Paola Yacoub: a workshop on reading images

This workshop will take as its starting point Georges Bataille’s the trial of Gilles De Rais.

Georges Bataille’s experimentation using documents differed greatly from today’s conventional practices. To begin addressing his approach, first one must leave behind the image of Bataille as an erotic author. He was also a historian. And his documentary work may be more important for our contemporary artistic practices than previously thought. In this workshop, we will explore this possibility.

For Bataille, documents have an agency, even nuisance; they are narcotic signs. However, they could also be obstacles. But what do they impede? This workshop invites participants to return to Bataille’s documentary methods and to re-evaluate their relevance today, while considering the original context in which they were developed. These methods are uncovered in the trial of Gilles De Rais. Starting with a citation from the trial of Gilles De Rais, we will try to return to these modes of intervention, and what they mean in practical terms.