Group Exhibition | From Below, as a Neighbour, Drugo More, Rijeka, Croatia

October 2, 2012

25 October – 6 November
‘Mine, Yours, Ours’, Drugo More, Rijeka, Croatia

Babi Badalov, BADco., Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten, Kajsa Dahlberg, Öyvind Fahlström, Mark Leckey, Jennie Livingston, Carlos Motta, Pil and Galia Kollectiv, Želimir Žilnik

From Below, as a Neighbour turns to the fragile institution: strategic detachments practised within temporary spaces of agency and relief. The exhibition forms the latest chapter in an ongoing exploration of utopian thought and practice extending from the first ‘Summit of Micronations’, a congress for new country projects held in Helsinki in 2003.

Taking this model as a point of departure, From Below, as a Neighbour seeks to radically expand on the micronation as a form of self-organisation, to explore alternative approaches that subvert and destabilize normative structures. In the works, the desire to produce forms of knowledge that also displace the knowledge itself, is present both as a practice and fantasy of shared autonomy. It is a take on utopia that emphasises the role of tenderness in collective politics, as a politics based not on the possibility that we might be reconciled, but on a continuous and nervous tension between self-determination and solidarity. 

From Below, as a Neighbour, brings together a site-specific installation by Zagreb-based performance collective BADco.; an Armin Maiwald film realised as part of his long-running series Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten or ‘Library of Factual Stories’; Öyvind Fahlström’s choreographed street parade, Mao-Hope March; and Kajsa Dahlberg’s exploration of the potential of representational invisibility. Also included is visual poetry and collages by Babi Badalov; We Who Feel Differently, a series of prints by Carlos Motta; Mark Leckey’s Fiorucci Made me Hardcore; as well as work by pioneering Black Wave filmmaker and activist Želimir Žilnik.

Pil and Galia Kollectiv‘s contribution, part film, part performanceTerminal takes the form of a future morality play, one which turns to dystopia as a ritual and excercise, and premieres on 26 October at HKD Teatar. 

Accompanying the exhibition are cinema screenings of Jennie Livingston’s1990 documentary film Paris is Burning at Art Kino Croatia.

From Below as a Neighbour is curated by Fatima Hellberg (Electra) and realised as part of Practical Utopias, an ongoing collaboration betweenYKON (Finland), Electra (UK) and Drugo More (Croatia).

The exhibition and performance programme takes place within the framework of the ‘Mine, Yours, Ours’ festival, Drugo More, with the support of the British Council, Croatia; Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia; and the City of Rijeka.

Image credit: Achterbahn, Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten, 1992, courtesy of WDR mediagroup dialog GmbH

Round Table | Feeling Differently, Stanford University, October 10, 2012

October 2, 2012

Talk | Show and Tell: Carlos Motta and Larry Rinder in Conversation, YBCA, San Francisco, October 8, 2012

October 1, 2012

Oct 8, 2012 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Gallery 2, FREE

Group Exhibition | Battleground States, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City

October 1, 2012

OCT 5, 2012-JAN 5, 2013

Battleground States brings together artists who critically engage with the discourse of visual culture and gender studies. Through video, sculpture, installation, and photography, these works explore ideas of how figuration and identity are connected.

The exhibition begins with Utah artist Trevor Southey as his process of self-realization has made him an art historical pivot when discussing gender politics within the culture of Utah. The narrative continues by presenting generations of artists across the globe, leading the viewer along a path of self-realization in which concepts of coupling or completing the self are represented as spiritual quests.

Battleground States analyzes the space between traditional gender duality by exploring alternative forms such as the third gender, a generally foreign concept in Western culture. In their non-Western roles, these alternative identities denote a space for possibility and transcendence. The exhibition moves towards notions of the “post-gender” as a way to better understand how our cultural diversities open up interpretations of a third space.

Artists: Daniel Albrigo, Absalon, Bas Jan Ader, Matthew Barney, Tobias Bernstrup, Robin Black, Nayland Blake, AA Bronson, Heather Cassils, Nicole Eisenman, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jonathan Horowitz, Trishelle Jeffrey, Amy Jorgensen, Asma Kazmi, Terence Koh, Annie Leibowitz, David Levine, Matt Lipps, Georges Minne, Carlos Motta, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Bertrand Planes, Genesis Breyer P-orridge, Dean Sameshima, Jack Smith, Trevor Southey, David Wojnarowicz, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Guido van der Werve

Battleground States is made possible in part through the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the B. W. Bastian Foundation and IASPIS: The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Artists.

http://www.utahmoca.org/exhibitions/upcoming/battleground-states 

Group Exhibition | Required Reading: Printed Material as Agent of Intervention, Center for Book Arts, NY

October 1, 2012

October 3 – December 15, 2012
Opening reception: Wednesday, October 3, 6-8pm

Required Reading: Printed Material as Agent of Intervention presents fifteen projects that range from published books and correspondence to performance and video documentation, and are meant to challenge a political or social issue. The works in this exhibition demonstrate the ability of printed materials to act as symbols of ideologies and beliefs. They are used by the participating artists as social agents—intervening in public space to expose an audience to new opportunities and alternative concepts. In a culture where visual noise is inescapable, printed matter provides an opportunity to pause, grasp, ruminate, and pass along. We use it to educate ourselves and others, to create a gash in a stagnant situation, articulate a new context, and imagine our society as it can and should be.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with essays by Yaelle Amir and Howard Zinn. Contact CBA or Yaelle to purchase a copy.

Included Artists/Projects:
Amy Balkin
AREA Chicago (Samuel Barnett, Euan Hague, Jayne Hileman, Dave Pabelllon, Daniel Tucker, and Rebecca Zorach)
Yevgeniy Fiks
Pablo Helguera
Marisa Jahn (REV-) with Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center
Packard Jennings
Jen Kennedy and Liz Linden
Steve Lambert and Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men (with 30 writers, 50 advisors, 1,000 volunteer distributors, CODEPINK, May First/People Link, Evil Twin, Improv Everywhere, and Not An Alternative)
Lize Mogel with Mara Cherkasky, John Cloud, and Ryan Shepardt
Queerocracy and Carlos Motta
Occupied Newspapers (The Boston Occupier, The Occupied Times of London, The Occupied Oakland Tribune, Occupy Pittsburgh Now, and The Occupied Wall Street Journal)
Sheryl Oring
Dread Scott
S.W.A.M.P. (Matt Kenyon with Doug Easterly)
Temporary Services, Tamms Year Ten and Sarah Ross

Curated by Yaelle S. Amir

For more information please visit the Center for Book Arts website or Yaelle’s website.
Center for Book Arts, 28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor, New York

Group Exhibition | Absolute Democracy, < rotor > association for contemporary art, Graz, Austria

September 7, 2012

ABSOLUTE DEMOCRACY
September 30 — December 21, 2012

Participating Artists: Julieta Aranda & Anton Vidokle; Petra Bauer; Lenin Brea & Nuria Vila; Miklós Erhardt & Claudio Feliziani; Isabelle Fremeaux, John Jordan & Kypros Kyprianou; Mariam Ghani; Carles Guerra; Vladan Jeremić & Rena Rädle; Nicoline van Harskamp; Jim Hubbard; Fernando Solanas; Nikolay Oleynikov; and Ultra-red. 

Curated by: Carlos Motta & Oliver Ressler

The concept Absolute Democracy was originally used by the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, and meanwhile updated by the influential capitalism critics Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt, stands for a vision: for the vision of a republic founded on a broad collaboration of its citizens and on the development of common goods. It is an idea that propagates the redistribution of wealth and power and the possibility of new, more equitable systems of rule. It denounces the effects of capitalism and thus challenges a normative understanding of class, race, gender and sexuality. Against this background, “Absolute Democracy” takes a critical look at the concept of democracy, spotlighting the problem of its social, political and economic consequences and offering alternative interpretations of historiography.

http://rotor.mur.at/frameset_aktuell-eng.html 

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 29, 2012, 12 noon
Opening speech by Gerald Raunig  

< rotor >
Volksgartenstraße 6a
8020 Graz, Austria

This exhibition is part of steirischer herbst

Conference | Absolute Democracy, steirischer herbst, Graz, Austria —September 26, 7pm

September 6, 2012

ABSOLUTE DEMOCRACY
A conference organized by Carlos Motta (CO/USA) and Oliver Ressler (A) for steirischer herbst, 2012 — September 26, 2012 — 7pm

Participants: Manuela Bojadzijev, Janna Graham & Dont Rhine/Ultra-red (D/UK/US), Mariam Ghani (US), Nicoline van Harskamp (NL), Jennifer Gonzalez (US), Isabelle Fremeaux & John Jordan (F/UK), Miguel López (PE), Sofía Olascoaga (MX), Nikolay Oleinikov (RU), and Marco Scotini (I).

The idea of an “absolute democracy“ suggests the need for the redistribution of wealth and power and the radical transformation of systems of rule. It denounces the effects of capitalism and in that way challenges normative understandings of class, race, gender and sexuality. “Absolute Democracy“ convenes an international group of cultural producers to discuss the construction of a plural, heterogeneous, inclusive and “absolute“ democracy. The conference is composed of two sessions: “Forms of Democracy: Activism, Art and Cultural Production“, which features presentations by artists and theoreticians that question past and existing forms of democratic participation, revise historical accounts and interpret forms of artistic production and documentation; and “Thinking Politics Freed From the State“, a session devoted to presentations that imagine new democratic models independent from the State and that envision new understandings of governability and of self-determination.

Session 1: Forms of Democracy: Activism, Art and Cultural Production
Introduction/Moderation: Carlos Motta (CO/US)
Manuela Bojadzijev, Janna Graham & Dont Rhine from Ultra-red (D/UK/US)
Mariam Ghani (US)
Jennifer Gonzalez (US)
Miguel López (PE)
Nikolay Oleinikov (RU)

Session 2: Thinking Politics Freed From the State
Introduction/Moderation: Oliver Ressler (A)
Nicoline van Harskamp (NL) 
Isabelle Fremeaux & John Jordan (F/UK) 
Sofía Olascoaga (MX)
Marco Scotini (I) 

http://truthisconcrete.org/programme/index.php?d=26

Group Exhibition | Contested Territories, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Long Island City

September 5, 2012

Award | Carlos Motta Awarded Kindle Project’s 2012 Makers Muse Award

August 30, 2012

• JIBZ CAMERON • MIRANDA JULY • JOSH MACPHEE • CARLOS MOTTA •NOVA RUTH • MARJANE SATRAPI • FARDIN WAEZI •

It’s almost fall again, and with the season comes year four of the Makers Muse Award. We’ve spent the last year trawling the Internet, our cinemas, galleries, memory-banks, and libraries for the inventive and bizarre. While some have captivated us for years, others are new fascinations; this year’s recipients epitomize the awesome and the valorous.

Through the use of video, graphic novels, performance, writing, installation, web projects, design, archiving, music, and photography, the 2012 awardees all have a profoundly interdisciplinary edge to them. Tackling issues from justice to sexuality, uprisings to economy, these individuals will surely galvanize and provoke you.

Coming from the US, Afghanistan, Iran, and Indonesia we present to you the 2012 Makers Muse Award recipients.

http://www.kindleproject.org/blog/2012/08/30/announcement-of-2012-makers-muse-recipients/ 

Artist Talk | Algunos apuntes sobre las políticas del afecto queer, Lugar a dudas, Cali, August 9

August 10, 2012