Organised by Jamie Allen (Critical Media Lab Basel/continent.), Mela Dávila, Nina Jäger (continent.), Rebekka Kiesewetter (Coventry University), Cassie Thornton (artist and activist) and Anna Luhn (EXC 2020/Constellations), Research Area 4: "Literary Currencies".

Project partners: continent. (publishing collective), Post-Publishing (Coventry), Critical Media Lab (Basel)

Like publishing practices themselves, the origins of the Wayzgoose – etymologically as well as historically – are somewhat shrouded in mystery. It is believed to have begun as a way for a publisher to thank their typesetters and printers for their efforts throughout the year. Traditionally taking place at St. Bartholomew's Day it marked the end of the summer and the beginning of longer night shifts working by candlelight. The Wayzgoose often included an outing, a feast and various forms of entertainment. It was not only a social gathering but also a moment for the printing community to strengthen their bonds and share knowledge. In recognition of their rather solitary and infrastructural everyday, early precarious cultural producers found moments of solidarity and respite through the Wayzgoose.

At its core, this workshop seeks to expose editorial processes as a working method for transformation – of texts, of one another, of communities, and perhaps even of society itself. Editorial work is often treated as secondary, invisible, or subordinate, yet it is fundamental to shaping discourse, structuring knowledge, and sustaining creative ecosystems. This wayzgoose will centre editorial labour not just as refinement but as an act of care, collaboration, and world-building.

By gathering editors, publishers, writers, and thinkers, this event invites us to invert the scenography of publishing, valorising labour, reproductive social structures, and how the politics of individual circumstances play into the foregrounds and backgrounds of creative things together.

Programme

16:00 | Arrival & Informal Gathering
A communal board for noting interests, questions, provocations.

17:00 | Collective Conversation – Editing Otherwise: Invisible Labor, Collective Agency
Hosted by Rebekka Kiesewetter, Nina Jäger & Guests.

What does it mean to edit collectively? How do publishing infrastructures shape knowledge, access, and labor? How can editorial work resist extractive publishing models?

18:30 | Workshop: Publishing as Processional – Wayzgoose Walk: Editing as Movement
Hosted by Jamie Allen & Guests.

A guided processional walk through Berlin, stopping at sites of publishing labor (historical printshops, bookstores, independent presses). Participants contribute fragments – text, images, notes – for a collective publication-in-progress.

20:00 | Late-Night Discussion at Casino for Social Medicine – Dinner Conversation: Publishing Otherwise
Hosted by Mela Davila & Guests.

Informal provocations on publishing, citation, editorial repair, and resistance.

10:00 | Morning Check-In & Coffee – Gathering Threads

10:30 | Session I: Editorial Infrastructures – Publishing in Fragments: Distributed, Autonomous, and Careful Editorial Practices
With continent. project team

How can we build publishing infrastructures that resist extraction? Peer-to-peer publishing, autonomous servers, and editorial alternatives.

12:00 | Lunch Break

13:00 | Collective Publishing 'Hologram' – Publishing Without Ends
Hosted by Cassie Thornton.

The Hologram is a peer-to-peer care model in which three people (a "triangle") provide long-term support and attention to a fourth person (the "hologram"), focusing on their social, physical, and emotional well-being. This session will adapt the Hologram methodology as a collective publishing practice, connecting prior discussions on editorial labor, infrastructural politics, and publishing beyond extractive models. Each "Hologram" receives 3 minutes of focused attention, where the "Triangle" asks reflective questions. These questions will integrate themes from the prior aspects of the Wayzgoose:

I. Invisible Labor & Editorial Process
II. Infrastructure & Collectivity
III. Publishing and Identity
IV. Future of Publishing

18:30 | Transfer & Reflection: Editing in Process(ion)

20:00 | Final Plenum
Venue: Casino for Social Medicine, Sonnenallee 100, 12045 Berlin-Neukölln 

Performances, readings, music: A dinner where participants share unfinished texts, abandoned projects, and speculative proposals. Informal readings and publishing provocations.