Maria Hlavajová – Neither Hope Nor Despair. The Art of Learning to Be Together Otherwise

10:00 – 12:00

Room No. 135, Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava
Hviezdoslavovo nám. 18, 814 37 Bratislava

The lecture will be held in English.

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In the time of the brutal war on Ukraine--which reminds us painfully of many other brutal wars and catastrophes around the globe at present--what art, what subjects, what sort of being together must we create? Thinking through a number of concrete art projects and art practices, from Former West (2008-2016) to Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2016-ongoing) to Trainings for the Not-Yet (2019-2020), Maria Hlavajova ponders on the meaning of art vis-a-vis the conditions of today that resign to neither false hope nor to paralyzing despair. Hlavajova envisions a possibility of art as radical, speculative, public pedagogy geared at learning to be together otherwise: that is, a pedagogy of collective worldmaking that involves learning with one another what does not yet exist and then living that new knowledge, that newly envisioned world, "as if it were possible."

The series of lectures and workshops entitled The World in Relation is organised through the Institute of guest lecturers during the summer semester of 2022 by Studio vvv (Department of Intermedia, AFAD), which was prepared by an exceptional team consisting of curator and scholar, as well as artistic director and founder of BAK, basis voor actuele kunste Maria Hlavajova (Amsterdam, Utrecht), researcher and artist Kristína Országhová (Prague, Bratislava) and artist and AFAD teaching assistant Dávid Koronczi.

The initiator of the project is the head of Studio vvv, artist and teacher Martin Piaček.

Credits for the cover image: Jeanne van Heeswijk Works, Typologies and Capacities 2004/2019, INSTALLATION WITH POTATOES AND WALL PRINTS BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
Photo by Tom Jannsen
Grafický dizajn: Dávid Koronczi