Universities and art schools alike have been subjected to the pressure of recent austerity politics and the ongoing attempt to transform higher education according to the demands of reigning neoliberals. In this context, it is urgent to conceive of alternative frameworks and methodologies of study—whether within, outside or at the margins of academic institutions. This book examines the current interest in education through a series of conversations with artists, theorists, activists and educators, including Suhail Malik, Brian Holmes, Ruth Sonderegger, Gerald Raunig, Judy Chicago, Gal Kirn, Mohammad Salemy, Melissa Gordon, Marina Vishmidt and Andrea Fraser.

Produced following the film project Conceptual Paradise, for which Stefan Römer conducted numerous interviews with internationally outstanding artists and art theorists for four years. With short texts by the artists interviewed in the film including; artists: Vito Acconci, Art & Language (Michael Baldwin, Mel Ramsden), Michael Asher, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Hartmut Bitomsky, Mel Bochner, Gregg Bordowitz, Klaus vom Bruch, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Luis Camnitzer, Jan Dibbets, Mark Dion, Sam Durant, Valie EXPORT, Stano Filko, Andrea Fraser, Liam Gillick, Dan Graham, Renée Green, Shilpa Gupta, Hans Haacke, Július Koller, Jiří Kovanda, Joseph Kosuth, Sonia Khurana, David Lamelas, Sol LeWitt, Thomas Locher, Marcel Odenbach, Yoko Ono, John Miller, Christian Philipp Muller, Adrian Piper, Yvonne Rainer, Allen Ruppersberg, Ed Ruscha, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Peter Weibel, Lawrence Weiner, Stephen Willats, Heimo Zobernig and curators/theorists: Alexander Alberro, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Sabeth Buchmann, Charles Harrison (Art & Language), Geeta Kapoor, Geert Lovink, Seth Siegelaub, Gregor Stemmrich.

A trailer for the film can be seen here.

Reading / Feeling centers around the notion of affect, a term that delineates a field where the personal and the political meet through sensory movements between bodies. Affect, as a pre-emotional experience, constitutes the social and economic relationships that make up the fabric of society. Reading / Feeling considers the meaning of affect in theory and artistic practice, with a selection of texts by theoreticians, artists and curators that were read in If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution’s reading groups in Amsterdam, Toronto and Sheffield for the past two years, as part of the programme Edition IV—Affect (2010–2012). It also includes three new essays, short statements by reading group members, and artist pages.