Join us for a conversation between Joshua Simon, editor of Being Together Precedes Being: A Textbook for The Kids Want Communism, and Ben Ratskoff, founder and editor-in-chief of PROTOCOLS — a cultural journal for provocative Jewish writing, art, and politics.
November 13th
8PM
Specters are haunting the globe—the specters of anticommunism. From Cold War to Global Warming, from the Soviet Block to Blockchain technology, from the Space Race to Space X, the word communism stands again as the radical opposition for exploitation and inequality. Following the publication of Being Together Precedes Being: A Textbook for The Kids Want Communism (Archive Books, 2019), Ben Ratskoff and Joshua Simon will engage in conversation on communist legacies and knowledge inside and outside of real-existing socialism and the role of archival work in imagining political horizons for today and tomorrow. Being Together Precedes Being offers itself as a text book for The Kids Want Communism project, which was initiated towards the 99th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 as a series of exhibitions, symposiums and conferences, screening programs, publications and a summer camp around the world. In this textbook, communism does not merely describe an "us versus them" relation, but also offers that we are becoming the future. This trajectory of communism runs parallel to us at every single moment and its guiding principle is that being together precedes being.
Joshua Simon is a writer and curator. He is the editor of the book Being Together Precedes Being: A Textbook for The Kids Want Communism
Ben Ratskoff is a writer and educator in Los Angeles. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of PROTOCOLS.
L.A.C.A
709 N Hill Street
Suite 104/8 (upstairs)
90012
Being Together Precedes Being: A Textbook for The Kids Want Communism will be available for purchase at LACA during the event and online at Archive Books.
This event is free and open to the public. A recording of the conversation will be made available.
Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA) is committed to making our programs and events accessible to everyone who wants to attend and participate. As our facility is limited to staircase access, we extend our best efforts to provide accommodations or assistance. Please feel free to contact LACA prior to any events or for site visits.