AFFECT, the Agora Collective‘s 5-month-long program for collaborative artistic practices in Berlin invites anyone interested to participate in its Summer 2015 edition. For each month of the program, a different international artist has invited participants to explore a defined set of topics and ideas in the form of an “immersive summer academy”. The modules are participatory workshops, of sorts, surrounding an overarching research question as proposed by the leading artists. 15 participants will be selected for each module and will meet 3 times a week for the 4-week duration of whichever module(s) they choose.
The five modules have been orchestrated by Stine Marie Jacobsen, Lorenzo Sandoval, Yves Mettler, Diego Agulló, and Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga. For Module #1: Sensitive Observers (May 4 – 30) Jacobsen explores the social constructs of participatory art projects which aim to either “fail, confuse and disturb” the audience or to “help, change and succeed”. Sandoval has facilitated Module #2: Exploring the Endotic (June 1 – 28), which centers around the notion of the ‘Endotic’, a word meant to signify the opposite of ‘Exotic’, and the accompanying micro-histories of “the unwritten voices of dismissed subjects”.
Yves Mettler’s Module #3: Europe City in Berlin – beyond the masterplan (July 1 – 31) leads an investigation of an area of much interest in terms of urban development in Berlin. Lehrter Bahnhof, now called Europacity, and the area surrounding contemporary art venue Hamburger Bahnhof have been re-thought and re-designed by a master plan that has been relatively out of the public eye and Mettler has asked participants of the module to question this unusual privacy of a hugely public space. For the August module (Aug. 3 – 30), Diego Agulló asks participants to explore The artistic mission and poses the question, What is the role of an artist in a for-profit economy?
The fifth and final module (Sep. 1 – 28) will occur around a street called Mittelweg in Neukölln, where Agora is located, an area whose large immigrant population has become increasingly affected by the spread of gentrification. Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga invites participants to explore the idea of the “in-between” of “buildings, bodies, identities, and temporalities”; how it implies a conflict of opposing realities, as well as a convergence and hybridization of said realities. During this time, participants/leaders will collaborate and expand upon previous modules, as well as take part in the release of the Mittelweg publication.
Interested artists/creatives may enroll in as many modules as they please, with 15 participants selected per module. The deadlines for each module vary, so apply as soon as possible. The participating fee is 250 euros and the application deadline for the last module is August 1st.
For more information: www.agoracollective.org/affect
___________________________________________________________________________________
Blog entry by Nora Kovacs in Berlin; Wednesday, Jun. 03, 2015.
