Symposium: the public in question Event

Today, the “public” is most certainly in question, and both public space and democratic processes seem to be increasingly under attack. The aim of this symposium is to explore the way in which aesthetic strategies have contested, and continue to contest the public realm. The first task is to critically assess the history of artistic engagement within public space, from the avant-garde tradition thatprojected art into life, to its Conceptual manifestations and interventions, and the art of institutional critique. What worked and what didn’t, and why? This leads to the second question asked by the symposium; what use do these strategies have today? Do they remain relevant, or do we need new tools? To answer we must analyse our present conditions, particularly the contemporary art world, its institutions, and their wider economic and political relations to the media and the rest of the world. Where, the symposium will ask, is the “public” today, and should it be defended?

Friday 4 May, 2007

10.30 a.m.

Welcome | Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen | Rector | Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Presentation of the Symposium | Chantal Mouffe | Professor of Political Theory at the Center for the Study of Democracy | University of Westminster, London

11.15 a.m. - Art After the Art Market

Boris Groys | Philosopher | Professor for Philosophy and Media Theory at the Academy for Design in Karlsruhe
Renée Green | Artist | Dean of Graduate Studies | San Francisco Art Institute
Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen (Moderator) | Rector | Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

02.00 p.m. - Conceptual Practices and the Public Space

Molly Nesbit | Art Historian and Critic | Professor of Art | Vassar College, New York
Marina Grzinic | Philosopher and Artist | Professor for Conceptual Art Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Christian Philipp Müller | Artist | lives and works in New York | CANCELLED
Sabine Breitwieser (Moderator) | Curator | Artistic and Managing Director, Generali Foundation

04.30 p.m. - The Transformations of Institutional Critique

Maria Lind | Curator and Critic | Artistic Director of IASPIS in Stockholm
Gerald Raunig | Philosopher | Works in the European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies as the co-ordinator of “republicart” and “transform”
Franco Berardi (Bifo) | Philosopher | Teaches the social history of communication at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan
Marion von Osten (Moderator) | Artist and author | Professor at the Institute for Art and Education | Academy of Fine Arts Vienna