Workshop by Peio Aguirre

Last February’s workshop developed at Mugatxoan based on self-reflexibility and self-awareness, revolved around the position of the speaker in the representation and on the ways in which the subject gains awareness of him/herself starting from the presence or absence of the body, the regime of vision and the otherness of the voice. It also touched on other processes of subjection, such as class awareness and power relations. Different film materials used drew the attention towards some of these questions by creating a situation of alert in the individual and collective being. This workshop is intended to be a continuation or intensification of that experience, while at the same time offering a new opportunity, with an emphasis on the subject as producer; an increase in production capacity should be accompanied by a greater self-awareness. From Walter Benjamin's “author as producer” to the “author as receiver” identified by theorist Kaja Silverman in Jean-Luc Godard’s later work, the whole issue of production runs right through the question of what an author is, how and when this figure appears and what his or her relationship with the production of affection is. At the end of JLG/JLG Autoportrait de decembre (1995) Godard says, almost in conclusion: “I said that I love. That is the promise. Now, I have to sacrifice myself so that through me the word “love” means something, so that love exists on earth”. Taking this statement as a motto, we would like to ask now: how can a creative form arise that signifies love as production? In his essay, Silverman points to a series of transfers between giving and receiving; between becoming the transmitter or choosing to be the receptacle, reflection and at the same time propagator of external stimulus. This workshop will analyse ways of being, positions and modes of life forms derived from a productive position in contemporaneity and assuming our inherent postmodern condition on culture. It is targeted at people performing creative, theoretical and cognitive art practice in any mode or discipline. The workshop will encourage group discussion of these questions starting from working materials such as reading texts, viewing films and debate within the group. The workshop will be both theoretical and practical. In other words, certain guidelines for deliberation will be laid down and participants will be encouraged to participate and contribute to the discussion and the shared knowledge. The workshop will be held over four days in morning and evening sessions.