Don't Worry – Be Curious! - Conference
on the occasion of the exhibition Don’t Worry – Be Curious! 4th Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art at Pori Art Museum
The conference offers a platform for discussing and deepening the topics and questions raised in the exhibition Don’t Worry – Be Curious! 4th Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art. The background for both, the exhibition and the symposium, is Europe’s social, political, and economic reality in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. This reality is currently marked by restructuring processes that have led to a collapse in a continuity of location, a volatility in stable social relationships, and increasing individualization, on the one hand, and growing unemployment, passivity, and disenchantment with politics, on the other. The sensed threat provokes similar reactions all over Europe: fear of social impoverishment, of a loss of identity, and of an uncertain future are the effects of globalization. In addition to this is the growing fear of the “foreigner” and the increasing desire to exclude the “other.” In contrast to this situation, many artistic works have a positive energy that encourage people not to subscribe to the general pessimism, but rather to address the problems and to be open to scrutinize his or her own patterns of perception.
Throughout the conference the speakers will take a closer look at some of the threads, fears and problems connected to the restructuring processes in Europe’s present day societies: Why do people feel insecure and what strategies can be developed against the prevalent pessimistic mood? Why are social minorities discriminated? Why do nationalist tendencies increase everywhere, and how is this connected to the different historical backgrounds in Eastern and Western Europe? How and why are social insecurities and fears instrumentalized by politics and economics? Which role do images play in this context and how do the media influence perception, thought and knowledge? What strategies do artists have to initiate critical processes of reflection?
PROGRAM
Thursday 25.10.2007
18:30-19:00 Opening of the Conference
• Welcome by Laura Selin, Pori Art Museum
• Don’t Worry – Be Curious! Introduction by the exhibition curators Dorothee Bienert, Kati Kivinen, Enrico Lunghi
19:00-20:00 Boris Buden: The Normalization of Fear
• with a presentation of Goran Devic’s film Imported Crows, Croatia 2004 and Chto delat The Builders of Bratsk, Russia 2004-2005
• Discussion
Friday, 26.10.2007
10.00-11:30 Visions of Understanding in Insecure Societies
• Tuomas Ylä-Anttila: Globalizing Public Spheres, Globalizing Solidarities?
• Anu Pennanen: How Do You Say „Friendship“? Case Study of the Word’s Meaning – The Tallinn Project 2004-2007
• Discussion, moderated by Hanno Soans
Coffee break
12:00-13:30 Democracy and Minorities
• Annika Ruth Persson: Pariah Strategies – How to Survive in a Society Hostile to You?
• Kaspars Goba: Is Democracy Possible? The Raise of Christian Fundamentalism in the Post-Soviet Area
• Discussion, moderated by Hito Steyerl
Lunch break
14:30-16:00 The Politics of Images
• Khaled D. Ramadan: Celebrity after Death, Video as a Speaking Corner – Life and Death between Electronic Reality/Fiction
• Ekaterina Degot: Glamour Anxiety – Images of Instability in a Stable Russia
• Discussion, moderated by Antje Weitzel
Coffee break
16:30-18:00 Art Institutions and Politics
• Sebastian Chichocki: Invented Languages and Other Phenomena of the Recent Polish Art
• Chus Martinez: The Horizon Machine – Art Institutions and the Interpretation of the Present
• Discussion, moderated by Lolita Jablonskiene
Please send your registration via e-mail to laura.selin@pori.fi
There is no registration fee.
Adress:
Pori Art Museum
Eteläranta
28100 Pori
Finland
Phone +358 2 621 1080, +358 2 621 1081
Fax +358 2 621 1091
taidemuseo@pori.fi
www.pori.fi/art/satakunta/pori
Documents:
» Conference_Pori.pdf
Partcipants:
Dorothee Bienert, curator, Berlin | Boris Buden, philosopher, cultural theorist, Berlin | Sebastian Cichocki, sociologist, director of Kronika, Bytom, curator of the Polish Pavillion in Venice | Katya Degot, curator and critic, Moscow | Kaspars Goba, artist, Riga | Lolita Jablonskiene, chief curator of the National Gallery, Vilnius | Kati T. Kivinen, curator at Kiasma, Helsinki | Enrico Lunghi, director of Casino Luxembourg | Chuz Martinez, director of Kunstverein Frankfurt | Anu Pennanen, artist, Helsinki | Annika Ruth Persson, philosopher, Berlin/Stockholm | Khaled D. Ramadan, artist, Copenhagen | Hanno Soans, curator at KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn | Hito Steyerl, filmmaker, author, Berlin | Antje Weitzel, curator, Berlin | Tuomas Ylä-Anttila, sociologist, Helsinki