Monday Night -- 05.24.04 -- The Status of the Political --
-- Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel

Contents:

1. About this Monday Night
2. About Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel
3. Background: ‘The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture’
4. Project overview

Three notes – more details to follow next week

5. Thursday 05.27.04 a cake-baking-event in --- East Village
6. Friday 05.28.04 Lunchtime event “ eating security” -- Whitney ISP
7. About ‘Social Capital– Forms of Interaction’ Whitney ISP Exhibition

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NOTE : #5 + #6 above are NOT taking place at 16 Beaver St.
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1. About this Monday Night

When: 7.30, Monday May 24, 2004
Where: 16 Beaver Street, 5th floor
What: Discussion with Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel
Who: All are invited

Berlin based art critic Marina Sorbello and curator Antje Weitzel will
present their project on “The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art
and Culture”, a symposium on 14 - 16 January 2005, organized in cooperation
with the Künstlerhaus Bethanien and held at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien and
the Volksbühne in Berlin, that they just started to prepare.

After a short introduction they would like to discuss current artistic-political
production and strategies. The symposium will focus more on the
variety of artistic-political practices than on theory and does not aim to
define what “political art” is.

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2. About Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel

Marina Sorbello
Art historian, works in Berlin as an art critic for The Art Newspaper
(London), Il Giornale dell’Arte (Turin); Tema Celeste (Milan)

Antje Weitzel
independant curator, projects a.o. 2004 „Schizorama“, NCCA Moscow; „Public
Relations“, Public >, Paris.

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3. Background: ‘The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture’

The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture

A Series of Discussions with International Artists, Activists, Curators, and
Theoreticians

Background

Especially since Documenta 11 in Kassel, one comes across the claim that art
is becoming increasingly politicised or, put more simply, that there is a
return to the positing of political questions in culture and contemporary
art arenas. In a variety of ways current exhibition projects are taking this
thesis, which can also be seen as a trend, into consideration. Such
approaches, however, tend to neglect the inherent questions that necessarily
attend such a proposal. First of all, it is essential that there is an
implicit understanding of the terms ‘art’ and ‘politics,’ of their social
functions and effects. However, these terms concern conceptual disciplines
and thematic fields that, instead of being clearly defined, are in a
constant state of flux by the nature of their internal and external
structural supports.

In the traditional view, a contradiction determines the relationship of art
to politics: on the one hand there is the paradigm of modern art and its
autonomy, on the other a demand for engagement and social relevance. This
raises a series of questions: To what extent should these conventional
discrepancies be upheld today? What is the current standing of freedom in
art? And with art as the topic, what is actually being discussed with regard
to the various positions in the art business: those producing art,
institutions, entrepreneurs, and academics…

It is an indisputable fact that artistic works refer in a myriad of ways to
human existence and that they bear witness to both cultural circumstances
and social conditions; it is similarly irrefutable that the visual arts are
deeply connected to capitalist marketing strategies. This was strikingly
reflected in Hans Haacke’s poster series Standortkultur (Corporate Culture),
which was displayed in public during Documenta X, emblazoned with the slogan
“Wer das Geld gibt, kontrolliert” (“Whoever gives the money, controls”), a
citation of the statement by Hilmar Kopper of Deutsche Bank. In the case of
art institutions, escalating pressures are forcing them to implement that
catchword of efficiency: “rentability”. They are forced to make financially
successful exhibition products that attest to their social relevance, which
they are trying to prove through the art they present. Even those working in
the cultural domain fall prey to the pressure of putting their relevance and
originality to the test. To that extent the neo-liberal art system
continually produces, to a certain extent, socially relevant art. Or as
Frederic Jameson states, “The system is in the position to co-opt and disarm
what are potentially the most dangerous forms of political art by turning
them into cultural commodities.”

This raises the questions: what levels do the social and political relevance
of art operate on? Does the political content perhaps only satisfy the
function of an alibi, with whose help the art market can clear its
conscience? Does it make any sense at all to use art as a means to
articulate social and political concerns? Can art be employed as an
effective agent for the change or resistance to the hegemonic forces? Or is
art doomed to be the decorative, irrelevant footnote to a power stronger
than its own capacity for confrontation? What shapes should this kind of art
assume? And in what context can it be most effective?

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4. Project Overview

During a symposium on 14 - 16 January 2005, organized in cooperation with
the Künstlerhaus Bethanien and held at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien and the
Volksbühne in Berlin, a group of international participants will discuss the
theories and comprehensively expand upon the aforementioned themes and
fields of study. After introductory statements concerning today’s situation
of artistic-political production as well as the history of artistic
engagement from the classic avant-garde period up to the 1990s, artists,
activists, curators, and theoreticians will present projects and positions
over a two-day period. People working in the cultural sector will give
talks, drawing on actual projects, that address what kinds of possibilities
and decisive options they propose, what basic conditions they consider
themselves up against, and where the political potential of artistic work
might manifest itself. They will also discuss how national politics and
cultural production are interrelated.

A standard format of 20 to 30 minutes will be established for each
participant in panel discussions to address their respective themes,
projects and statements. Besides the panels, other presentations (film and
video screenings, information assemblies) by artists, activists, and their
respective groups will be scheduled for the days during the event, to be
held at the venue and other locations in Berlin.

The selection of participants is aimed at fostering a culturally
comprehensive exchange of experiences. The symposium is intended to
contribute to both the analysis and pinpointing of current
artistic-political production.

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5. Thursday 05.27.04 a cake-baking-event --- East Village

When: 7.45 pm, Thursday 05.27.04
Where: East Village
What: Cake Baking Event
Who: All are invited
What to do: please bring drinks.

This event is in preparation for the lunchtime event, i.e. part of our participation in the Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition of this year entitled “ Social Capital – Forms of Interaction” (see # 6, 7 below).

It is taking place at Anita’s Place in the east village. Anita will be cooking a soup for all, and we will all bake cakes for ‘Eating Security’. Please bring drinks, what you like to drink is good.

Anita’s address is as follows:

Anita Di Bianco
331 East 9th St. Apt. #5
Between 1st and 2nd Avenue
212-477-0601

Directions
Subway 6, N, R Astor Place
F 2nd Avenue
L 1st. Avenue

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6. Friday 05.28.04 Lunchtime event “ Eating Security” -- Whitney ISP

When: 12:00 – 2:00 pm, Friday 05.28.04
Where: CUNY Graduate Center – 365 Fifth Avenue @34th st.
What: Lunchtime event ‘Eating Security’
Who: All are invited

As part of our participation in the Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition of this year entitled “ Social Capital – Forms of Interaction” at CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue @34thstreet) in the Lobby of the Baisley Powell Elesbash recital hall.

MORE DEATAILS TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEK

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7. About ‘Social Capital– Forms of Interaction’ Whitney ISP Exhibition

the Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition this year entitled “ Social Capital – Forms of Interaction” is curated by Howie Chen, Leta Ming, Allison Moore, and Nadia Perucic.

The exhibition brings together contemporary artists who make the complexities of social relations the subject, material or form of their work. Responding to contemporary societal conditions, some artists consider the influence of new technologies on human connections, while some explore the effects of cultural difference and geo-politics. Others orchestrate situations in which viewers interact directly with the artwork or with one another, forging a community within the space of the gallery. Considered together, the artists in ‘Social Capital’ present various models of human interaction, encouraging viewers to reflect critically on their own positions within different social networks.

It can be viewed at CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue @34thstreet)