Waiting at the border, the government office, the hospital. Waiting one’s turn, holding the line. Waiting for the end of the play, for a diagnosis, for sleep. Waiting for an answer, a visa, or a loved one. Waiting for something that will never come. Waiting is often conceived of as pointless void, idle or ‘stolen’ time, provoking shapeless boredom, or as ritualized demonstration of power, exercise of passivity – rarely, however, as deferral, productive break, an interstitial moment of contemplation and reflection. Nobody likes to wait, nobody likes to be kept waiting.
Yet waiting is also understood to provide the most immediate, emblematic, albeit infuriating experience of time. Is it possible to say, conversely, that, as long as there is time, experience is marked, at least in part, by the curious suspension of waiting?
‘Waiting’ will explore the enervating and exhilarating aspects of waiting in the context of the ICI’s current research focus ERRANS, in Time. In two parts, this year’s ICI Library Event will explore the socio-political implications of the ways in which we are being kept waiting and the paradoxical fullness and intensification of time spent waiting.
Mostly in English, some German and French
With
Julie Gaillard
Clio Nicastro
Hannah Proctor
Daniel Reeve
Ben Robinson
Arianna Sforzini
Organized by
Corinna Haas, Claudia Peppel, and Arnd Wedemeyer
The event, like all events at the ICI Berlin, is open to the public, free of charge. The audience is presumed to consent to a possible recording on the part of the ICI Berlin. If you would like to attend the event yet might require assistance, please contact Event Management.
