THOUGHT SCULPTURE
THOUGHT SCULPTURE
Lecture-performance series
4th – 7th of November 2014
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts - Kontra Klub
Artists: Priscila Fernandes (PT), Núria Güell (SP), Hedwig Houben (NL), Sjoerd van Leeuwen (NL), Olof Olsson (DN), Francesco Pedraglio (IT), Société Réaliste (FR - HU)
Curator: Borbála Szalai
The series between the 4th and 7th of November concentrates on the potential of the genre of lecture-performance. This hybrid genre incorporates some characteristics of the most current tendencies in performance art, artistic research and academic lecture. The lectures at the four-day-long series also attempt to include such traditional or distant genres like story-telling, comedy, anarchist seminars or karaoke. The lecture-performances by the invited artists show creative and exciting experiments in the presentation of a certain topic from different - humorous, ironic, provoking, personal, scientific or pseudo-scientific - approaches, and raise questions about the mechanisms of knowledge production and the current social state and possibilities of art.
>>> You can download the program from here.
>>> The documentation of the lecture-performances are available on youtube.
04.11.2014. (TUESDAY), 19.00
Lecture-performance series
4th – 7th of November 2014
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts - Kontra Klub
Artists: Priscila Fernandes (PT), Núria Güell (SP), Hedwig Houben (NL), Sjoerd van Leeuwen (NL), Olof Olsson (DN), Francesco Pedraglio (IT), Société Réaliste (FR - HU)
Curator: Borbála Szalai
The series between the 4th and 7th of November concentrates on the potential of the genre of lecture-performance. This hybrid genre incorporates some characteristics of the most current tendencies in performance art, artistic research and academic lecture. The lectures at the four-day-long series also attempt to include such traditional or distant genres like story-telling, comedy, anarchist seminars or karaoke. The lecture-performances by the invited artists show creative and exciting experiments in the presentation of a certain topic from different - humorous, ironic, provoking, personal, scientific or pseudo-scientific - approaches, and raise questions about the mechanisms of knowledge production and the current social state and possibilities of art.
>>> You can download the program from here.
>>> The documentation of the lecture-performances are available on youtube.
04.11.2014. (TUESDAY), 19.00
- Société Réaliste: Xees
“Xees is a performative and collective construction of a new typeset entitled Xees, under the principle of karaoke collective painting. After putting together some historical references, Société Réaliste will propose to the audience to collectively design a brand new font, based on the gender symbolism of latin letters.”
Société Réaliste is a Parisian cooperative created by Ferenc Gróf (HU) and Jean-Baptiste Naudy (FR) in 2004. It works with political design, experimental economy, territorial ergonomy and social engineering consulting. Polytechnic, it develops its production schemes through exhibitions, publications and conferences.
Société Réaliste is a Parisian cooperative created by Ferenc Gróf (HU) and Jean-Baptiste Naudy (FR) in 2004. It works with political design, experimental economy, territorial ergonomy and social engineering consulting. Polytechnic, it develops its production schemes through exhibitions, publications and conferences.
- Núria Güell: Displaced Legal Application #1: Fractional Reserve
“I have defined a master plan which proposes to apply to banks the same law that regulates their money generating activity, as well as I highlight this mechanism, which is consciously concealed from the public. In order to do this, I have created various means to inform and educate the public how to expropriate money from banks. The first phase was to carry out an educational meeting entitled “How to expropriate money from the bank?” with expropriators Lucio Urtubia and Enric Duran, and economist Qmunty, where they explained the different strategies of expropriation, as well as the actual strategy banks currently use to create money. The second phase was the creation and publication of a manual containing the various expropriation strategies, legal consultation and analytical texts. This manual was freely distributed in public places and on the Web 2.0.”
In her works Núria Güell (SP) analyzes ethics practiced by social or art institutions, examines the means and effects of certain control strategies, and tries to find tactics to "drill" the reality and to distort some established power relationships.
05.11.2014. (WEDNESDAY), 18.30
In her works Núria Güell (SP) analyzes ethics practiced by social or art institutions, examines the means and effects of certain control strategies, and tries to find tactics to "drill" the reality and to distort some established power relationships.
05.11.2014. (WEDNESDAY), 18.30
- Olof Olsson: Driving the Blues Away
“Driving the Blues Away is a comedy lecture melodrama by the performance artist Olof Olsson. It’s a meditation on language and how language resonates through the body and the economy. It’s a meditation on the body, and how the body resonates through language and the economy. It’s a meditation on the economy, and how the economy resonates through language and the body. But above all, it’s fun, entertaining, and full of mind-blowing facts.”
After having some experiments in journalism, photography, and being a radio dj, after studying languages, philosophy, translation theory and art, after 15 years of attempts in ‘conceptual’ art, Olof Olsson started performing in 2007. His spoken performances are using the most different formats; lectures, speeches, comedy, talk-shows, and question-and-answer sessions.
06.11.2014. (THURSDAY), 18.30
After having some experiments in journalism, photography, and being a radio dj, after studying languages, philosophy, translation theory and art, after 15 years of attempts in ‘conceptual’ art, Olof Olsson started performing in 2007. His spoken performances are using the most different formats; lectures, speeches, comedy, talk-shows, and question-and-answer sessions.
06.11.2014. (THURSDAY), 18.30
- Sjoerd van Leeuwen: The More You Know, The Less You Carry
“The More You Know, The Less You Carry is a performance in the form of a flint-knapping demonstration. During the performance the artist shapes a rough stone into a small hand-axe, one of the first human made tools we know of. The performance searches the different ways of passing on the knowledge of making flint tools, and outlines a genealogy of modern day flint-knapping, which traces back the connections from the youtube uploader PaleoJim all the way to a Native American named Ishi.”
Sjoerd van Leeuwen’s practice pursues an ongoing fascination with the notion of ‘field work’ as both an inquisitive artistic strategy and a historically defined research methodology. In his videos and performances he often explores marginal or misrepresented histories and re-activates them through precise material means combined with an endearing humor.
Sjoerd van Leeuwen’s practice pursues an ongoing fascination with the notion of ‘field work’ as both an inquisitive artistic strategy and a historically defined research methodology. In his videos and performances he often explores marginal or misrepresented histories and re-activates them through precise material means combined with an endearing humor.
- Priscila Fernandes: The Book of Aesthetic Education of the Modern School
“Even though aesthetic education was not a material covered in the Modern School (La Escuela Moderna, Barcelona, 1901-1906), there were several published articles in its monthly newsletter that pointed to the role of the artist in society and the advantages of including artistic activities in the learning process. More than a century after the death in 1909 of its’ founder, Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, we can only wonder why his approach to art was not included in the program and imagine what would have been if it did. To address such issues, Priscila Fernandes’ lecture will explore the possibilities of what would have been the art education in such an environment.”
Priscila Fernandes is a Portuguese artists living in Rotterdam. Her works focus on the transmission of knowledge, didactics and the ideologies dictating varying forms of education - specifically ideologies associated with play, creativity and productivity in contemporary society. In her projects she also searches for the instruments in maintaining cultural norms, social integration and the tools for the construction of the individual and society.
07.11.2014. (FRIDAY), 18.30
Priscila Fernandes is a Portuguese artists living in Rotterdam. Her works focus on the transmission of knowledge, didactics and the ideologies dictating varying forms of education - specifically ideologies associated with play, creativity and productivity in contemporary society. In her projects she also searches for the instruments in maintaining cultural norms, social integration and the tools for the construction of the individual and society.
07.11.2014. (FRIDAY), 18.30
- Francesco Pedraglio: Three characters observed from a certain distance (and a fourth talking) - a performance with Nat Cary
“Three characters: a man, a woman and a voice-over.
Three autonomous components… or at least as autonomous as any other imaginable incident happening at this very moment in three different parts of the world.
Three characters observed simultaneously, despite their finding themselves in three apparently disconnected circumstances.
These otherwise-unrelated characters becoming the protagonists of a single, memorable incident.
And a fourth one (a fourth character) speaking. Somewhere, somehow.”
Francesco Pedraglio (IT) is an artist, writer and co-founder of the non-profit organization FormContent in London. Through short-stories, performances, videos and installations, his work employs the mechanics of storytelling to reflect on the intricate relationship between the construction of subjectivity and the perception of objects.
Three autonomous components… or at least as autonomous as any other imaginable incident happening at this very moment in three different parts of the world.
Three characters observed simultaneously, despite their finding themselves in three apparently disconnected circumstances.
These otherwise-unrelated characters becoming the protagonists of a single, memorable incident.
And a fourth one (a fourth character) speaking. Somewhere, somehow.”
Francesco Pedraglio (IT) is an artist, writer and co-founder of the non-profit organization FormContent in London. Through short-stories, performances, videos and installations, his work employs the mechanics of storytelling to reflect on the intricate relationship between the construction of subjectivity and the perception of objects.
- Hedwig Houben: Five Possible Lectures on Six Possibilities for a Sculpture
“Five Possible Lectures on Six Possibilities for a Sculpture is a talk, which provides an overview of the 2009-2012 lecture series Six Possibilities for a Sculpture. The sculpture, the subject of the Six Possibilities series, with the aid of the performer, recounts the history of the series, jumping between present and past, to explore its identity and place within the present moment.”
The performances of Hedwig Houben often demonstrate the poetic and formal passages of exchange between color, form, shape, space and structure. Her humorous, sometimes naïve or self-critical lectures are frank and introspective analyses of her own artistic practice.
The performances of Hedwig Houben often demonstrate the poetic and formal passages of exchange between color, form, shape, space and structure. Her humorous, sometimes naïve or self-critical lectures are frank and introspective analyses of her own artistic practice.
