This course was conceived as an introductory course that addresses how contemporary art (visual arts photography, film, literature) interact with current political imaginaries. (It is part of a wider set of courses on aspects of art and politics.) It begins by interrogating the nature of the conjunction/separation “and” within the construct “art and politics”. A key issue considered is the variety of ways in which separations and distinctions between “art” and “politics” have been historically produced and reproduced. In this way, the course attempts to recast the question “what are the relationships between art and politics?” into an enquiry about how the two terms, taken in conjunction, may enable an interrogation of how they each are enacted as fundamentally contested categories.
The teaching strategy adopted was to study concrete examples, so as to give the student an introduction to the themes of the course and open the possibility to develop their own critical assessments and interpretations. The initial rationale was that through considering a range of concrete intersections of art and politics, a structural account or a model of relations could be built gradually. Hence, the course was not premised on a pre-resolved theory of “art and politics” but rather a survey of instances where themes and questions of politics / the political and those of art / the aesthetic were seen to intersect. It has been driven by a research agenda, rather than a resolved or finalised position.
Topics covered in the course have included: competing accounts of the political/politics; different readings of the emergence of the aesthetic within colonial-modernity; the nature of exhibition; the geopolitics of the art world’s globalism(s); feminism and questions of eurocentrism; ecological practices and climate change responses; the nature/meaning of the construct”the political imaginary”; the shift from institutional critique to infrastructural activism; the tensions between “politics of representation” and “post-representational” practices; the question of the subject; modes of collectivity; and many other such themes.
The course interrogates the different claims for contemporary art’s political agency and political saliency, rather than accepting these at face value. Acknowledging the complex field of theoretical, critical and activist positions that operate in the interaction/conjunction of practices of art and practices of the political, the course does not claim to be comprehensive, but does seek to achieve breadth in the range of instances studied, including those recommended by the students.
The course is also closely informed by the work of the platforms: L’Internationale Online, PARSE Journal of Artistic Research, and partnerships with Afterall Books: Exhibition Histories and VECTOR Studio, Iasi.
Participants are normally expected to actively engage online, and to attend at least one meet-up session if feasible, and more if desired. Typically there are three face-to-face meeting opportunities, each in a different city. In 2022 these were in Kassel, Berlin and Gothenburg. In 2021 this was waived because of covid19 disruptions. In 2020 the cities nominated were Bucharest. (June) Dublin (August) and Gothenburg (August). In 2019 the cities nominated were Stockholm (June) Venice (July) and Gothenburg (August). In 2018 the cities nominated were Berlin (June) London (June) and Gothenburg (August). We typically collaborate with different partners in each city to develop the programme at each intensive.
In previous years speakers at collaborative events have included: Cătălin Gheorghe (2021), Rena Rädle & Vladan Jeremić (2021), Vladimir Us (2021), Vasyl Cherepanyn (2021), Paul O’Neill (2020), Anselm Franke (2020), Steven Henry Madoff (2020), QAYYEM (2020), Haseeb Ahmed (2019), Georgina Jackson (2019), Kathrin Böhm (London, 2018), Prem Krishnamurthy & Emily Smith (Berlin, 2018), Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Berlin, 2018), and Paul B. Preciado (Berlin, 2018).
Application each year are via www.universityadmissions.se. (for international applicants) and via www.antagning.se. (for Swedish applicants). Here is an indicative example of the materials used in one iteration of the course.
exhibition.school 