Die Bestie und ist der Souverän The Beast and is the Sovereign

KONFERENZ / CONFERENCE 17. + 18. Oktober 2015
Eintritt frei / Entrance free

Mit / With: Edit András, Daniel G. Andújar, Banu Cennetoğlu, Hans D. Christ, Ines Doujak, Iris Dressler, Antke Engel, Martin Fritz, Itziar González, Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, Philippine Hoegen, Paul B. Preciado, Valentín Roma, Simon Sheikh, Sergio Zevallos und anderen / and others

Contexts

At the premiere of the exhibition “The Beast and the Sovereign” this March in Barcelona (now: “The Beast and is the Sovereign”, October 17, 2015–January 17, 2016, WKV Stuttgart) it came to an éclat. Just before the opening, the MACBA director at the time, Bartomeu Marí, decided that one of the artworks was not suitable for presentation in this museum and demanded that it be removed. The work in question was a sculpture by the Austrian artist Ines Doujak that is part of a longstanding project on questions related to (neo)colonial contexts of textile production. In addition to countless other references, the sculpture—which was previously on show at the São Paulo Biennial—can also be read as a caricatur of the former Spanish King. Neither the curators, nor the artists participating in the exhibition were willing to tacitly accept this act of censorship. As a result, Marí chose to cancel the entire exhibition on the day of its opening. After a wave of protest on both local and international levels, the exhibition was opened to the public four days later after all. Marí announced his resignation. The two MACBA curators involved, Valentín Roma and Paul B. Preciado, were dismissed without notice.

Our experiences at MACBA sparked a whole series of questions that we would like to discuss in the scope of a conference: a discussion, which extends beyond this concrete case and which will relate to the exhibition’s subject—dealing among other things with the function of modern institutions. How far does the influence of politics and economics extend in impacting the program and content of public art institutions in Europe today? What role does the increasing commercialization and business structure of museums, art halls etc. play in the process? Must art take into account feelings of a religious, moral, and / or patriotic nature? Which working approach do we—as directors of art institutions, as curators or artists—want to take in the future?

Württembergischer Kunstverein · Schlossplatz 2 · 70173 Stuttgart
Fon: +49 (0)711 - 22 33 70 · Fax: +49 (0)711 - 29 36 17 · info@wkv-stuttgart.de · www.wkv-stuttgart.de

PROGRAMM / PROGRAM

..................................................................................................................................................................................... Samstag / Saturday, 17.10. 2015 .....................................................................................................................................................................................

13 Uhr / 1 p.m.

Einführung / Introduction
Iris Dressler / Hans D. Christ
DirektorInnen des / Directors of the WKV Stuttgart

13:45 Uhr / 1:45 p.m.
PERFORMANCE + PODIUM / PANEL
Daniel G. Andújar (Künstler / artist, Barcelona), Itziar González (Architektin und Aktivistin / architect and activist, Barcelona), Valentín Roma und / and Paul B. Preciado (Co-Kuratoren / co-curators „Die Bestie und ist der Souverän“ / „The Beast and is the Sovereign“)
und andere / and others
About Cultural Politics in Barcelona (Über Kulturpolitiken in Barcelona)

15 Uhr / 3 p.m.
VORTRAG / LECTURE
Ines Doujak (Wien / Vienna)
Künstlerin / artist
The Noise of Silence or ¿Por qué no te callas? Why don't you shut up?

A visual artist should not have to explain her or his work. But in this instance faced with prurient misrepresentation and what I would call the tyranny of lazy opinion, an account of what has gone into the work seems to be necessary. This is to counter what I believe are the unstated but real limits of what ¿political? art is allowed to do, and which constitute the censorship that has become prevalent in a world of the neoliberal monologue.

15:45 Uhr / 3:45 p.m.
VORTRAG / LECTURE
Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz (São Paulo)
Autor, Forscher und Kurator / Writer, researcher, and curator
Art, Ideology, and Structural Censorship (Kunst, Ideologie und strukturelle Zensur)

Even though often neglected, or even denied, censorship is a constitutive presence in contemporary art production. Not only the more dramatic, exposed, and crude forms of direct prohibition, but also, and perhaps even more, the hidden, structural and indirect forms of censorship. Being often denied and neglected by the own censors, the self-denying censorship seems to hold a structural kinship with contemporary ideology. Because we may well say, that there is no assumption more ideological, than the assumption we have left all ideologies behind us.

Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz is a Bolivian-German writer, editor, and cultural theorist. Together with Alice Creischer and Andreas Siekmann he was the curator of the exhibition project "Principio Potosí / The Potosí Principle" (2008-2011). He is co-editor of the essay collection "Kunst und Ideologiekritik nach 1989 / Art and Ideology Critique After 1989" (Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2014). Since 2014 he is co-organizer of the Seminário Público Micropolíticas in the city of São Paulo.

Württembergischer Kunstverein · Schlossplatz 2 · 70173 Stuttgart
Fon: +49 (0)711 - 22 33 70 · Fax: +49 (0)711 - 29 36 17 · info@wkv-stuttgart.de · www.wkv-stuttgart.de

16:45 Uhr / 4:45 p.m.

VORTRAG / LECTURE
Simon Sheikh (London / Berlin)
Autor, Forscher und Kurator / Writer, researcher, and curator 17:30 Uhr / 5:30 p.m.
VORTRAG / LECTURE
Edit András (Budapest)
Kunsthistorikerin und Kritikerin / Art historian and critic Revolution On and Off. The Hungarian Patient (Revolution hin und wieder. Der ungarische Patient)

In the process of a fundamental transformation of Hungary, the FIDESZ-led right wing regime has, in its second term, finally completed its edifice by extending state control to art and culture. The authoritarian and systematic process led to the expansion of centralized and closely controlled institutions by means of leadership, financial support and policy, and also to a shrinking game field for critical contemporary art and criticism.

The present lecture wishes to present the phases of the cultural takeover from the first coup d’état through the step by step invasion of all segments of the field, until the total annexation of almost all the institutions, major positions and the majority of financial subsidies. This takeover is the work of a shadow ministry, which embodies the cultural ideas of the establishment, and is hence strongly supported and backed by the reigning power. In parallel to this crushing operation, this paper will expose the initial vehement reaction, the strong resistance in the form of a protest movement, as well as the alternative ways to perform outside the institutional framework. The creative and unorthodox practices invented by the marginalized art community will also be explicated.
The traps of this limitless control and its debilitating effects will be analyzed by carrying out a survey of the most recent conditions along the changed strategies of the official cultural politics, which could be defined as “consolidation” or restoration. The changed nature of censorship will also be scrutinized and interpreted. The apolitical nature of resistance in the time of “policed normalcy” will be questioned and problematized.
Biography: http://editandras.arthistorian.hu

18:30 Uhr / 6:30 p.m.
VORTRAG / LECTURE
Martin Fritz (Wien / Vienna)
Kurator, Publizist und Berater / Curator, writer, consultant
Contracts, Conflicts, Censorship (Verträge, Konflikte, Zensur) 19:15 Uhr / 7:15 p.m.

Constitutional provisions guaranteeing the freedom of art are no guarantees for a trouble-free production process. Indeed – most of the conflicts arising between artists and presenting institutions (or artists and curators for that matter) do not even come close to the narrowly defined notion of censorship as an act of the state. Theoretically at least most of the questions pertaining to the shared work of exhibition-making can be quite freely negotiated and agreed upon by way of private agreements. Each aspiring exhibition merely represents the final station in a process of negotiation that cannot be viewed separately from the interests of all involved parties. The rejection of individual works of art or project proposals may in fact happen much more frequently than assumed by those who, lacking practical experience, believe that artists enjoy absolute freedom after having accepted an invitation. In reality, the spectrum of invitation formats ranges from informal “carte blanche” demands

Württembergischer Kunstverein · Schlossplatz 2 · 70173 Stuttgart
Fon: +49 (0)711 - 22 33 70 · Fax: +49 (0)711 - 29 36 17 · info@wkv-stuttgart.de · www.wkv-stuttgart.de

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to production agreements with detailed pre-presentation duties that leave artists no room for presenting “undesired” works in the exhibition.
Biography: http://martinfritz.info/fileadmin/user_upload/Martin_Fritz_Bio_Short.pdf

OFFENES PODIUM / OPEN PANEL

Banu Cennetoğlu (Künstlerin / artist, Istanbul), Iris Dressler, Philippine Hoegen (Künstlerin / artist, Amsterdam), Sergio Zevallos (Künstler / artist, Berlin / Madrid)
und andere / and others
How Do We Want to Work? (Wie wollen wir arbeiten?)

..................................................................................................................................................................................... Sonntag / Sunday, 18.10. 2015 .....................................................................................................................................................................................

11 Uhr / 11 a.m.
Ausstellungstour mit den KünstlerInnen / Exhibition tour with the artists

12:30 Uhr / 12:30 p.m.
VORTRAG / LECTURE
Paul B. Preciado (Athen / Athens)
Theoretiker, Kurator des öffentlichen Veranstaltungsprogramms der Documenta 14 / Theoretician, curator of the public program of Documenta 14
About the Beast and the Sovereign (Über die Bestie und den Souverän)

13:15 Uhr / 1:15 p.m.
VORTRAG / LECTURE
Antke Engel (Berlin)
Philosophin, Leiterin des Instituts für Queer Theory in Berlin /
Philosopher, director of the Institute for Queer Theory in Berlin
The Speech Act [et/est] the Sexual Act (Der Sprechakt [et/est] der sexuelle Akt)

In my talk I reflect on Ines Doujak’s sculpture „Not Dressed for Conquering“ in relation to Jacques Derrida’s text „The Beast & the Sovereign“. I will ask what happens when the sculpture’s triple supplements Derrida’s couple, and a figure of female political agency enters the stage. I will try to answer this question by understanding the sculpture simultaneously as a speech act, a sexual act, and a fantasy scenario. My thesis is, that Derrida’s [et/est], which characterizes the relationship of the beast as undecided and undecidable, equally applies to speech act & sexual act, but that this couple does not adequately capture the power of Doujak’s sculpture. In order to consider the art work’s agency against socio-historical and geopolitical relations of domination and violence, one needs to acknowledge a dynamic interplay of speech, sexuality, and fantasy. Any critical talk about or against censorship, I would argue, needs to claim an imaginary domain, where fantasy may run wild, while not separating fantasy from sexual speech and speaking violence.

14:30 Uhr / 2:30 p.m.
Resumee, Abschlussdiskussion, Sammlung von Statements etc. / Summary, Final Discussion, collection of statements etc.

Württembergischer Kunstverein · Schlossplatz 2 · 70173 Stuttgart
Fon: +49 (0)711 - 22 33 70 · Fax: +49 (0)711 - 29 36 17 · info@wkv-stuttgart.de · www.wkv-stuttgart.de