A project by
Unfriendly Takeover
and Multitude e.V.


>>> Frankfurt, 2. - 3. 6. 06
>>> München, 22. - 23. 7. 06
>>> Graz, 13. - 14. 10. 06
>>> Berlin, 23. - 24. 2. 07


>>> Deutsche Fassung

>>> Full Length Concept

>>> Video archive

DICTIONARY OF WAR is a collaborative platform for creating 100 concepts on the subject of war, to be formed and presented at four two-day events in Frankfurt, Munich, Graz and Berlin, each featuring twenty-five contributions of scientists, artists, theorists and practitioners. As lectures, performances, films, slide shows, readings, concerts in strict alphabetical order as a marathon discourse. From ABC weapons to civilian population, from parachute invasion to facts on the ground, from potato to collateral damage, from infowar to radar surveillance, from homesickness to resistance.
The aim is to (re)create key concepts that already play a significant role in current discussions of war, have so far been neglected, or have yet to be created. DICTIONARY OF WAR serves to scrutinise a reality that characteristically obfuscates existing power relations the more people talk about war and peace.

War as an armed confrontation between sovereign (nation) states is a thing of the past. Today it is rather: new war, post-modern war, global war, immanent war... War becomes a "constitutive form of a new order" (Alliez/Negri) that no longer knows inside or outside, that not only destroys, but also produces life. In this new world order, there is no difference between war and non-war: war is perpetual and everywhere.
DICTIONARY OF WAR sets out to intervene in this war and, at the same time, to appeal for desertion from a war of words in which facts are created and asserted with such a tremendous deployment of communication and propaganda that they can no longer be challenged. The concept formation of DICTIONARY OF WAR, in contrast, remains transparent and takes the form of open process in which people can and should intervene.

Because: "At least, when we create concepts, we are doing something." The idea of DICTIONARY OF WAR refers to a theory of concept formation proposed by the philosophers Deleuze and Guattari: concepts must be invented, created, produced; concepts refer to problems, without which they would be meaningless. It is not about definitions, anecdotes, original opinions or entertainment, but rather about developing the tools with which to attain new ideas.

Parallel to the performative implementation of DICTIONARY OF WAR, the concepts will be made available for discussion on the Internet as video recordings, supplemented with additional material under a creative commons licence. Finally, Merve-Verlag will be publishing an actual book version.

A Co-Production with the festival steirischen herbst 2006
Supported by Kulturstiftung des Bundes