The term 'anachoresis' is derived from the Greek verb 'anachorein' ('to withdraw'). The practice of retreat has a long tradition in art and cultural history: from the historical social 'retreat' of East Asian artist-scholars into a state of contemplation to the staging of self-isolation in modern and contemporary artworks by Joseph Beuys or Tehching Hsieh. Often, this process is associated with a surge of creativity and self-reflection. But what happens when the retreat is carried out collectively? What kind of interaction takes place when a group temporarily withdraws from society in order to create a space for communication and interaction? The artist persona REICHRICHTER explored these and other questions in their three-year transcultural project anachoresis ? participation through fragments. From 2020-2023, artists from Germany and Taiwan were brought together in the form of a collective laboratory. These gatherings were not only shaped by the practice of the individual artists, but also reflected the broader transcultural dialogue between Germany and Taiwan. This book continues the dialogue-based approach of the project and through a series of theoretical essays discusses the role that participatory art can play in today's world. Text in English, German and Chinese. AUTHORS: REICHRICHTER is an artist persona consisting of a man and a woman, based in Germany and Spain. Her/his transnational and post-conceptual works emerge from his/her background in architecture, dance, media theory and film, within the distributed unity of the work of art as installation, video, audio, drawing, text, print, art book, photography, and lecture. Inspired by experiences of longer working stays abroad, he/she uses her/his projects to test the various forms of dialogue, both between the individual components of the work of art, such as between art and society, and now also between artists themselves. Through her academic and curatorial work between the University of London, the Paul Mellon Centre and Tate in London, and Haus der Kunst in Munich, Dr. Eva Bentcheva was able to explore histories of performance and conceptual art, archives and participation across the national border of South and Southeast Asia, and Europe. In her current role as Associate Lecturer in Art History at Heidelberg University, she is deeply interested not only in how artists act as 'agents' of transfer, but also how artworks 'speak' in performative and embodied ways across national and cultural divides. SELLING POINTS: . Theoretical essays discuss the role of participatory art today . Documenting the three-year transcultural project with artists from Germany and Taiwan
