November 19–20, 2021
The Freiraum Platform presents the hybrid, pan-European Freiraum Festival 2021, which will discuss democracy and the future of protest, new social movements and political subjectivities, and art in the digital public sphere. To contribute to this discussion and to the exploration of new formats, young, emerging and established artists from around the world are invited to submit short, standalone works that will be presented as part of the Festival’s online summit.
About the festival
Developed jointly by more than 40 organisations, the Freiraum Festival includes an online summit, an online exhibition of works selected through an open call, and 20 local events in 18 cities across Europe. The curated programme of talks, discussions, and artistic interventions tackles issues of artistic, political, and individual freedom. It delves into the systemic issues revealed by the pandemic, imagines the day after, and questions the amalgams of hope and pragmatism populating the in-between.
Format
The Freiraum Festival is built on the intersection of the physical and the digital worlds, which are now, more than ever before, constituting our new, digital public sphere. The festival format itself is an attempt to explore the tension and the emerging possibilities in-between the online and the offline. The Online Summit and Exhibition are live-streamed combining a mobile live-editing studio, a tele-conference platform, and live connections with local events in various locations.
Local events
Spread around Europe, Freiraum member institutions organise local events addressing issues particular to their localities and audiences, while engaging with global audiences in the live-streamed Online Summit. Together with established thinkers from different disciplines, they discuss a range of critical issues - the performative and the political, social movements, digital politics, algorithmic transparency, invisible infrastructures, politics of bodies and emotions, commons, feminism, remediation and the new digital public sphere.
Online summit
The live-streamed online summit includes talks and discussions exploring three themes: Demo-Crisis and the Future of Protest; New political subjectivities, social movements and solidarities; Art in the Digital Public Sphere—Curating, Live Arts. Keynote talks feature internationally established thinkers Silvia Federici (Italo-American scholar and activist of the radical autonomist feminist Marxist and anarchist tradition) and Athena Athanasiou (Professor of Social Anthropology and Gender Theory at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences).
Online exhibition: call for artistic interventions
Short artistic interventions 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. Works are expected to engage with the Freiraum Festival themes; be live or recorded, taking into account that they will be presented and experienced online on possibly multiple devices (computer screens, tablets, smartphones); and interact, if possible, with the online audience. Overall, artists are encouraged to experiment with mediums and formats.
The call is open until October 24.
Access the application form here
Freiraum platform
Freiraum is a cultural platform of institutions and independent initiatives working on strategies for positive social change and greater individual and collective freedom in a cross-disciplinary manner. Spread in more than 40 cities across Europe, Freiraum members are active in the areas of arts, culture, civic engagement, education, and learning. Freiraum was launched by Goethe-Institut in 2017. In 2020, with the institute’s support, Freiraum was established as an autonomous, self-governed, non-profit platform.
Freiraum Festival 2021 is realised in collaboration and with the support of Goethe-Institut. It is organised by Freiraum Platform's curatorial team representing the members, under the artistic direction of ArtBOX. Day 2 of the Online Summit—Art in the Digital Public Sphere, the Freiraum Mobile Stage and the broadcasting mobile studio are developed in partnership with Common Lab by Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and ArtBOX, in collaboration with Helexpo, Freiraum and Hyperwerk Institute for Postindustrial Design.
Join us for the Freiraum Festival in your city or online.
