‘Between the lines’ is a reading café where we read and collectively discuss books, essays, poetry and articles. The text selection is made by curators or exhibiting artist(s). The group consists of max. 10 people and is led by changing discussion leaders.

For this edition of the reading café, artist Danilo Correale will join us and has picked the book ‘We want everything’ by Nanni Balestrini from 1971. It’s an explosive Italian novel about Italy’s student movement of 1969 depicting the struggle of migrants from the south searching for a better life in the factories of north Italy such as Fiat. But more than that it is a book of ideas of the clash between the exploited proletariat and factory-owning bourgeoisie. About the formation of class consciousness and the need for solidarity in the attempt to resist worker exploitation.

In this session, we will further dive into the questions of worker exploitation and the constant demand for productivity into todays realm, where the same challenges and needs — workers’ conditions, fair pay, leisure time, guaranteed income — are up for debate. Danilo Correale will share more about why he selected this book and how in his practice he analyzes temporal and bodily relations of labor, leisure and sleep, such as his work ‘No More Sleep No More’ in the current exhibition in Nest ‘How Rest the Brave’.

Correale: ‘Balestrini’s ‘We want everything’ is a successful example of a realist novel that operates as an artwork, a frottage of the reality itself that serves as both as a compass to navigate the uncertainty of the present and a time machine into a past where political change was driven by mistakes and rudeness attempts to confront hierarchies and institutions’.

Anarchy, revolt and reading café’s go well with a good Italian wine; Correale recommends A red wine from the south to sip during the session and reading of the book.

You can order the book here
or send us a message if you have trouble finding it: info@nestruimte.nl