Civic City. How to make it yours

Symposium, 20. - 21. April 2012

Eine Kooperation des Doktoratskollegs Kunst und Öffentlichkeit mit dem Programmbereich Contemporary Arts & Cultural Production

Konzept: Laila Huber und Luise Reitstätter

Mit dem Soziologen Andrej Holm (Berlin), der Kulturtheoretikerin Elke Krasny (Wien) und den KünstlerInnen Elisabeth Schmirl, Nicola Korntner und Friedrich Rücker (Salzburg).

Das zweitägige Symposium „Civic City" widmete sich Methoden der Stadtforschung und Strategien der Aneignung. In den Blickpunkt rückte das Lokale und die Art und Weise, wie BewohnerInnen sich die Stadt zu eigen machen. Welche Bedeutungen schreiben die BewohnerInnen ihrer Stadt zu, wie identifizieren sich mit ihr und wie fordern sie ihr Recht auf Stadt gegebenenfalls auch aktiv ein? Und: Welche Rolle spielen dabei künstlerische und aktivistische Praktiken?

In Vorträgen und Präsentationen mit historischen und aktuellen Referenzbeispielen fokussierte die Veranstaltung zunächst eine theoretische Auseinandersetzung, während am zweiten Tag die TeilnehmerInnen in Stadtspaziergängen mit Salzburger KünstlerInnen die Alltagspraxis des Gehens als Forschungsmethode erprobten. 

Symposium, March 21 and 22, 2012

A cooperation of the doctoral program „Art and the public sphere" and the program area „Contemporary Arts & Cultural Production"

Concept and coordination: Nadja Klement, Sonja Prlić, Elke Zobl

This symposium covered questions of art, political engagement and activism by focusing on practical working methods.

Throughout history, art has been assigned a range of roles. Aside from the beautification of life, distraction or representation, the acquisition and transfer of knowledge and experiences are still seen as highly important.

Taking up social-political themes in the context of arts has a long tradition: critique of social conditions is continuously - explicitly or hidden - expressed via diverse forms of expression and presentation. But what is the actual potential of art to be effective?

The presentations with subsequent workshops gave the participants the opportunity to explore political strategies in contemporary art, centred on those forms of art whose protagonists aim for social change and civic engagement. The political in this context is not understood as one of many toys in a playground of art in which artistic achievements of distinction are experimented with but as an opportunity to redeem the social relevance of contemporary art.

Practical experience - theoretical reflection
The symposium focused on practical working methods. Artistic activist strategies were first discussed and then experimented with and developed. The symposium started with four presentations from artists, curators, and theorists, which shed light onto the topic from different angles. Invited were experts from various fields who consider the potential and strategies of activist theatre, fine arts and new media. The presentations are followed by four workshops. Their results were presented at the end of day two.

Presentations and workshop groups:

Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson: Presentation & Workshop: Artists as hyper active citizens and the working and economic conditions of artists
 

Geert Lovink: Presentation: Unlike Us - Social Media from Monopolies to Alternatives
Workshop: Critical Internet Cultures - Issues and Strategies
 

UBERMORGEN.COM: Presentation: Media Hacking vs. Conceptual Art
Workshop: Research-based digital actionism

More pictures on facebook