Current & Past Events
colourschool and Post Autonomy Debate: What are the limits of participatory practices?
For this event, a video/skype link to London connects Post Autonomy’s David Goldenberg with colourschool participants, who discuss and debate the limits of participatory practices.
David Goldenberg invites participants to think on the following questions and considerations…
Is a participatory practice the sole embodiment of a radical democratic practice in contemporary art? (if not is it possible to point to other practices?)
What are the flaws and problems inherent in current participatory practices?
It appears that in many participatory practices the same or similar looking problems arise, but remain unresolved or deferred – for instance, the very real problem around authorship of material generated in a collaborative/participatory project, between a specialist and non art specialist. In virtually all examples of participatory practices the material ends up becoming the property of the artist, with little or inadequate reference or payment made to the audience/participant.
How is it possible to explain why the rigid dividing line between the artist and audience/participants invited to take part in a project remain unchanged at the end of any participatory project when it is the intention of the project to change these positions? So although participatory practices claim to break down the barrier between the person within culture and those outside culture, at the end of each project each person reverts back to the same hierarchy position.
So do these problems exist because the problems are just impossible to resolve within the existing system of art, or is it just a matter of reluctance on the part of the artist? Or do these problems persist for other reasons? Can we say it Is a matter of not being in possession of the appropriate theoretical tools to develop a clear picture of what is actually taking place, in other words, something is happening but we cant actually see what is happening?
Background information on the current debates:
This debate follows on from a series of on-line discussions in the Post Autonomy site Chat room. Their intention is to set out to locate a logic and rationale behind recent participatory practices, where Participation is seen as one of two central threads key to the construction of a Post Autonomous methodology, and where the mechanism of participation replaces the role and position of the artist, audience and curator.
I want to suggest that within the scheme of post autonomy the use of speech in the zone of post autonomy, functions as a site where the existing residues of the existing form of art have been removed and a site where another space and practice can be constructed. For that reason speech within the zone of PA acquires attributes that we are unable to locate in reference to previous uses of speech and language in relationship to art.
- host:
- David Goldenberg
- date & time:
- March 1st, 2008 at 12 pm
- contact:
- [info@colourschool.org]
Host Biographies
David Goldenberg is a British artist, curator, and writer living in London, UK.
Goldenberg’s material can be found in the Thames and Hudson books Installation Art and New Media in Late 20th Century Art.
Most recently he initiated a movement in the form of a website called Post Autonomy. The site functions as a research instrument into the concept of Post Autonomy. Post Autonomy reflects the state of contemporary art, a meeting place and a hub for discussions and exchange about ideas that extend the understanding of Post Autonomy. Post Autonomy stems from the idea that modern art, as a research or understanding of autonomy, has reached its limits in comprehending autonomy. In that respect art can be seen to have exited autonomy. We can say that what ever comes after Autonomy in art can be discussed by the concept Post Autonomy. Using a practice-orientated analysis of cultural, social, and political forces the aim is to develop a new mental framework out of which art can be reinvented. www.postautonomy.co.uk
Recent exhibitions include: 2007 10th Istanbul Biennale 2007 The Space of Post Autonomy, Local operations, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK 2007 Locally Localised Gravity, Plausable Artworlds, ICA Philadelphia, USA 2006 Fordham at Netwerk, Netwerkvzw, Centrum voorhedendaagsekunst, Aalst, Belgium 2006 Jump into cold water, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland 2006 Art Anthology, Kunst und Austellungsshalle der Bundersrepublik Deutscland, Bonn, Germany 2005 Les Merveilles Du Monde, curated by Peter Fillingham, Museum of Fine Art Dunkurque, France 2005 Open Congress, Tate Britain, London, UK 2004 Copyfight, Centre d’art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain 2004 Softlogics, kuenstlerhaus, Stuttgart, Germany 2003 Ram 4, Nifca, Helsinki, Finland 2003 6th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates 2003 Curating Degree Zero –Tour 2003 Art Anthology –Tour 2002 How to be a perfect guest? (Version 1), Museum of Modern art, Arnhem, The Netherlands 2001 Century City, Tate Modern, London, UK 2000 Whats to be done? Arts depot, Vienna, Austria 2000 Infection Manifesto, Bonner Kunstverein, Germany 2000 Out of space, kolnischerkunstverein, Germany
Event Images & Documentation
How to be a perfect guest? 6th Sharjah Biennial, UAE, David Goldenberg in collaboration with Wim Salki. 2003. Image courtesy of David Goldenberg