6 episodes

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is a podcast which sits alongside the exhibition A FIRE IN MY BELLY at the Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin. Hosted by Lisa Long and Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, it features interviews, conversations and poetry readings with the various artists, writers, and interlocutors of A FIRE IN MY BELLY. The podcast extends upon the exhibition’s premise of how artists address the foundations and effects of systemic violence on bodies, and how these experiences are transformed into artistic gestures.

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR Julia Stoschek Collection

    • Arts

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is a podcast which sits alongside the exhibition A FIRE IN MY BELLY at the Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin. Hosted by Lisa Long and Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, it features interviews, conversations and poetry readings with the various artists, writers, and interlocutors of A FIRE IN MY BELLY. The podcast extends upon the exhibition’s premise of how artists address the foundations and effects of systemic violence on bodies, and how these experiences are transformed into artistic gestures.

    Episode Nine: Jesse Darling (IV)

    Episode Nine: Jesse Darling (IV)

    This is the fourth and final episode of poetry readings attached to the exhibition A FIRE IN MY BELLY. We have had the pleasure of listening to the artist Jesse Darling read a few poems of their own choosing, in dialogue with the poetry already included in the exhibition. Here, their readings and this series conclude with The Silver Birch by Liz Berry, Revolutionary Letter 2 by Dianne di Prima, and two poems by David Wojnarowicz, whose unfinished film A Fire In My Belly (Film In Progress) and A Fire In My Belly (Excerpt) 1986-87, is from where our exhibition takes its title. The two poems of his that Jesse will read are Poem to Brian Sleeping, and History Keeps me Awake Some Nights.

    We would like to take this moment to thank Jesse for reading to us all so beautifully, and for the spirited atmosphere in which these readings came together. Introduced by Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, curatorial assistant of A FIRE IN MY BELLY and the Julia Stoschek Collection.

    • 6 min
    Episode Eight: Marion Scemama

    Episode Eight: Marion Scemama

    Marion Scemama’s film “Self-Portrait in 23 Rounds: A Chapter in David Wojnarowicz’s Life 1989-1991” (2018) depicts the artist and activist David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) speaking candidly about intimacy, desire, and the use of rage in his creative processes. Scemama—a close friend of Wojnarowicz’s—weaves an affecting portrait of a man who must reckon with his impending death in a society that refused to confront the AIDS epidemic. This film is based on a 4-hour interview conducted in May 1989 by cultural theorist Sylvère Lotringer (1938–2021)—founder of Semiotext(e)—a year after Wojnarowicz was diagnosed with HIV.

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Episode Seven: Jesse Darling (III)

    Episode Seven: Jesse Darling (III)

    Violence, rage, resistance, and release—these are the four corners of the exhibition A FIRE IN MY BELLY. This episode is the third of four poetry readings on UNRELIABLE NARRATOR where the artist Jesse Darling reads to us a few poems of their own choosing, in dialogue with the poetry already included in the exhibition. In this episode, they will be reading Song in my heart by Diane Seuss, Snow and Dirty Rain by Richard Siken, and won’t you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton, which is reprinted at the end of the exhibition catalogue. Introduced by Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, curatorial assistant of A FIRE IN MY BELLY and the Julia Stoschek Collection.

    • 8 min
    Episode Six: caner teker

    Episode Six: caner teker

    In this episode of UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, the artist caner teker speaks about their performance KIRKPINAR which is part of A FIRE IN MY BELLY, and was co-presented with Berlin Atonal in late October this year at Kraftwerk. Here, caner speaks about the origins of the performance and its conception as a product of growing up as part of the Turkish diaspora in Germany, the influence of queer nightlife and spaces in their stance on performance documentation, and the notion of care, amongst other things. We also invited the curator Joel Mu onto this episode to speak with us. Joel has worked closely with caner—presenting their piece Forever Endless in 2018 at Kunsthaus KuLe as part of Joel's curatorial program, mi1glissé/groupsandindividuals. This episode is presented by Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, the curatorial assistant of A FIRE IN MY BELLY and JSC Berlin.

    • 42 min
    Episode Five: Jesse Darling (II)

    Episode Five: Jesse Darling (II)

    This episode marks the second of four poetry readings on UNRELIABLE NARRATOR. We invited the artist Jesse Darling to read poems of their own choosing, in dialogue with the poetry already included in A FIRE IN MY BELLY. In this episode, they will be reading For Saundra by Nikki Giovanni which is reprinted in the exhibition catalogue, Turnt by Juliana Spahr, and a stanza from Poems – 18th to 24th May 2020 by Verity Spott. Introduced by Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, curatorial assistant of A FIRE IN MY BELLY and the Julia Stoschek Collection.

    • 12 min
    Episode Four: P. Staff

    Episode Four: P. Staff

    In this episode of UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, Lisa Long and Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung speak with the artist P. Staff, whose video work Weed Killer (2017) is on view in A FIRE IN MY BELLY at JSC Berlin. Here, P. sheds light on the “unruly kinship” subsisting between illness (in particular, that of cancer) and the trans experience, and how narratives of the body can be perverted or leave realms of signification. Lifting passages from Catherine Lord’s 2004 memoir The Summer of Her Baldness—which documents her experience with breast cancer and chemotherapy—and turning these into Weed Killer’s script, P. illuminates larger questions to do with the relationship between decaying bodies and hostile environments.

    • 43 min

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