PUBLICATION
With The Crying Handbook , we – 51 authors from a dozen countries in 4 languages – present 68 glossary entries on the subject of crying. The handbook is arranged alphabetically and includes terms which unfold the field of crying: actual, fictional, imaginary, political, personal, narrative, factual, intradiegetic, fantastic, or poetic. The starting point for this project was the astonishing observation that, despite being such a common occurrence, very little research had been undertaken on the subject of crying. Therefore, we wanted to fulfill the research desideratum scientifically and artistically.
The Crying Handbook is a result of our research in the context of the seminar Crying Institute in the winter semester 2022/2023 at the Bauhaus University Weimar, Faculty of Art and Design, professorship of History and Theory of Art (https://cryinginstitute.artnextsociety.net) and has been published in cooperation with the follow-up project Crying Classroom (https://cryingclassroom.net), led by Nadja Kracunovic and Rand Ibrahim, with support from Birte Kleine-Benne. The handbook brings together a multitude and diversity of thoughts, feelings, and affects of students, designers, and artists from all over the world who come together at the international Bauhaus University in Weimar.
Our editorial challenge was to materialize the unspeakable speech of crying in the form of a handbook. How could the boundaries that organize language/s be overcome? How might the (organizing) apparatus of a glossary correlate with the theme? With the individual design of each glossary entry and the resulting dynamic rhythmicity, we want to make a bold visual statement. Because our terms should not just be listed; each individual term should open up its own universe, to act as a beginning.
We thank Camilo Londoño Hernández and Gabriela Parra for their graphic realization of this challenge. We thank Rhoda Herold for allowing us to turn our tears into letters and making them dance with her Bauhaus typeface Syn Serif. We thank John Patterson for his sensitive editing of our English language texts. We thank the Bauhaus University Weimar for providing the academic framework for our research, and the Kreativfonds of the Bauhaus University Weimar, Research Department for the financial support of this publication. Our deepest thanks go to all the authors gathered here who made this handbook possible.
We hope you, dear readers, will enjoy the non-linear exploration of terms such as "Artistic Crying", "Cry Me a River", "Discoträne", "Geduldete Tränen", "Non-Crying", "Poecry", "Trans (Euphoric) Tears" and "Weltschmerz". The A5 format of the handbook is meant to get close to you, because this way (our) words and tears can accompany you in your hand (bag). If you feel like participating in the research, feel free to publish your material on the topic of crying on our blog (https://cryinginstitute.artnextsociety.net) or visit us on Instagram (https://instagram.com/crying_classroom). Because, "Sharpen your tears, it is going to be a long one."
February 2024
Birte Kleine-Benne, Nadja Kracunovic and Rand Ibrahim
cryingclassroom@gmail.com
The Crying Handbook has been printed in collaboration with Lucia Verlag Weimar in March 2024.
If you are interested in ordering one, please get in touch with the publisher: https://luciaverlag.de/shop/einzelpublikationen/the-crying-handbook/
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