What do we start with when telling a story — What tensions activate it — What does it promise — What do we want from it — How do we deliver it — Must it have an end — What about a story which never began — Stories we wish were told — Stories which have always been there — Stories we don’t know how to start.

Beginnings is a collective attempt at questioning protocols and forms of narration initiated by Manon Michèle. The publication gathers textual and visual works from twenty-nine artists, writers and collectives. With two covers, ninety-six pages, and no end, the publication remains in flux, with no definitive conclusions but the shape of an ongoing question: Where do we start and where might the act of arriving lead.

There’s bodies thrusted through motion^¹, accelerations, collapses², into the folly of life, death, borders and language³. There’s following intuition⁴, rabbits, leaders, and the shape of clouds⁵, switching from script to script⁶ to escape latched circles⁷ and compliance⁸. There’s braiding together clashing dimensions and vital landmarks⁹, processing ghosts to reclaim space¹⁰, feeding them to trusted spirits¹¹. There’s foreseeing new shapes¹², and believing in what grows¹³. There’s the poetry of saving what can be saved¹⁴ and the pull of letting go¹⁵. There’s so much to begin with…

1. Émilie Pitoiset (FR)
2. Callie Uzza Layton (US)
3. Cleo Tsw (SG)
4. Bravas Graphix (BE), Kimberley Cosmilla (FR), Pablo Bardinet (FR)
5. Anna Bierler (DE), Eliott Déchamboux (CH), Josefina Anjou (SE)
6. Auriane Preud’homme (FR), Heleen Mineur (NL), Philip Ullman (SE)
7. Clara Pasteau (FR), Raphaël Massart (FR), Yunie Chae (KR)
8. Sanae Oujjit (NL)
9. Mia Trabalon (FR), Silvana McNulty (FR)
10. Manon Michèle (FR)
11. Alice dos Reis (PT)
12. Anaïs Fontanges (FR), D-E-A-L (BE), Hyo Young Chu (KR), Pays de Glossolalie (FR)
13. Marie-Mam Sai Bellier (FR), Mathis Perron (FR)
14. Elina Birkehag (SE)
15. Juliette Lepineau (FR), Maria Paris Borda (CO)