2018
Workshop: How do we prepare for the unpredictable?

DATA OF INTEREST

GUEST:
Joanna Warsza
Florian Malzacher


Synopsis:

At the beginning of 2018, Instar welcomed visual and performing arts curators Joanna Warsza and Florian Malzacher, who are from Poland and Germany, respectively.

For Warsza and Malzacher, the phrase "Art is not a reflection of reality, but a chisel used to mold it" is the signal they look for in artistic production. It also corresponds to the increasing number of artists around the world who feel that they should be socially engaged.

The workshop was divided into phases. The first phase included a presentation of examples of art engaged in social change in different parts of the world. Then each participant shared the creative threads that connect them to the reality that they wish to disrupt.

We debated topics related to a more contemporary conceptualization of performance art, public intervention, post-dramatic theater, and the double ontology of socially engaged art. We also discussed how the contextual framework and the usefulness of art that arises in spite of institutional support tend to blur the line between artist and activist, placing social urgency at the forefront.

The workshop ended with a "curate-a-thon," including special guest, Cuban curator Abel González. The events, all geared toward exploring artistic alternatives provoked by the unexpected, were self-evaluated using a rubric of how to prepare for the unpredictable.

This exercise, encompassing documentaries, video art, theater, performance art, and interactive discussions, was a rehearsal for a potential integration process, which arises from the shared need to collaborate within a particular social web while still leaning on individual artistic paradigms.


Bio:

Joanna Warzsza and Florian Malzacher are Berlin-based curators in the field of visual and performance art focused on the social and political function of art. They have curated a number of different projects dealing with the intersection of art and the political. Joanna participated in the 7th Berlin Biennale. Florian Malzacher participated in Truth is Concrete (Graz, 2012) and worked with artist Jonas Staal on Artist Organizations International (2015). Joanna Warsza has published writing alongside other authors in I Can't Work Like This: A Reader on Recent Boycotts and Contemporary Art (2017). Florian Malzacher co-edited Truth Is Concrete: A Handbook for Artistic Strategies in Real Politics (2014) and edited Not Just a Mirror: Looking for the Political Theatre of Today (2015).