In March 2020, with the spread of the coronavirus, the foundation and subject of our artistic work collapsed: theater and parliamentary politics. First, all theater events were canceled, then groups of more than five people were banned from public spaces. Society was divided into so-called nuclear families, and people buried themselves in digital caves where world events cast long shadows on the walls. 

At the end of May—in the midst of the social shock of the lockdown—we and some neighbors hijacked the vacant former "Akademie der Arbeit" (Academy of Labor) in Frankfurt. Founded by the trade union federation, the institution had provided workers with access to political education since the 1920s. It boasted not only a professionally equipped commercial kitchen, but also a spacious dining room and an adjoining garden.

Over 100 activists have now joined the project, and since then we have been cooking a vegan lunch three times a week at a solidarity price and, on some days, distributing up to 150 meals to people in need and neighbors.

The first lockdown had made it clear how important the care facilities are, but also how quickly they can collapse and that the hashtag stayhome For many, this sounds like a lame joke. And last but not least, the pandemic has painfully shown us how isolated we all live. After this experience, we didn't want to return to so-called normality, which never really seemed normal to us anyway. We wanted to learn from the crisis and rehearse a new reality. And what better place for such learning than a former academy? 

So at the end of August, with the help of the reload With a grant from the Federal Cultural Foundation, we hosted the "Academy of Assembly." We invited speakers who brought their own perspectives on the topics of assembly, the housing shortage, theater as an activist practice, collective reproductive work, and canteens as art. Together with our guests, we spent two days eating, discussing, cooking, and cleaning.

While we were setting up our canteen, something similarly strange happened elsewhere in our city. The Frankfurt City Council, with its 93 members, left the plenary hall of City Hall and moved to the municipal utility company's canteen, where social distancing could be better maintained. Similar to the ada_kantine, from that moment on, the discussions were accompanied by the smell of stew and the clatter of dishes. 

The question of the connection between food and political assembly has guided our artistic research ever since. The focus was on three forms of assembly: the canteen (or kitchen), parliament, and the theater. We met with chefs, lawyers, theater scholars, and parliamentarians, interviewed them about their forms of assembly, and tried to explore the extent to which they have had to reinvent themselves due to the pandemic. Some of their contributions are reprinted in this issue. 

This publication documents our search and the questions we asked ourselves. As is often the case with andpartnersincrime's work, we don't provide answers here, but rather pose questions, sow doubt, and, in the spirit of Donna Haraway, cling to what we do best: unrest.

The publication is available here free download The copyright lies exclusively with andpartnersincrime.

Publisher: andpartnersincrime

Editor: Tim Schuster

Design: Anna Sukhova

Editing: Christopher Krause

Printing: buch one

Edition: 100

Frankfurt am Main, 2020.

The book can be ordered from us. We charge a flat administration fee of €5.00 and a shipping fee of €2.50.

If you are interested, please send us an email with your order to: info@andpartnersincrime.org