25 april. Interim Kultur – Mini-konferens

WORK THAT IS ART THAT IS ORGANIZING THAT IS POLITICS or THE POLITICS OF ORGANIZING WORKERS OF ART
or THE ART OF POLITICALLY ORGANIZING WORKERS AN OPEN MEETING / MINI-CONFERENCE BY INTERIM KULTUR

Lördag 25 april
12.00–14.00 – Mini-konferens

14.00–15.00 – Knytis och fortsatt diskussion (ta med lite mat!)

Weld
Norrtullsgatan 7 (T-bana Odenplan)

Interim Kultur bjuder in till mini-konferens om de förändrade arbets- och levnadsförhållandena för konstnärer, frågan om hur nya former av kollektiv och kooperativ aktion kan införlivas i denna kontext och hur de kan relatera till etablerade strukturer och strategier för politisk mobilisering. Två talare har bjudits in som från olika vinklar kommer ge ingångar till frågeställningarna inför en timmes kollektiv diskussion. Diskussionen övergår sedan till en gemensam knytis.

Obs! Konferensen sker på engelska men om behov finns bland tillräckligt många så försöker vi skapa diskussionsgrupper på andra språk.

Gäster:
Josefine Wikström, PhD Candidate at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University.

Jonathan Feldman, Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Economic History at Stockholm University.


Friends and colleagues!

we would like to invite you to a mini-conference about changed work and life conditions of artists, the question how new forms of collective and cooperative action can be built in this context and how they can relate to established structures and strategies of political mobilization. We have invited two speakers who, from different angles, will give input to the topics before we slide into an hour of collective discussion. Discussions will be transformed into a potluck lunch (knytis) together afterwards.

Inspired by discussions from work meetings in the artist-owned cooperative Interim kultur, we wish to situate these questions in a wider artistic and political landscape: In the last couple of years, more and more international artistic projects emerge that work on the base of long term structures rather than short term projects. It seems there is a tendency for artists to participate structurally in political change through establishing educational and community structures, unions etc, as artistic practices. The question arises how these projects change the notion of political engagement and how they relate to democratic representation in established political organizations such as workers unions.

Looking forward!
Juli Reinartz and Anders Jacobson

Outlined questions:

– Which conditions of work have changed in the last fifteen years, discursively, practically or financially; and how does that reflect in life circumstances of freelance performers and choreographers?

– How can self-organized structures in arts pick up on these conditions and how do they need to be set up in order to be able to deal with the international work situation of artists today?

– How do we think about these structural projects, as work or as civil engagement?

– Are there examples or knowledges from other work fields that deal with the specific challenges of international and fexibilized markets?

– What meaning do these projects have for cultural institutions and formerly established unions and how do they relate? Do they threaten a necessary representative framework or propose a new model for political engagement? Do we need international representative structures?

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MORE INFO
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Josefine Wikström is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University. In her thesis she investigates the concept of performance within contemporary art and from the standpoint of concepts of labour in Marx, Adorno and other thinkers. In her talk, Josefine will relate to the question of whether artist engagement should be in the structures of art or in the art itself, by relating to some historical as well as current projects such as WAGE from New York.

Jonathan M. Feldman is Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Economic History at Stockholm University. Jonathan's talk will circulate around the relation between critical aesthetics, cooperative strategies, and patronage systems.

Interim kultur is a jointly owned infrastructure for administrating job assignments, employments and projects in arts and culture. Instead of running our own companies or associations, we have developed a solution together, starting from the desire to cooperatively promote better working conditions in an increasingly precarious labor market.

Read more about the cooperative here

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ACCESSIBILITY
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The event primarily takes place in a space accessible only by stairs, but it's also possible to listen to the presentations from a ledge above that space, and we can organize the discussion groups in different places, so that everyone can participate. Small wheel chairs can enter the main space by an elevator in the front door next to Weld.

We currently don't have a sign language interpreter or audio description, but if you would need this, and/or if you can help us find one, please let us know.

The event will be in English, but if there is a need and if there is enough people, it might be possible to organize some discussion group(s) in other languages.

There is one, non-gendered, toilet.

If you have any questions regarding if and how we can improve the accessibility, please contact anders.jacobson@riseup.net.