What forms does withdrawal-meaning either that which withdraws itself or which is being
withdrawn-take in artistic and cultural practices? What movement(s) does it create or follow in
specific contexts and with what theoretical material and political consequences? The
contributors of this book address these questions in a variety of writing practices each
focusing on specific scenes. These scenes are organized under three parts that structure the
chapters: Passivity Failure and Refusal Disappearance and Remembrance Resilience and
Resistance. Through interviews artistic and literary texts visual contributions and academic
texts the authors explore various modalities of withdrawal ranging from a silencing of
critical voices to a political and aesthetic strategy of refusal. The enforced disappearance of
government opponents for instance may be implemented as a means of state violence but
withdrawing may also mean the decision not to participate in such violence either through
forms of passivity or refusal. Moreover in the neoliberal logic of resilience the
relationship between subjective agency and imposition from the outside remains tense. The aim
of this book is to tackle these tensions as well as the ambiguities and complexities of
withdrawal.Contributors: Arnika Ahldag Sofia Bempeza Lauren Berlant Kathrin Busch Helen
Cammock Knut Ebeling Sebastián Eduardo Dávila Mutlu Ergün-Hamaz Stefanie Graefe Rebecca
Hanna John Ulrike Jordan Pinar Ögrenci Pallavi Paul Thorsten Schneider Judith Sieber
Diana Taylor Deniz Utlu Marivi Véliz Nele Wulff Akram Zaatari.
