KLARTEXT!
The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture
Conference
January 14-16 2005
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin
Workshops
January 17-20 2005
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Interflugs/Universitat der Kunste, Berlin
Information and registration: www.klartext-konferenz.net
With (selection): Inke Arns, Berlin/Dortmund; B+B, London; Marius Babias, Berlin; Jochen Becker, Berlin; Bernadette Corporation, New York/Paris; Anita Di Bianco, New York; Sezgin Boynik, Prizren; Gerd Brendel, Berlin; Boris Buden, London; Roger M. Buergel, Vienna/Kassel; Fulvia Carnevale, Paris; Chto delat?, St. Petersburg/Moscow; Catherine David, Paris/Rotterdam; Susanne von Falkenhausen, Berlin; Fiambrera Obrera/Yomango, Madrid; Alex Foti, Milano; Grupo de Arte Callejero, Buenos Aires; Hans Haacke, New York; Brian Holmes, Paris; Jakob Jakobsen, Copenhagen; Deborah Kelly, Sydney; KpD, Berlin; Holger Kube Ventura, Halle; Maria Lind, Stockholm; Shaheen Merali, Berlin; Nina Montmann, Hamburg/Helsinki; Chantal Mouffe, London; Francesco Jodice/Multiplicity, Milan; Marion von Osten, Zurich/Berlin; Jacques Ranciere, Paris; Oliver Ressler, Wien; Irit Rogoff, London; Ilaria Vanni, Sydney; Claudia Wahjudi, Berlin; Paola Yacoub/Michel Lasserre, Berlin; Yes Men, New York.
KLARTEXT! means “straight talk” in German. The international conference KLARTEXT! The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture will be taking place over a three day period -January 14-16 2005-at the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and the theatre Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin. The aim of the project, initiated by Berlin-based independent curators Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel, is to explore the current use-and sometimes misuse-of the category “Political” as applied to contemporary art and culture. Especially since September 11 and Documenta 11 in Kassel, one encounters the claim that art is becoming increasingly politicised or re-politicised and that political questions have returned to the arena of culture and contemporary art. In a variety of ways-and with varying results-current exhibition projects and publications are taking this thesis into consideration. Is it just a new trend? Such approaches tend on the whole to neglect the inherent questions that necessarily attend such a proposal and take for granted an implicit understanding of the terms art and politics, of their social functions and effects.
The conference brings together in Berlin international artists, activists, curators, workers in the cultural sector and theoreticians to discuss the relationship between art and politics, and provides a platform and context for the exchange of thoughts, strategies and approaches. KLARTEXT! is also an exhortation to the participants and the audience to engage in the analysis of the aforementioned themes and issues. Are we really dealing with the politicisation of art or is it more a matter of an aestheticisation of political themes and contents? How influential is art? What is activism today, and how does the interchange between art and activism function? Does it make any sense to use art as a means to articulate social and political concerns? What manifestations should this kind of art assume? And in what context can it be effective?
Concept and organization
Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel In cooperation with
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Funded by
Hauptstadtkulturfonds and Bundeszentrale fur Politische Bildung
Press conference
14 January 2005, 10 am, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Studio 1. Press contact
presse@klartext-konferenz.net
For further information, please visit www.klartext-konferenz.net
