CIVA discourse day

10:30
Intro Discourse Day
with Asma Aiad, Ines Mahmoud, Eva Fischer, Martina Menegon & Angie Shahira Pohl

Talks, lectures, tours, and workshops.
In the course of the CIVA conference, we’ll discuss and reflect on the body as a political field between the analog and the digital together with international artists and experts.

WELCOME, 10:30
In an introduction, the CIVA curators Eva Fischer, Martina Menegon, and Angie Shahira Pohl will give some background info on Embodied Structures.

INTRO KEYNOTE, 10:40
Ich, die intellektuelle Putzfrau*. A message to the nation.
A project by Ines Mahmoud. 
Performance: Asma Aiad & Ines Mahmoud I Salam Oida.

Ich, die intellektuelle Putzfrau sees itself as a manifesto for visibly Muslim women, whose bodies are the regular plaything and point of discussion of politics, society, the media, the public and all those people who would like to have a say in saving us. They decide for us what we should or should not wear, how we should live, think, act, talk or even exist. We and our bodies are being decided without us. The manifesto serves as a guide on how YOU, as the intellectual cleaning lady of the nation, are to act so that everyone is satisfied - without paying attention to your satisfaction. Because, of course, this is not about you.

 And to the nation: this is THE manual you’ve been waiting for. It is THE manifesto that the saviors of Muslim women have been longing for for centuries. In this manifesto, we will show you in ten points how to become the best intellectual cleaning woman ever and thus make a whole nation happy.

*This title is borrowed from the talk Organized Love (2016) by Kübra Gümüsay.

11:15
D/Arts x CIVA
curated by D/Arts / Ivana Pilic, with Asma Aiad, Persson Perry Baumgartinger, Eva Egermann, Sheri Avraham / Djamila Grandits (moderation)

Talking about boundaries - A matter of perspective
In this panel, we deal with exclusion and discrimination in art and culture. What knowledge is missing to make space visible for “marginalized” groups and persons affected by exclusion? This question cannot be answered with an unified voice. In talking about boundaries, we put the spotlight more on the diverse positions present in the collective in order not to lose focus on different needs in the search for common strategies.

Asma Aiad on antimuslim racism
Persson Perry Baumgartinger on sex*gender_diversity
Eva Egermann on Dis/Ability
Sheri Avraham on Class Matters
Moderation: Djamila Grandits

13:30
DATA BODY
with Laokoon, Cosima Terrasse, Nathali Köbli, Onur Olgaç, S()fia Braga & Georg Russegger / Klimentina Milenova (moderation)

Digitalization affects our lives not just by simply existing. It can only happen if technologies are integrated into what humans do and when their lives are tied to those technologies that impact their everyday lives. A fundamental aspect of today’s digital transformation is the fact that practically every part of human life and the most personal details about our bodies are encoded into data that is saved and monitored by software, which transforms it into various forms of capital. “Data Body” is an invitation to dive into topics that are often uncomfortable because of the limitations imposed by platforms and digital tools.

Legacy Russell’s video essay #GLITCHFEMINISM (2018) is an extension of, and proxy to, the writer and curator’s live performance lecture of the same name. With Russell-in-avatar, the work charts out and unpacks key foundational notes around Russell’s originating concept of Glitch Feminism, first theorised in 2012. Russell’s book Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto that expands on this theoretical and art historical framework was published to critical acclaim in 2020.

“MADE TO MEASURE” is a cross between data experiment, acting, artistic research, and journalistic investigation. With their project group, Laokoon poses great philosophical questions: is the idea of individual autonomy out of date in the age of data-driven capitalism? Who determines who we are and who we consider ourselves to be?

For Onur Olgaç, there is no one-answer-fits-all when it comes to digital privacy. He will ask, “So You Think You Have Nothing to Hide?” to provoke conversations surrounding digital and online privacy in order to empower users to start asking critical questions. S()fia Braga’s project and research “I Stalk Myself More Than I Should” shows whether it’s possible to carry out an artistic practice within centralized social media platforms. Therefore, be an active part of them while remaining critically engaged in the attempt to highlight some of the structural dynamics and problems of these realities.

The Unconscious Bias of Algorithmic Disorder: How Creative Intelligence can decrease Stereotyping in media-integrated Knowledge Cultures. Chaos and complexity are different states of systems but in the eye of a human observer similar phenomenons. The algorithmic universe of computer- and network-supported data and information is made by humans and by this means includes the transfer of unconscious biases. Looking at the mindset of the programmers, engineers and coders shows western, white, males on the control (mantrol) panels. To let go from this stereotyping and to find new ways of „creative Intel“ for the AI versus CI game we invite Dr. Georg Russegger (A…cademy of Fine Arts Vienna, Centre for Knowledge Transfer) who is researching the fields of media-integrated knowledge cultures. At the moment he is developing empowerment frameworks and capacity-building platforms to work on societal challenges based on knowledge transfer in the digital age.

15:20
intersectional perspectives on fatness
mit ina holub & lahya aukongo

in intersectional perspectives on fatness lahya aukongo and ina holub will share a dialog about the racist roots of fatphobia, personal life realities being multiple discriminated and western beauty ideals.

in intersectional perspectives on fatness führen lahya aukongo und ina holub einen dialog über die rassistischen wurzeln der fettphobie, persönliche lebensrealitäten als mehrfach diskriminierte und westliche schönheitsideale.

Der Dialog findet in Deutsch statt.

16:15
Body Politics in Theater and Performance
with Anton Spielmann, Marco Donnarumma, Margherita Pevere, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn & Kay Voges / Ayo Aloba (moderation)

Embodied Critical Thinking – intentional Networks, trans-situational conditions and how we continue to play.

In this panel discussion the artists Anton Spielmann, Marco Donnarumma and Margherita Pevere that are part of the collaborative programme of CIVA and Volkstheater are talking with Volkstheater director Kay Voges and non-binary creator and advocate Faris Cuchi Gezahegn about body politics in theater and performance. The musician and actor Ayo Aloba is moderating the discussion.