The Art of Rent

Spring 2008 University of London, Queen Mary
http://www.generation-online.org/other/artofrent.htm

As part of an ongoing collective project, the organisers of this seminar series seek to promote a discussion on the rise of rent as a form of capitalist appropriation and the way that new levels of association in the arts and culture, in information and communication, in public taste and ambience have made this rise possible, and from the perspective of private accumulation, necessary. To this end, the seminar brings together various perspectives on the Art of Rent taking in analysis of cognitive capitalism, of the financialisation of the quotidian and the bodily, of gentrification and the metroversity, of new international division of labour and of governance. The seminar will conclude with a special two-day event in September on the cultural industries.

"What do you want?" features five female artists who are living in India, working amongst a new generation of artists with political/activist concepts. Challenging popular cultural opinion, contemporary political issues and controversial social situations, the artists use photography, performance, objects, video and new media to analyse problems faced by indian women and those living within traditional family structures.
Programmed as part of the Asia Triennal Manchester 2008, the first ever UK Asian Art Triennal.

5th berlin biennial for contemporary art
05.04. – 15.06.2008
When things cast no shadow
 
 
When things cast no shadow, the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art, curated by Adam Szymczyk and
Elena Filipovic, brings together artists from different generations and nationalities in an exhibition by day
and night that aims to trace the diversity of art practices today.  
 
Eschewing a singular theme, form, or temporality, and determined instead by a critical engagement with
artists’ processes, When things cast no shadow could be said to take the form of an open structure in five
movements without a plot.
 
The day part of the 5th berlin biennial will be on view at four distinct venues and include mostly newly
commissioned works by 50 artists, while the night part of the show will feature still more artists and cultural
producers in 63 nightly events taking place in locations spread across the once-divided city.
 
The exhibition spaces of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, founded in 1991 in Berlin-Mitte will hold,
among other projects, films by Babette Mangolte, Michel Auder, and Patricia Esquivias as well as an
intervention by Ahmet Öğüt that comments on state power and its means of control. The attic will be
turned into a studio/installation activated by Tris Vonna-Michell’s storytelling.
 
The iconic glass hall of Mies van der Rohe’s ultra-modernist Neue Nationalgalerie in former West Berlin
has inspired various responses from artists. Among them, a film installation by Susanne M. Winterling
explores the water condensation that flaws van der Rohe’s masterpiece, while Gabriel Kuri builds up a
participatory sculpture that reorganizes one of the building’s regular service operations. Cyprien Gaillard
brings an unpretentious public sculpture from a housing project in Paris to the terrace of the museum thus
positioning a symbol for one failed social-architectural ideal on the grounds representing an opposed,
triumphant architectural ideal.
 
The outdoor exhibition site of the Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, in the area formerly adjoining the Berlin
Wall, presents, among other works, a new community-based project by Kateřina Šedá, who goes over the
fences that separate neighbors in her home village of Líšeň in the Czech Republic. Lars Laumann screens
a film about a woman who married the Berlin Wall, while Ania Molska installs a sculpture used as a prop in
her new film.
 
The first of five alternating, artist-curated solo shows at the Schinkel Pavillon will feature works of Paris-
based Swiss-born designer Janette Laverrière, presented by Nairy Baghramian. It will open on March 20,
2008, preceding the official opening of the 5th berlin biennial on April 5 and upsetting the demand for a
single, spectacular biennial beginning.
 
The night part of the biennial, entitled Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours (My nights are more
beautiful than your days), comprises 63 nocturnal acts involving artists and other thinkers and takes place
throughout the city. Neuro-scientist Olaf Blanke demonstrates an out-of-body experiment, at the
encouragement of artist Melvin Moti. The curatorial collective WHW holds a lecture on Modernism in the
former Yugoslavia, and Augusto Boal, founder of the Theater of the Oppressed and this year’s Nobel
Peace Prize candidate, runs a workshop according to his context-sensitive teaching method. Cameron
Jamie screens his recent film JO at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz with a live score by
Japanese noise artist Keiji Haino, and more, night after night.
 
A comprehensive publication has been conceived as an interpretative tool in parallel with the 5th berlin
biennial. It includes a visual and textual anthology of source material submitted by participating artists.
 
The visitors guided tours program Secret Service offers diverse formats of made-to-measure exhibition
tours that enable the visitors to investigate the biennial from different angles. Further information and
booking at www.berlinbiennale.de.
 
Venues:
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69
10117 Berlin-Mitte
 
Neue Nationalgalerie
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
 
Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum
Kommandantenstraße / Neue Grünstraße
10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg
 
Schinkel Pavillon
Oberwallstraße 1
10117 Berlin-Mitte
 
 
Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours
Every night except Mondays at various places in Berlin.
Detailed program available soon at www.berlinbiennale.de.
 
 
Curators: Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filipovic
 
Director: Gabriele Horn
 
 
The presence of the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art at its various venues is made possible by a
co-operation between Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V. and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Stiftung
Preussischer Kulturbesitz (for the Neue Nationalgalerie), KUNSTrePUBLIK e. V. (for the Skulpturenpark
Berlin_Zentrum), and the organizers of the Schinkel Pavillon (for the Schinkel Pavillon).
 
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art is organized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and is
funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes/German Federal Cultural Foundation.
 
The publications accompanying the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art are generously supported by
the LUMA Foundation.
 
Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours, the night part of the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art, is
kindly supported by the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (FABA).
 
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art is supported by Peter Marino Architect.
 
 
Further information:
Maike Cruse  
T +49 [30] 2434 59 42   
press AT berlinbiennale.de  
www.berlinbiennale.de

FILM AND READING LIBRARY I’ve got the books, you’ve got the brains…
Preview: Thursday 10 April,18.30-20.30 with a performative lecture by Petra Bauer.
Project continues: Sunday 18 May
Open Wed-Sun, 12.00–18.00
Location: Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH

Encompassing painting, drawing, computer animation, and sculpture, Craig Mulholland's show at Spike Island presents three new bodies of work. In "Paths of Resistance", "Resistance Rising" and "Peer to Peer" Mulholland refers back to the epic human struggles depicted in the historical painting of the French Salon. His contemporary updates depicts a mythical landscape in which works of art battle against each other as the task of the Surveillance Operator is staged against a Futurist Opera.

Hosted at the Plymouth Arts Centre, Estrategia brings together a group of Brazilian artists connected by their focus on systems and technology. Currently in Brazil there is an emergence of appropriated technology in contemporary art and culture. The agenda of these artists is to break the mould, play with systems and create new ways of operating.

Paul Rooney's premiere exhibition in London at Matt's Gallery will show his new film "La Decision Doypack." This piece delves into the problematic issues surrounding historical memory. Taking cues from poignant true life experiences, Rooney's fictional construction addresses the humor and pain that come with depicting the past in art.

ENDURANCE is a three-day programme of screenings, performances and exhibition exploring the physical and mental limits of human endurance.

The audience will witness a selection of work that addresses notions of duration, ritual and stamina in a programme that aims to reflect the multiplicity of its concept.

Plymouth Arts Centre and i-DAT present a seminar developed by curator Basak Senova and supported by the Curatorial Network. Along with Ute Meta Bauer and Paul O'Neil, Senova will be presenting on the notion of 'perceiving urban based realities within cross-territorial practices and networks.'