A Pan-European Hybrid Festival on the State of Freedom & the State of the Arts Today
October 30–November 1, 2020
Online Summit & Local Events in 22 cities across Europe
Live talks, discussions, artistic interventions and more
The Freiraum Platform presents the Freiraum Festival 2020: a collaborative, decentralised, democratised festival taking place simultaneously in the physical and the digital worlds.
Initiated by Goethe-Institut and developed jointly by more than 40 organisations, the Freiraum Festival includes an Online Summit and 23 Local Events in 22 cities across Europe. It addresses two issues that have been accelerated by the recent pandemic crisis: “The State of Freedom in Europe: the ongoing biopolitical democrisis and emerging social solidarities,” and “The State of the Arts: new formats and audiences.”
In the Freiraum Festival, the online and offline worlds come together thanks to a specially developed Mobile Studio, combining the technologies of a tv-studio and video-conference platform, set within the Freiraum Mobile Stage, a light installation/tool designed to activate public spaces and communities, providing a common ground for participatory performative and collective actions. The online programme is specially conceived for the online medium, as a forward-looking tool consistent with Freiraum’s commitment to participation, decentralisation and democratisation: a tool that shortens distances and expands possibilities, enabling us to spread geographically, exchange ideas and share experiences even when physically distancing. At the same time, the Freiraum Festival takes place simultaneously in 22 cities, directly engaging civil society and the cultural scene, underscoring the need for local action and the importance of integrating the local into a global network. The proposed format is a strategic decision taken by Goethe-Institut and the Freiraum partners to acknowledge the current situation and directly support initiatives around Europe.
The Online Summit includes talks, discussions, artistic interventions and live connection to the local events. Among the contributors are: Julieta Aranda (artist, co-director of e-flux), Mark Beasley (Curatorial Director, Pace Gallery, New York), Franco Bifo Berardi (writer), Liam Gillick (artist), Helgard Haug (director, Co-founder of Rimini Protokoll), Eva Illouz (Professor of Sociology, Hebrew University Jerusalem, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris), Ivan Krastev (political scientist, Chairman - Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Permanent Fellow - Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna), Daria Mille (Curator, ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe), Thomas Oberender (Artistic Director, Berliner Festspiele), Gregory Sholette (artist, writer, activist, teacher), Svetlana Slapshak (Professor of Anthropology of Ancient Worlds, Anthropology of Gender & Balkanology), Tiziana Terranova (Associate Professor in Cultural Studies & Digital Media, Università degli Studi di Napoli), Rirkrit Tiravanija (artist), Mark Titchner (artist), Ben Vickers (Chief Technology Officer, Serpentine Galleries), Andreas Weber (biologist, philosopher, nature writer, University of the Arts Berlin).
The artistic interventions—commissioned or selected through an open call—form an integral part of the programme, offering artistic approaches to the discussed subjects, and exploring the possibilities of online formats in different mediums.
About the Freiraum Platform and the Curatorial Team
Freiraum (Free Space) is a project launched by Goethe-Institut in 2017, in collaboration with 53 actors from 40 cities around Europe, active in culture and the arts, the research community and civil society. Freiraum is now in the process of becoming an autonomous platform, in which the Goethe-Institut will continue playing an important role. The Freiraum Festival 2020 is organised in collaboration with a curatorial team representing the partner institutions, under the artistic direction of Goethe-Institut and ArtBOX (www.artbox.gr). Day 3 of the Festival—The State of the Arts—the Mobile Studio and the Freiraum Mobile Stage are developed in partnership with Common Lab (www.commonlab.info), a Goethe-Institut Excellency Initiative by Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki & ArtBOX, in collaboration with Helexpo (Thessaloniki International Fair), Freiraum and Hyperwerk Institute for Postindustrial Design (Basel).
Join the Freiraum Festival in your city or online:
www.freiraumfestival.eu
www.faceook.com/freiraumplatform
