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Live streaming at 7 pm.

The seminar Getting to Know Georges Perec is organised in conjunction with the exhibition Species of Spaces, curated by Frederic Montornés. The title of the exhibition, borrowed from one of Perec’s works, draws attention to the existence of a fruitful dialogue between literature and art. Nonetheless, it would seem that Perec is not very well known beyond the purely literary world. To address this lack of familiarity, MACBA has organised a series of lectures and interventions around his life and work.

Perec joined Oulipo in 1967 and, shortly later, in 1970, Marcel Bénabou. Bénabou can tell us about the private Perec, whom we knew well. Another Oulipo writer, Oliver Salon, will offer an overview of Perec’s oeuvre as a whole, and Eduarda Keating, who wrote her doctoral thesis on the novel La Vie mode d’emploi (published in English as Life, a User’s Manual), will discuss the writing constraints that run through the book. Lastly, a debate with speakers from various fields will offer an idea of the wealth of readings that Perec’s work can give rise to.

To round off the seminar and put in practice some of the guiding principles of Oulipo, a Saturday workshop with Ricard Ripoll will pose a series of playful writing exercises, examining the difficulties they pose and demonstrating the Oulipian maxim according to which constraints are liberating. Participants will feel like ‘rats who build their labyrinth from which they plan to escape,’ just for the pleasure of it.

Main sponsor of the activities:
Estrella Damm

Programme

10, 11 AND 12 DECEMBER 2015

THURSDAY 10
7 pm Lecture Un regard amical sur Georges Perec, by Marcel Bénabou (writer, member of Oulipo, Paris)
8 pm Lecture L’œuvre de Georges Perec, by Olivier Salon (writer, member of Oulipo, Paris)

FRIDAY 11
7 pm
Lecture Readings of «La Vie mode d’emploi», by Eduarda Keating (professor at the Universidade do Minho, Braga)
8 pmPerec, from Space to Space. Roundtable moderated by Frederic Montornés (curator of Species of Spaces), with Pablo Martín Sánchez (writer, member of Oulipo, Barcelona), Adrià Pujol Cruells (writer and anthropologist, Barcelona), Marla Jacarilla (artist participating in the exhibition Species of Spaces)

Venue: Meier Auditorium
Admission: 10 € full course. Free with Amic card. Advance bookings from 14 November. Limited places. With simultaneous translation. This seminar will be streamed live.

SATURDAY 12
10 am to 1 pm Writing workshop with Ricard Ripoll (writer and lecturer at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Workshop venue: Room 1
Admission: 5 €. Free with Amic card. Advance bookings from 14 November. Limited places.

For more information: Tel. 93 481 33 68
programespublics [at] macba [dot] cat

Exhibition