PARK. “…of the Commons”

19 – 20 January, 2018

Rena Raedle, Vladan Jeremić, Alt Går Bra, Pinecone, Louis Henderson and SMØR Press

The Unbribables / Art production in restriction and Pinecone 

 

From the 19th to 20th of January, we at LevArt, will work with our guest co-editors, artists Vladan Jeremić and Rena Raedle who are members of ‘The Unbribables’, to create the content and outline of the first edition of the PARK. newspaper. A core group of artists – Alt Går Bra, Tenthaus, Bjørg Nyjordet and Magnar Gilberg and SMØR Press– will also contribute to the publication. The title of the workshop, “…of the Commons”, is culled from the latter half of the contentious and ubiquitously used economic theory – tragedy of the commons. Following suit, we will look at parallel processes of the privatization of the commons and restrictions in art labour as seen in the current case of the censorship of an artistic intervention by ‘the Unbribables’ and the subsequent detention of the artists by the authorities at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. (Read more about the workshop under)

The weekend will be interspersed with a concert by musician-duo ‘Pinecone’, a film by Louis Henderson and a public artist talk at the local library by Alt Går Bra.

The concert and film screenings as well as the talk at the library welcome all publics. If you are interested in participating in the workshop please contact us.

In 2018, under the project PARK., LevArt will produce three publications that will bring together stories, theories, debates and drawings as we practically work towards creating a new commons in Levanger.

 

19 January
18.30 – Black Code/Code Noir by Louis Henderson (20:50 mins / HD video / 2015)
19.30 – Concert, Pinecone (Magdalena Mandorla og Frida Blomberg Håvardsen)

20 January
12.00 – Den Norske Idealstaten, Alt Går Bra, Levanger bibliotek

PARK. “…of the Commons”, workshop from 10.00-16.00 on Friday 19th January
and 11.00-17.00 on Saturday, 20th January.

 

Black Code/Code Noir by Louis Henderson (20:50 mins / HD video / 2015)
BlackCode/CodeNoir unites temporally and geographically disparate elements into a critical reflection on two recent events: the murders of Michael Brown and Kajieme Powell by police officers in USA 2014. Archaeologically, the film argues that behind this present situation is a sedimented history of slavery preserved by the Black Code laws of the colonies in the Americas. These codes have transformed into the algorithms that configure police Big Data and the necropolitical control of African Americans today. Yet how can we read in this present? How can we unwrite the sorcery of this code as a hack? Through a historical détournement the film suggests the Haitian Revolution as the first instance of a hacking of the Black Code and thus as a past symbol for a future hope.
Louis Henderson is a filmmaker whose works investigate the networked links between colonialism, technology, capitalism and history. His research seeks to formulate an archaeological method within film practice, reflecting on new materialities of the Internet and the possibility for techno-animistic resistance to neocolonialism.

 

flame

PINECONE
‘Pinecone’ is an electronic noise duo consisting of Magdalena Manderlova (CZ) and Frida Blomberg (NO) based in Trondheim. They first met in February 2017 at an underground noise concert in Svartlamoen. On the evening of the 19th, they will play (with) different materials of trash, bringing their sonic presence into our awareness: plastic bottles, sushi boxes, metal cans and more from the trash cans standing at LevArt’s doorstep. These will be sampled and improvised with a multitude of sounds produced from their throats. All the body’s energy goes into controlling these sounds, produced at the threshold of ‘voice’.
In November 2017 they released EP ‘In the black water I see the city’.
coneband.com
FB @coneband

 

Pinecone_printres
Photo credit: Nanna Klith Hougaard

The Norwegian Ideal State , Alt Går Bra / Tout Va Bien
“The Norwegian ideal state” is a project initiated by artist group Alt Går Bra / Tout Va Bien. The project is based on Plato´s Republic as a starting point for visions of a better future for the Norwegian society. The “Norwegian Ideal State” is being conducted in three stages: a questionnaire, followed by public assemblies and finally a publication.
In the survey “Your personal ideal state”, the artists of Alt Går Bra / Tout Va Bien will design a coat of arms based on people’s visions of what they want the future of Norway to look like.
In the project “The Norwegian Ideal State”, Alt Går Bra / Tout Va Bien take their position as artists as a starting point to contribute to the production and dissemination of new visions and to highlight the voice of the people. In this way Alt Går Bra / Tout Va Bien wishes to contribute to and participate in the discussion on the elitism of contemporary art, its relevance and value in today’s society.


On the Workshop PARK. “…of the Commons
“…of the Commons” is a workshop and the subtitle of a collectively produced publication within the frame of the ongoing public art project ‘PARK.’ at LevArt. The title is culled from the latter half of the contentious and ubiquitously used economic theory – tragedy of the commons. Tragically, Hardin’s text was a gift to neoliberal idealists accelerating the privatisation and enclosure of the commons. Today, echoes of this economic theory can still be heard in the Norwegian government’s regulations on the slaughter of reindeer for fear of overgrazing enforced on the Sami reindeer herders. This becomes a constraint on not only their livelihood but their traditional land use and rights. Of course, this is a much more complex issue considering the neo-colonial overtones it carries.

In this workshop we will look at parallel processes of the privatization of the commons and restrictions in art labour as seen in the current case of the censorship of an artistic intervention by ‘the Unbribables’ and the subsequent detention of the artists by the authorities at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade.

Reflecting on the historical meaning of the idea of the domination of nature that emerged during the 17th century, leading to, as we learn from Marx’s ecology, an alienation from nature and labour, we endeavour to engage in the production of a new commons that can reconcile our relationship to our ecology. Simultaneously we are exploring how we can turn all aspects of working within the frame of a public art project into a practice of commoning.

(outline of the workshop)

Friday 19th January:
10.00 – Breakfast
11.00 – Artist talk, The Unbribables: Commoning the Struggle by Rena Rädle & Vladan Jeremić
13.00 – Lunch
14.00 – Reading, Epicurean garden with Alt Går Bra
18.30 – Film screening, Black Code/Code Noir by Louis Henderson (20:50 mins / HD video / 2015)
19.30 – Concert, Pinecone (Magdalena Mandorla and Frida Blomberg Havardsen)
20.00 – Dinner

Saturday 20th January:
11.00 – Brunch
12.00 – Talk Alt Går Bra, Levanger bibliotek
14.00 – Introduction to riso printing, SMØR Press
– Discussion and workshop continues till 17.00

The Unbribables – Commoning the Struggle
We have witnessed the rise of the New Right in Europe, backed by Trumpism in the United States and Putinism in Russia. Austerity measures, criminal privatization, partocracy, re-traditionalization, and dependence on the global financial system have led to a neocolonial condition that has allowed the establishment of authoritarian regimes to take hold, in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Turkey. In the cultural field, this goes together with an attack on public institutions of art and art education. Artistic work has become an entrepreneurial activity within a restrictive framework, conditioned by the expanding art market and hegemonic political agendas. Privatization brought forth creative, knowledge and social industries that plunder spheres that we can understand as commons – relations between people, affection, engagement, solidarity and mutual learning. Precarity and absence (or non-functionality) of labor organizations—in the art world and elsewhere—forces workers into self-censorship and silence.
This prompted us to think about a way to escape from these massive negative developments. Is it possible to be unbribable in an environment that claims that everything—and everybody—has a price? Here, we do not understand unbribability as a tendency towards a certain value or a moral attitude. We position the practise of unbribability in contradiction with the Real. Being unbribable is a form of protest against the power game, with its give and take dictated by those in power. In short, unbribability is protest and utopia. A call to take on militant unbribable positions is a call to broaden the crack into a rupture. To challenge contradictions. A moment of exposure from where our dreams come true. Partisanship and unconditional love.
The Unbribables were founded by: Nikola Radivojević, Rena Raedle, Vladan Jeremić and Tony Maslić

https://theunbribables.wordpress.com/o-salonu-nepotkupljivih/
https://youtu.be/gh2iEQwud74
https://youtu.be/UESrULZnJYQ

 

unbribables_2017_belgrade_museum_webres
The artistic intervention of the Unbribables in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, October 2017
was followed by a temporary arrest of one of the artists under the charge of insulting a state official. Photo: Igor Pavićević

 

 

 

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Photo: LevArt/Siv Hilde Meen