This year’s Public Program of the Curatorial School focuses on collectives. On the weekend of 22-23 November we welcome representatives from three different collectives to discuss varying aspects of their artistic and curatorial practice touching upon diverse issues as anxiety and normativity, broadcasting and positive destruction, slow-down and friendship. However, collectives may be way more omnipresent as we imagine, once we think of them not only as a form of organization, but a method, logic, composition and cooperation to be found both in nature and across social fields. In a certain way, we have always been “collective”. In his talk, Grégory Castéra will introduce us to the both complex and visionary world of what a “collective” could be while encountering collective methods and values being assimilated and reinvented by engineering, management, marketing, and by most contemporary political ideologies. The guiding question, as Castéra puts it, will be: How the present and future collective practices can foster better social understandings, encourage new forms of solidarity and improve living conditions for everyone?
COLLECTIVELY
with Grégory Castéra
Wednesday, 20 November, 18 h, public talk
Art collectives, and the various forms of collective practice in the field of culture, are often understood in opposition to the artist as individual genius, echoing non-hierarchical forms of organizations and alternative ways of living. Today the art collective is not necessarily a synonym of subversion or emancipation. Parallel to recent developments of network technologies, many collective methods and values have been assimilated and reinvented by engineering, management, marketing, and by most contemporary political ideologies. Also, the ecological crisis and the development of information technology make more visible and increase the interdependence between humans, nonhumans and technique. In order to face the current and future multiscalar crisis, various forms of collective practices are encouraged, such as democratic experimentation, composition of knowledge, interspecies relations, collaboration with Artificial Intelligence, commoning, intersectional representativity, or translocal cooperation. If one can hope that the ways to think, act and live collectively will be one of the main issue the next decade, what will the understanding “the collective” be? How many are we? How the present and future collective practices can foster better social understandings, encourage new forms of solidarity and improve living conditions for everyone?
A few months ago, Grégory Castéra started a research on historic and contemporary collective practices across fields of knowledge and territories. During the workshop, we will try together to re-describe each of the participant’s practices as collective ones. Because we need new words and representation to understand our contemporary definition of « collective », we will experiment with various ways to visualize and name it. During the talk, Castéra will present his method of research and some cases, and we can eventually test a few practices with the audience.
Grégory Castéra (born 1981, lives in Paris) works as curator, director of organization and educator in the field of contemporary art. He is interested in the application of artistic practice and thinking in domains such as law, linguistics, care, ecology or social entrepreneurship. Most of his projects involve collaborations across discipline to address social concerns. For example, he is currently curator of “Infinite Ear” at CentroCentro, Madrid, an exhibition to be heard in multiple ways conceived with Deaf and hard of hearing people (with Tarek Atoui, Lendl Barcelos, Valentina Desideri, Myriam Lefkowitz, Mattin, Alison O’Daniel). He also prepares The Against Nature Journal, a journal of culture and human rights on the interpretation of the legal concept of “Nature” in the regulation of gender and sexuality. With Sandra Terdjman, he is co-director and co-founder of Council (2013—), an office for contemporary art working on the composition between art and other fields through a programme of exhibitions, events, publications and fellowship. He also served as co-director of Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2009-2012), coordinator of Bétonsalon (2007-2009) and co-author of the Encyclopedia of Spoken Words (2007-2014). Castera organized exhibitions and events for Bergen Assembly, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscou), MoMA PS1 (New York), Sharjah Biennial, Centre Pompidou (Paris), Wiels (Bruxelles), Iaspis (Stockholm), among others. He received the 2013 Médicis Hors les Murs Fellowship and was the 2016 Witte de With Curatorial Fellow.
ANXIETY EPIDEMIC
with Barbora Kleinhamplová (The Institute of Anxiety)
Friday, 22 November, 18 h, public talk
A growing number of people today report feeling anxious than ever before. Some theorists, Renata Salecl and other theorists, speak about “anxiety epidemic” or “anxious society”. How shall we deal with the widespread anxiety, which somewhat became a new norm? The talk Anxiety Epidemic: Precarious Living Conditions, Therapeutic Discourse and Living in an Anxious Society will introduction into the term ”anxious society” and into the practice of Institute of Anxiety, Feminist Art Institution and Zero Wage Movement as well as Barbora Kleinhamplová’s own artistic practice.
Barbora Kleinhamplová is an artist living and working in Prague. Kleinhamplová’s work is rooted in the relationship of human existence and the contemporary politics and economy of institutions. She comments on different layers of society, using associations and metaphors. For recent past, it has been her overarching aim to pose questions as: What is a society? How it works, what are its constitutive elements? What are its illnesses, its emotions, its future or a situation of an individual in the middle of it? Recently she has been taking advantage of a strategy what we might call constructed or staged situation where the script is often derived from an existing format of group interaction (therapy, coaching session etc.). Performative dimension of some of her projects try to accent the symbolic role of the body politics in the economic and power system. Kleinhamplová’s work has been exhibited widely in the Czech Republic as well as internationally – including SAVVY Contemporary, KIBLA Portal, Paul Ramsay Galleries, Triennial of Contemporary Art U3, Gwangju Biennale, New Museum, Astrup Farnley Museet, Jakarta Biennale.
POSITIVE TENSION (ON CURATING)
with Apparatus 22
Saturday, 23 November, 13-16 h, workshop, rvsp
Can a party, a marathon and an alternative school be squeezed in a small paper bag? Here comes Apparatus 22’s Positive Tension (curating kit): a brown bag with several hundreds of the probably biggest confetti ever produced plus a set of both serious and hilarious instructions. All these lay the prerequisite for the party “Positive Tension (On Curating)”, a celebration with a twist since the eye candy color confetti are inscribed with over one hundred questions about curating. More precisely, there are 130 questions of various kinds – from fundamental to not-good-for-school irreverent, from analytical to intuitive, from abstract to very precise – on countless topics (including myths, taboos and rules) about curating and relations with audience, artists, institutions, legacies, ethics, new modes of working in arts, future etc. turning the work | party into a marathon of critical thinking. Ready for party? Ready for marathon?
Apparatus 22 is a trans-disciplinary art collective founded in January 2011 by current members Erika Olea, Maria Farcas, Dragos Olea together with Ioana Nemes (1979 – 2011) in Bucharest, Romania. Since 2015, they are working between Bucharest, Brussels and anywhere there is love for their practice or potential for research.They see themselves as a collective of dreamers, researchers, poetic activists and (failed) futurologists interested in exploring the intricate relationships between economy, politics, gender studies, social movements, religion and fashion in order to understand contemporary society. Selected exhibitions: La Biennale di Venezia 2013, MUMOK, Vienna (AT), BOZAR – Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (BE), Museion, Bolzano (IT), Kunsthalle Wien (AT), Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles (BE), Brukenthal Museum Contemporary Art Gallery, Sibiu (RO), Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (DE), Contemporary Art Museum (MNAC), Bucharest (RO), KunstMuseum Linz (AT), La Triennale di Milano (IT), Loft – Servais Family Collection, Brussels (BE), TRAFO Gallery, Budapest (HU), Futura, Prague (CZ), Ujazdowski Castle – Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw (PL), Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest (RO), Onomatopee Eindhoven (NL), TIME MACHINE BIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART, D-0 ARK UNDERGROUND, Konji (BIH), Osage Foundation (Hong Kong), Closer Art Centre, Kiev (UA), CIAP, Hasselt (BE), GALLLERIAPIU (Bologna, IT), Suprainfinit Gallery (Bucharest, RO), Lateral ArtSpace (Cluj, RO). Performances at MAK, Vienna (AT), Steirischer Herbst, Graz (AT), Stedelijk Museum with De Appel CP Amsterdam, (NL), Kunsthal Gent (BE), Yarat Academy, Baku (AZ), Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (DE), Drodesera Festival, Dro (IT), Villa Empain, Brussels (BE), SMAK Gent, (BE), etc.
ON GIFTS, BROADCASTING, POSITIVE DESTRUCTION AND BLANK AUGURI
with Apparatus 22
Saturday, 23 November, 18-19 h, talk
The talk will introduce several aspects of Apparatus 22 art collective’s practice through a set of topics ranging from the necessity for positive destruction to their bold explorations of gift economy, from their love for names and coining terms to their inquiry into the potential of radio broadcasting in order to epitomize usually inaccessible contours and spaces through the use of language, voice and sounds.
FROM FRIENDSHIP TO COLLECTIVE, INSTITUTION AND BACK
with Peter Sit & Apart Collective
Saturday, 23 November, 19-20 h, talk
In this lecture, Peter Sit (Apart Collective) will describe the hybrid practice of recent years of the APART team, presenting the themes and background of their projects, as why is has been important for their artistic practice to curate exhibitions as well as organize event, publish publications or initiate projects. Also, how they moved from production to slowdown. Aout mental health problems. About friendship. About our artistic production in the economic and political context.
Peter Sit is an artist, curator and organizer. In 2012 he co-founded art collective and platform APART. Since 2017, he has been a member of the research team of the Czechoslovak psychotronics’, which is researching its institutional and ideological connections as well as its potential overlaps with contemporary art. In his work, Peter Sit is interested in collectivity and its potential in today’s world order, work issues and an imagination of a better future. As an artist, he is examining an extended field of artist’s activity across an entire range of artistic production. Moving across and combining the positions of artist, organizer, publisher, curator, editor is a crucial part of the artist’s practice. In 2018, he co-curated with Julieta Aranda (e-flux journal) 9th Futurological Congress, Bratislava Chapter: TALK TO ME! (The Future of Language) in Slovak Radio Building. He curated the group exhibition Art is Work in Krokus Gallery, Bratislava; exhibited on the exhibition The Most Beautiful Catastrophe in CCA Kronika, Bytom, Poland; participated in one-week series of lectures and performances Work Hard! Play Hard! In Minsk; published collection of essays Iné Telá in cooperation with the monthly magazine Kapital and Association for Research and Collective Practice – Display; he co-founded the Bratislava BAK Summer School together with BAK (basis voor actuele kunst), Utrecht, Open Studio/Studio IN – Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava and Kristína Országhová; worked on other projects with Mehraneh Atashi, Babi Badalov, Anton Vidokle, Arseny Zhilyaev, tranzit.sk, e-flux and more; since 2012 under APART LABEL published 20 publications.
Talks will be followed by a discussion on collectives among Dragos Olea, Peter Sit, Viktoria Draganova and the audience.
