The Performativity of the Witness and the Politics of Silence

Based on his recent film Three Works for Piano (2020, 34’ min) Gal’s lecture examines the roles of silence, silencing and listening in the politics of dominant national narratives. Gal questions how socially accepted violence is constructed and deconstructed through the performativity of the witness in Historical-Trauma studies and in post-Colonial and post-Holocaust discourses.