Don’t Know!
—- > 1st a.pass Conference on the Art of Research
16 – 17 September 2011 – 11-19h – de Bottelarij, Brussels
a.pass welcomes you to join us in a 2-day public conference on the Art of Research
a.pass is an artistic research environment based on self-organization and collaboration that provides an individualized framework for theoreticians and artists to work, think and experiment. After five years we decided to organize a conference in order to reflect upon the shifting notions of this ‘artistic research’ and to question the political implications of the discourses and practices we use(d).
When a.pass is performing a conference this does not simply imply a gathering to exchange knowledge on artistic research practices. In the course of three days we rather aim to create a frame in which research is put into practice and shared with the audience. In other words: we will organize a conference which provides different working situations, allowing an in-depth experience of research formats, relations and situations, and the specific ‘knowledges’ these produce.
We would like to invite you to join us at this gathering, and to contribute to the working and thinking process. Following the suggested attitude in our conference-title – Don’t Know! – we open up different lines of questioning for you to contribute to:
What is the specificity of the knowledge produced in the arts today? Can they still claim a political, or even subversive position in the politicized, aestheticized, techno-sized and mediatized knowledge production process? How do we create the appropriate, critical and creative formats for feedback and support for the (potentially very different) kinds of artistic research? How do we keep the framework for such researches open enough so as not to smother them in an over-protective embrace? And at the same time: how to stimulate the appearance of alternative forms of knowledge out of artist-driven formats of research?
For an up-to-date program, check our website on www.apass.be.
SUMMER SCHOOL
organized by the interdisciplinary research platforms: a.pass, IDeA (RITS) and De Samenscholing/PAN (CAMPO)
19-24 September 2011 – CAMPO victoria, Ghent
Workshop 1: ANTONIO ARAUJO
How to artistically intervene in the urban space of the city of Ghent?
Brazilian artist and researcher Antonio Araújo is currently combining his teaching activities at the University of São Paulo with his work as the artistic director of Teatro da Vertigem in São Paulo, a company that sees their projects as interventions in the city, as well as theatre pieces. The company usually stages its performances in site-specific locations such as (abandoned) churches, prisons and hospitals.
The idea of Antonio’s workshop is to experience different points of departure in working with site and urban interventions based on some practices developed by Teatro da Vertigem. While working in a collaborative way in the city of Ghent, we will experiment the power of mobilization that theatre provides without falling into the trap of redundancy or illustration, without searching for artistic legitimation only through sociological concerns and without incurring into charitable appeasements. Through intervening in the urban space, theatre recovers its public art dimension – which has always been there, but was sometimes blurry or forgotten.
Workshop 2: JACOB WREN
How to stage discussions about art and politics?
Jacob Wren is a Canadian writer and maker of theatre on the edge of critical discourse and performance. His books include Unrehearsed Beauty, Families Are Formed Through Copulation and Revenge Fantasies of the Politically Dispossessed. As co-artistic director of Montreal-based interdisciplinary group PME-ART he has co-created among much more, the ongoing HOSPITALITY series which includes: 1: The Title Is Constantly Changing (2007), 2: Gradually This Overview (2010), 3: Individualism Was A Mistake (2008) and 5: The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information (2011) that will be shown in CAMPO during the Summer School on September 19. In 2008 Jacob was commissioned by CAMPO to collaborate with Pieter De Buysser on An Anthology of Optimism.
Jacob’s workshop is based on the technique of the relay-interview, a simple game for having unexpected conversations. It involves asking and answering spontaneous questions that are loosely based around on one or several themes chosen before the game starts. It is an attempt to have genuine, surprising exchanges within a performance situation. And to find out what we think, how we think about it and what we most want to know.
Check his blog on http://www.radicalcut.blogspot.com
Each day of the Summer School will be concluded by an EVENING PROGRAMME, starting at 8pm:
19 Sep: The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information – PME-ART (Caroline Dubois, Claudia Fancello and Jacob Wren)
20 Sep: Antonio Araujo presents his work
21 Sep: discussion on site-specific work – Antonio Araujo & guests
22 Sep: relay-exercise of Jacob Wren
23 Sep: discussion – Jacob Wren & Rudi Laermans
Participation fee: 200€ (brunch and dinner included!)
The application form (deadline: 20 August 2011) and further information are available on www.campo.nu. We would be delighted to welcome a mix of visitors and participants, artistic practitioners and academic researchers alike.
