Institutions by Artists Frameworks, and Participatory Themes of the Convention
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Institutions by Artists frameworks, and participatory themes of the Convention. vehicles, the three day series From internet art pioneers, October 12 – 14, 2012 of events is designed to chal- to grassroots cinema collec- Vancouver, Canada lenge and generate new think- tives, to media pirates and ing about artist-run initiatives institutional revisionists, this Institutions by Artists is a three globally, examining their many series of presentations will day, international event that dimensions whether urban or invite and engage the public evaluates and activates the rural, fixed or mobile, and lo- to meet visiting artists, and to performance and promise of cal or regional, among others. examine the many phenom- contemporary artist-run cen- Inspired by the many artists ena impacting and defining tres and initiatives. wrestling creatively with build- artist-run institutions globally. ing, using, shaping, and de- Among the Convention’s Convening a world congress ploying institutions by artists, experimental tactics are of artists, curators, critics, we will explore economies re-enactments of key histories and academics, Institutions by of exchange and knowledge; from the annals of artist-run Artists will deliberate, explore, institutional time and space; culture, radical distributions of and advance the common as well as intimate and profes- printed matter, the repurpos- interests of artist-run centres, sional networks, among other ing of data and systems, as collectives, and cultures, cre- critical interrogations. well as DIY models of educa- ating a catalyst for new as well tion, which ultimately support as divergent assessments and Throughout the Institutions an in-depth examination of perspectives on such phe- by Artists week, artist-run the innovative, critical, and nomena today. Using experi- centres will present special irreverent spirit of artist-run mental formats, performative projects that link to the cultures and initiatives. Session One Session Two Session Three Session Four OCT. 12 World Art Centre / The his- Cinema / During its co-emer- OCT. 12 Cinema / In the context of World Art Centre / Often locat- tories of artist-run initiatives gence with countercultural decreased public funding for ed in remote areas or outside INSTI- inextricably belong to the so- movements of the 1960s and INTIMATE the arts in North America and the programmatic spectrum ciopolitical contexts in which 1970s, artist-run initiatives in Europe as well as the nearly of mainstream artistic and they develop, but a purely North America provided a non-existent financial support academic institutions, many TUTIONAL historical review of these space for the presentation and INSTI- elsewhere for the arts, ad hoc, artist-run initiatives adopt initiatives and contexts elides legitimization of experimental small-scale, temporary, and pedagogical practices into TIME: their critical significance to work and for the assertion of TUTIONS often nomadic institutions cre- their production and presen- artistic production, presenta- socially progressive and politi- ated by artists have taken root tation, offering unconven- tion, and discourse even while cally radical ideas and ques- in unanticipated sites, appear- tional formats and less formal FACTS & these histories are yet to be tions. In making such spaces Afternoon Sessions ing in domestic or appropri- contexts than offered by either written, revised, and complet- available, artist-run initiatives 2:00 – 4:30 pm ated spaces that rely upon gallery or academic set- ed. In this session, presenters have operated alternately as the collected resources and tings. On a smaller and more FICTIONS will compare and contrast key flashpoints for heated debates relationships of artist networks intimate scale, such initiatives episodes from the annals of and controversies, as well as for their survival. Whether foster the creation of alter- Opening Remarks artist-run initiatives against platforms for social under- through organizational struc- native educational models, 10:00 am (Cinema) a range of topics, including standing and re-imagining tures or modes of operation, enable marginalized audi- censorship, historical re-en- for their audiences. Sites for these artist-run initiatives ences access to information, Morning Sessions actments and reconstructions, both mythmaking and reality have constructed institutional and encourage the invention 10:30 am – 1:00 pm as well as established and checking, artist-run initia- armatures through largely if of new and atypical forms of problematic narratives of insti- tives have been fraught with not exclusively informal means. knowledge. This session ex- tutional critique, among other contradictions and yet have Presenters in this session will amines the pedagogical proj- considerations. By looking offered rare opportunities for survey the practices and strate- ects artist-run organizations retrospectively at these mo- exercising artistic, social, and gies of artist-run initiatives that around the world have set in ments through the thematic political potential. Inspired by involve or encourage intimate place, among them, kitchen lenses of the conference, the nuances and paradoxes of institution building grounded table knowledge production, participants will go beyond artist-run institution building, in expanded notions of family, “webs of matronage,” and the mere facts and fictions of presenters in this session will kinship, club, and neighbour- detournements to the “not- institution building to generate reflect on incidents, whether hood, among other social so-secret game of suburban new questions about artist-run fictional or factual, from the forms. one-upmanship.” initiatives and practices today. histories of artist-run initiatives to project foreseeable futures. Session in English and French. With: With: Session in English and French. Candice Hopkins Chumpon Apisuk Chantawipa Apisuk With: Laiwan Concrete House With: Vincent Bonin Isabelle Pauwels Jakob Jakobsen Marie-Josée Jean and Jennifer Cane and Mounira al Solh Walter Benjamin Deirdre Logue Al Razutis Moderator Allyson Mitchell Slavs and Tatars Louise Hervé Glenn Alteen Feminist Art Gallery (FAG) Chloé Maillet Eva Weinmayr Skeena Reece International Institute Moderator for Important Items Scott Rogers Amy Zion Justin Patterson Gabi Ngcobo Arbour Lake Sghool Center for Historical Reenactments Moderator Magnolia Pauker Moderator Kate Steinmann Plus a Screening of A Message from Our Sponsor (Al Razutis, 9 min., 1979) Session Five Session Six Session Seven Session Eight OCT. 13 Cinema / As a result of socio- World Art Centre / Barriers to OCT. 13 Cinema / Between the promis- World Art Centre / The emer- economic shifts occasioned content, the desire to share es and practices of institutions gence of artist-run institutions STATES & by neoliberalism and global- information, a lack of economic PROMISES by artists, a palpable chasm and culture has arguably ization over the last twenty means, a belief in free culture, exists. Fraught with contra- contributed to innovations in years, public funding for the and a critical awareness of the diction and cynicism, artists artistic practice and produc- MARKETS arts has increasingly come social costs incurred by profit- & PRAC- today often recognize the gulf tion, influencing genres such to mean competition among, driven cultural development between the ideals and reali- as institutional critique, Kon- Morning Sessions and compromise for, artists all have compelled artists and TICES ties of artist-run initiatives and text Kunst, project work, col- 10:00 am – 1:00 pm who receive state support. their institutions to interrogate accordingly respond to this lectivism, feminist art, as well Although a relatively new existing economic and busi- recognition with techniques as pedagogical and parasitical phenomena in North America ness activities to invent creative Afternoon Sessions of infiltration, appropriation, practices, among others. In and Europe, artists from China, and impromptu means of pre- 2:00 – 4:30 pm and confrontation in their this session, presenters will Cuba, and former East Europe senting and sharing contempo- projects in an attempt to bring depart from artistic practices know firsthand the limitations rary art and discourse outside a consequential and critical to consider their relation- of government sponsorship conventional for-fee channels. self-reflexivity to bear on their ship to artist-run institution and the concessions made in Cognizant of market oppor- work and the wider field of art. building historically and in the exchange for cultural subsi- tunities and pitfalls, artist-run The presenters in this program present through statistical, dies. This session will carry on initiatives have generated will explore techniques of curatorial, art historical, and the discussions initiated dur- vehicles for circumnavigating auto-critique within artist- artistic means. ing the first night’s debate to the heavily regulated “culture run institutions to measure consider, on both theoretical industries” while simultaneous- the many distances spanning and practical terms, artist-run ly appropriating the language promise and practice. With: institutions entangled by art and methods of commercial Tim Dallett and state interests. entrepreneurship. This section Adam Kelly of the convention examines With: Artifact Institute the organizational modes and Warren Arcand With: methods employed—from Chris Fitzpatrick and out-sourced labour practices Claire Fontaine Post Brothers Matei