May 9 and 30, June 13 and 11, 7pm
Graduale: October 20–23, 2016
Grüner Salon in der Volksbühne
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz 2
10178 Berlin
Germany
The series of events called “Salon für Ästhetische Experimente,” and the “Graduale,” the exhibition/symposium at the end of each round of fellowships, give the Graduate School’s international fellows of the Berlin University of the Arts space for creative adventures, interventions and speculative art actions. In varying formats, the evenings offer the opportunity to discuss and question artistic processes, new ways of working, research issues and to present current projects to the public.
May 9, 7pm
“Salon für Ästhetische Experimente: Becoming Medium”
Storytelling, algorithms, making pictures, sounds and machines
with Jeremiah Day, Azin Feizabadi, Ralf Baecker, Bjoern Erlach, Nuria Núñez Hierro, Alex Martinis Roe and Lizza May David (all current fellows). Moderated by Jan Verwoert
(English)
A city doesn’t speak one language only. Urban discourse emerges when speakers enter into coalitions or conflicts with each other over how to say and do things. Listening to how others narrate their stories may make you change the way you tell yours. Build urban machines? You would want them to be open to interferences and eventualities (including malfunction). Apply it to other media: paintings cross over into film, documentary turns into performance, and research metabolizes into materials assembled in space.
The Graduate School within the Postgraduate Forum at Berlin University of the Arts is an experiment in creating an environment for practices that thrive on urban interactions, transformations and translations. Its discourse keeps switching between languages. This salon will be dedicated to a discussion among the participants of the School on how they interpret the potentials of the artistic medium, in the light of the (local and global) histories that shape a city, as much as in relation to the practical politics of getting thoughts thought and things done in Berlin today.
May 30, 7pm
“Salon für Ästhetische Experimente: A concert evening dedicated to algorithmic composition”
with Bjoern Erlach (current fellow) and GIMIK e.V.
(German)
In collaboration with GIMIK, Fellow Bjoern Erlach compiled a program of multimedia works and works for a player piano. The Initiative Musik and Informatik Köln – GIMIK e.V. focuses on the development of an international network in the fields of computer-assisted composition and media art as well as on the development of algorithmic composition techniques. The salon presents pieces by Bjoern Erlach, Siegfried Koepf, Alan Fabian, Dohi Moon and Bernd Härpfer following individual approaches to algorithmic methods for music composition.
June 13, 7pm
“Salon für Ästhetische Experimente: The School of Public Life”
Fred Dewey on Hannah Arendt, Culture, and the Council Principle
Introduced and with a performance by Jeremiah Day (current fellow)
(English)
While the German American political thinker Hannah Arendt is known for major insights into the modern world like “the banality of evil,” the general public is largely unaware of the affirmative political argument that is the core of her late work—the valorisation of council-democracy Arendt suggested could form “a new concept of the state.”
In an afternoon reading group and evening of lecture, performance and discussion, Jeremiah Day’s special guest Fred Dewey, whose work on Los Angeles neighbourhood councils and recent book The School of Public Life form the best elaboration of Arendt’s council proposal, will sketch out this proposal further—its roots, even in Berlin, its implications for theory and culture, and its relevance for Berlin (the city) and beyond.
2pm: Hannah Arendt Working Group—led by Fred Dewey
7pm: Talk by Fred Dewey
8pm: Performance by Jeremiah Day
8:30pm: Discussion and Drinks
July 11, 7pm
“Salon für Ästhetische Experimente: Bestiarium: Hinter den Kulissen!”
with Nuria Núñez Hierro (current fellow/composer) and her guests Iñigo Giner-Miranda (director) and Àngela Ribera (scene and costume designer)
(German)
The evening gives insight into the collective and interdisciplinary work processes involved in creating the experimental theatre project Bestiarium for an audience ages 6 years and up. In a talk including the composer, director, costume and stage designer, they introduce and discuss the young audience’s experience and the language of contemporary music. Which new dramaturgical directions and structures are needed for this musical experience? Which approaches does the shared dramatic-musical production offer, especially with regard to the target audience composed of people of all ages? With musical examples from Bestiarium.
