The selection of texts gathered in the reader is a combination of materials drawn from three reading groups that took place in Amsterdam, Toronto and Sheffield. In March 2012, If I Can’t Dance curated a solo exhibition by Jeremiah Day at Site Gallery, titled Of All Possible Things. We invited Emma Cocker to lead a satellite reading group at Site Gallery, parallel to If I Can’t Dance’s longstanding reading group in Amsterdam, that coincided with the duration of the exhibition and that came extended beyond its conclusion. Jeremiah Day’s work thus became an anchor of sorts in the discussions around affect in this group, and a selection of exhibition documentation from his show at Site is included in this reader.

Reading / Feeling centers around the notion of affect, a term that delineates a field where the personal and the political meet through sensory movements between bodies. Affect, as a pre-emotional experience, constitutes the social and economic relationships that make up the fabric of society. Reading / Feeling considers the meaning of affect in theory and artistic practice, with a selection of texts by theoreticians, artists and curators that were read in If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution’s reading groups in Amsterdam, Toronto and Sheffield for the past two years, as part of the programme Edition IV—Affect (2010-2012). It also includes three new essays, short statements by reading group members, and artist pages. The book was launched in Amsterdam on 20 January 2013 as part of If I Can’t Dance’s seminar on Appropriation and Dedication.

Edited by

Tanja Baudoin, Frederique Bergholtz and Vivian Ziherl

Design by

Joris Kritis and Julie Peeters

Distribution by

Idea Books in selected bookshops worldwide

Published by

If I Can’t Dance, 2013

Price: €20

Order via info@ificantdance.org

ISBN 978-90-814471-0-2