Manifesta 14-Expert Talks

Title: Socially Engaged Art in the New Reality

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje announces the first in a series of expert talks that will take place as part of the Manifesta 14 Western Balkans Project. 

The event will take place on-site, on November 10th at 7 pm CET, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje. Manifesta 14, based in the Host City of Prishtina, Kosovo, will have a programme in several other cities in the Western Balkans. MoCA Skopje is one of the partner institutions for the 14th edition of the European Nomadic Biennial, Manifesta. 

As such, within 2021 MoCA Skopje will host a part of the programme of the Manifesta 14 Western Balkans Projects, including exhibitions and a discursive programme. The discursive programme will focus on the function of museums of contemporary art in the “New Reality”, shaped by related events throughout 2020 and 2021 such as the pandemic, lockdowns, hostile environment policies and closed borders.

The speakers at this event will be Santiago Zabala, Shiraz Grinbaum and Oren Ziv, Jonas Staal and Filippo Minelli.

Santiago Zabala is ICREA Research Professor of Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and author of many books, including Why Only Art Can Save Us: Aesthetics and the Absence of Emergency (Columbia University Press, 2017). He has written for the Guardian, the New York Times, and Al-Jazeera. His latest book is Being at Large: Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020).

Filippo Minelli is a contemporary artist  interested in landscape and the public sphere, his work is mostly addressed at challenging the role of identity and its narratives, both in the physical and digital environments.

Jonas Staal is a visual artist whose work deals with the relation between art, propaganda, and democracy. He is the founder of the artistic and political organization New World Summit (2012–ongoing). Together with Florian Malzacher he co-directs the training camp Training for the Future (2018-ongoing).

Shiraz Grinbaum is a photographer and editor, working with the Activestills collective since 2012. She is the co-editor of the book ‘Activestills: Photography as Protest In Palestine/Israel’ (Pluto Press, 2016). She is also the founder of To Light Up A Home, an independent forum that facilitates support groups for sons and daughters of military veterans with PTSD in Israel; and the editor of the online magazine Leafing.co.il featuring local artist books.

Oren Ziv is a reporter and photographer of Local Call and +972 Magazine.  Co-founder of Activestills Collective. Since 2005 he has been documenting social and political issues in Israel and in the Palestinian territories.

The event will be curated and moderated by Tihomir Topuzovski and Emilia van Lynden, Manifesta’s Head of Communication, Marketing and Publications, will give an introduction.

Manifesta 14 Western Balkans Project is supported through Creative Europe Western Balkans programme, and the Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia.

Social Engaged Art in the New Reality

There is a need to restore attention to the methods of education, artistic and curatorial practices in an era of ‘the new reality’, a reality that has been shaped by related events throughout 2020 and 2021 such as the pandemic, lockdowns, hostile environment policies and closed borders.  This challenging context not only creates a political emergency, but also an artistic state of emergency, while generating the potential for expressing new forms of artistic practices, and new challenges for cultural institutions and centers as they attempt to represent the on-going dynamics. In terms of concrete conditions, and moving beyond conventional debates about curatorial practices, museum space, exhibitions, collections and audiences, we need to consider artistic practices that seek to create a rapprochement between art, the social field and the role of museums in the community engagement.

Manifesta 14 Projekti i Ballkanit Perëndimor në bashkëpunim me MoCA nga Shkupi, ju fton në një diskutim mbi metodat e edukimit, praktikat artistike dhe kuratoriale në një epokë të ‘realitetit të ri’, një realitet që është formësuar nga ngjarjet përgjatë viteve 2020 dhe 2021 si pandemia, izolimi, kufijtë e mbyllur.

FOLËSIT:

Catherine Nichols – Ndërmjetësuese Kreative Manifesta 14 Prishtina

Blerta Hoçia – Kuratore e pavarur

Filippo Minelli – Artist dhe ish-pjesëmarrës në Manifesta 12 Palermo

Projekti Manifesta 14 Ballkani Perëndimor promovon organizimin e bashkëpunimeve ndërmjet artistëve dhe institucioneve nga vendet e Ballkanit Perëndimor përmes projekteve që synojnë stimulimin e krijimtarisë në rajon.

Shpresojmë të shihemi më 11 Nëntor në ora 17.30 në MODELARIUMIN e Fakultetit të Arkitekturës në Prishtinë!

*Kapacitet i kufizuar për shkak të masave për parandalimin e COVID-19.