thinking without banisters¹: unnatural affairs invites five writers, thinkers, scholars, artists and other practitioners in whose practice theory plays a central role, from any background possible to uncompromisingly open up and radicalize their practice during a theory-focused residency in berlin-kreuzberg from march 1 to may 31 2025 while dedicating themselves to an open-ended curriculum, realized in one jour fixe per week and a writing workshop of three sessions. additional formats may be situationally facilitated.

these formats will be carried out in a spirit of vigor, openness, conviviality and an affirmative criticality; residents will be asked to touch in on their desires and have them affect their thinking, to sharpen their work, to cross-fertilize it with positions in philosophy, queer theory, the arts and other practices that foreground processes of desubjectivation, disidentification and denaturalization. get rid of yourself².

the 1st component is the weekly sessions (jour fixe), which itself consist of two parts: one is dedicated to the close readings of texts. here, philosophies of desubjectivation, denaturalization and disidentification, beginning with the writing of gilles deleuze and félix guattari and specifically their concept of becoming, serve as one through-line; another thread to start with are radical currents of queer theory (lee edelman, josé e. muñoz etc.) and parts of maggie nelson’s book “on freedom”. the curriculum then adapts to the situation. the other part is reserved for thorough, candid and compassionate discussions of the work by the residents. these gatherings are open to experimentality. their mode is one of affirmation rather than one of critique.

residents will be asked to make themselves vulnerable, to open up their work, to unground their thinking; to have it deviate from itself more and conform less to majoritarian norms. we encourage a certain recklessness while staying curious, compassionate and invested.

the 2nd component is a writing workshop with philipp wüschner. this workshop is not focused on outcome or productivity but on process and transformation. it explores writing as an act of undoing our identity (academic or otherwise). through a series of guided experiments and reflections we reconnect theory with our desires and venture into the void between philosophical abstraction and the concreteness of life's problems.

the workshop will be held over three consecutive sessions. there is no pressure to share what you don’t want to share, but it is expected to engage in and go along with the exercises – and sometimes to be silly. if the choice is between paranoia and obsession – we choose obsession. if it is between publish or perish – we perish.

residents are offered:

• an expense allowance of 1000 euro per month
• traveling costs (to and from berlin)
• a workspace with ample room and resources, located centrally at kottbusser tor, berlin-kreuzberg
• one collaborative work session per week (jour fixe)
• individual work sessions
• an intense writing workshop led by philipp wüschner
• the networking of residents with other artists, thinkers, cultural protagonists, spaces, political groups etc. in berlin and beyond
• the possibility to carry out events: talks, screenings, exhibitions etc.
• aligned with the wants and needs of the residents, the envisioned outcome of a publication of some sort and/or a conference at the end of the stay
• support with finding a place to stay in berlin

residents are expected:

• attendance and preparation of the weekly sessions
• honesty, courage, dedication
• the willingness to open up their work, to make themselves vulnerable
• the willingness to intensive reading & text work

technical requirements:

• residents need to be legally registered in an eu-country other than germany; their nationality does not matter
• residents need to move to and live in berlin for the whole duration of the program