Sections
Disobedience University
If the task of cognitive capitalism is that of leading the production of knowledge and commons back into the realm of a producer-consumer relationship, what activist and radical artistic practices, in contrast, attempt to inaugurate is a new creation-public relationship in accordance with a vast variety of alternative practices and empowerment strategies in which consumption is seen as a form of co-realization and collaboration. In the end, is it not precisely within educational
processes rather than within the organizations of salaried labor that, beginning in the 1970s, new forms of social antagonism took form?
Gender Politics
The concepts of gender and sexual difference built on equality, according to the
classical model of politics, are no longer useful for understanding contemporary social emancipation. Neither are they no longer sufficient to oppose power relations. What new subjectivities or post-socialist movements are
pursuing is the destruction of gender identity, exiting the trap of both worlds (male/female)
united into one (heterosexuality). To not assign or be assigned to an identity means to enable the construction and proliferation of possible worlds. Yet, processes of heterogeneous nomadic and
evolving subjectivity are opening up on the horizon.
Gezi Commune
The summer of 2013 was witness to an unexpected turn of events in the history of Turkey. The escalation of Gezi Resistance, from the desperate efforts of a handful of activists and concerned citizens campaigning for the park’s integrity, to massive demonstrations that spread like wildfire all across the country, took only a few days. The protests became an
epic struggle that questioned the top-down administration and regulation of public spaces. When
Gezi was occupied, educational operations, infirmaries, kitchens, libraries, vegetable gardens, exhibitions, open air cinemas and other necessities of life popped up. Everyone was a
volunteer and the park was shared collectively and cared for for the first time in its history. The lived experience, which lasted less than two weeks, transformed all those who opened themselves to become involved.
Protesting Capitalist Globalization
As new social movements against globalization, from the demonstrations of
Seattle in 1999 to the G8 protest in Heiligendamm in 2007 took hold, what we might call the “Anti-Summit” emerged as the most visible expression of the global multitude. It has given rise to new mobile, temporary and heterogeneous communities. Some of the videos
in this section seek to counter the supposedly objective portrayal of these protest movements by the mainstream media, re-instating radical left-wing perspectives through various techniques of
self-representation.
Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim the Streets comprises so-called “Constituent Practices” – practices that seek to create autonomous social spaces by developing experimental forms of education, community, urbanism and architecture. Public space is reclaimed and redefined, often beginning with squatting buildings and land. New forms of social reality are developed from the ground up, outside of official regulation. Social relationships are networked and heterogeneous. Often the impetus for these communities derives from a mixture of artist and social movements.
The Arab Dissent
December 17, 2010: the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi sparks protests and street demonstrations in Tunisia leading to
the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, 2011. The insurgency immediately inspires the rest of the Arab world. The Egyptian revolution begins after the events in Tunisia, as well as civil war in Libya, uprisings in Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco
and in the wider Middle East and North Africa. This section tries to raise questions about current forces of antagonism, agency and
change in the Middle East. What is the potential of Arab revolutions in the age
of globalization? Are these contemporary forms of mass mobilization antithetical to classical
revolutions? What is the role of image within these struggles? In what ways do the Arab revolutions, with their multiple visions and adversaries, teach
us to challenge the global system? In the light of these uprisings this section will look back to the complex histories,
geopolitical and social realities of the Arab world.
