I Think My Body Feels, I Feel My Body Thinks: On Corpoliteracy

I Think My Body Feels, I Feel My Body Thinks: On Corpoliteracy is a gathering of texts and textures from lyricists, theorists, organisers, artists and practitioners. The publication draws from recent programmes, acquisitions and trajectories within the Van Abbemuseum, alongside essays and new commissions to explore different modalities of – and relationships to – corpoliteracy. The book is available to download in epub or PDF format and comprises writing, sound and video work, a queer sign glossary with sixteen video entries, and edited conversations.

The term corpoliteracy was coined by curator and polymath Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and speaks to a consciousness of mind and body rhythm-equity. Ndikung’s thinking has been central to the development of this publication, as well as a reference point for a number of contributors. In tandem with recent thinking around the term, the publication also draws on more historical positions, such as that of the Brazilian curator and educator Frederic Morais, that implicate the body in different ways. Taken together, the publication  comprises a series of propositions, modifications and detours around the term corpoliteracy that are aimed at unsettling and expanding readers’ relationship to the corporeal.

This publication is realised within the framework of Can You Feel It, a multi-year programme at the Van Abbemuseum centred on the bodily, the sensorial and the tangible experiences of the museum’s users/visitors and funded by the Mondriaan Fund.

With contributions by: Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Joy Mariama Smith, Olle Lundin, Daniel Neugebauer, Renata Cervetto, Jessica Gogan, Frederico Morais, Mariela Richmond, Nick Aikens, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Yael Davids, Megan Hoetger and Cooperativa Crater Invertido and an introduction by Nick Aikens and Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide.