Ready to Change: Rethinking the Relationship between Artists and Communities, conference

The tight relationship between different communities and artistic production is as old as art itself. Artists have worked in them, with them and for them. Because of the everchanging meanings and relationship, we can look at this specific relation from different perspectives but in this edition of the conference, we have put a strong emphasis on participatory artistic approaches that involve communities directly. Not to promote them without reservations but to assess them critically and see the limitations of the approach as well as its implications for the artists and the targeted communities.

The mentioned relations are fluid and very complex and a two-day conference cannot provide definite answers. We can, however, open an honest debate and start addressing the proposed issues in accordance with our commitment to researching and finding new approaches to address different communities as well as to create symbolic spaces where the audience can be an equal partner.

Art affects communities in a substantial way and the conference program offers strong evidence for this. Participatory art is a mainstream practice today and there has already been considerable affirmative praise of the approach that we will try to avoid. The partners of the Create to Connect network produce and present artistic content that is challenging and critical and we have applied the same criteria to the program of the conference. We do not want to reduce the debate to advocating for participatory practices but rather touch on some of its more complex dimensions like the implications it has for artists’ working conditions or challenge existing assumptions about emancipatory potential of audience participation. We have gathered inspiring individuals whose work and engagement prove that adopting an inclusive approach to the production and creative processes is possible without compromising artistic excellence but we have also gathered those who will clearly point out the boundaries and limitations of participatory approaches.

We wish all of us fruitful discussions and plenty of challenging thoughts!

Programme

Catalogue (pdf 3,15 MB – to view the downloaded brochures you will need Acrobat Reader)

	April 21st, 11.00-18.00 Roger Bernat, Roberto Fratini Serafide: FORMS OF PARTICIPATION, workshop
	April 21st, 20.00-21.30 Tomaž Grom: SOUL, NOISE, VALVE AND WIRE, performance
	April 22nd, 10.30–11.00 OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE
	April 22nd, 11.00–13.00 Roberto Fratini Serafide: LITURGIES OF IMPATIENCE, lecture and discussion
	April 22nd, 15.00–17.00 FAILED ATTEMPTS OF INCLUSION, roundtable discussion, moderator: Ida Daniel
	April 22nd, 19.00-23.00THE GAME OF WAR, lecture (Richard Barbrook/Class Wargames Collective), short movie, exhibition, board game playing
	April 23rd, 11.00–13.00 Bojana Kunst: WHAT HAS PARTICIPATION TO DO WITH PRECARISATION?, lecture and discussion, moderator: Bojan Djordjev
	April 23rd, 15.00–17.00 APPROACHING YOUNG AUDIENCES, roundtable discussion, moderators: Alma R. Selimović, Katarina Slukan
	April 23rd, 18.30–19.00 THE RECORD AT NOORDERZON, documentary movie
	April 23rd, 19.00–23.00 ARTISTIC DINNERS

The conference Ready to Change: Rethinking the Relationship between Artists and Communities is organised by Bunker Institute in the frame of the Create to Connect project.

Programme will be held in English. Free admission to all events.