Circles. The Labs

A discursive-performative panel series reflecting in six weekly open labs the meta-questions What is contemporary art aiming for? What do contemporary artists strive for? Which relevances of artistic work prevail in societies today?

speakers | performers natalie ananda assmann / bernhard dechant / noah holtwiesche / olivia kaiser / tina leisch / peter moosgaard / tina muliar / gerald nestler / margit nobis / alexandra reill / michaela schwentner / christian stefaner-schmid / kathrin stumreich / peter szely / thomas wagensommerer / otmar wagner / brigitte wilfing
moderation alexandra reill / christian stefaner-schmid 
idea | concept | programming / curating / texts | spacial settings alexandra reill
production kanonmedia in cooperation with cospace gumpendorf and depot | vienna 2015

Open Discourse Lab 1
On contemporary positions in fine arts

The first lab sparks the discourse of contemporary roles of so-called fine arts. After decades of conceptualization and, associated therewith, claims of processualization of fine art production through to aspirations for self-organizing logical processes, questions regarding contemporary options for artistic interventions in societal processes arise. 

speakers
olivia kaiser, painter
margit nobis, fine artist
alexandra reill, concept and video artist
moderation christian stefaner-schmid, concept artist and media theorist

Open Discourse Lab 2
Political art today

Just as art has not just since yesterday been questioned to what extent it intervenes in society and why it not infrequently acts as a neutral artefact, political art has continuously been confronted with the claim to use inherently political instruments of communication instead of artistic ways of expression if it aims at political demands. In the light of global societal transformations, there might be reason enough to reflect the actual status of debate. 

speakers
natalie ananda assmann, free artist
bernhard dechant, director and actor
tina leisch, director
The speakers are the initiators of the process Die schweigende Mehrheit sagt JA!.
moderation alexandra reill, concept and video artist

The historic terms concept art and process art find their contemporary discourse in the generative arts where artists set analogue and digital systems in motion – in the sense of action – but where these systems [partially] retain their autonomous functioning. Often, the questioning of the entitlement of the artist’s intention is the denter of focus, thus the critical scrutiny of the roles of artists as creators of ideas and works, respectively, in the framework of their own creative process. 

speakers
tina muliar, media artist
michaela schwentner, video and media artist
christian stefaner-schmid, concept artist and media theorist
moderation alexandra reill, concept and video artist

Open Discourse Lab 3
Conceptual, processing and generative arts

The historical terms conceptual and processual art find their contemporary discourse in the generative arts, in which analogue as well as digital systems are set in motion by artists in the sense of action, however keeping their independent action [in parts]. The question of the justification of artistic intention is often a central approach here, and thus the questioning of the roles of artists as creators of ideas or work in their own creative process.

speakers
tina muliar, media artist
michaela schwentner, video and media artist
christian stefaner-schmid, concept artist and media theorist
moderation alexandra reill, concept and video artist

Open Discourse Lab 4
Contemporary positions in experimental sound

Contemporary sound composition, sound art and sound architecture are characterized by a variety of artistic aesthetics and use of technological methods. Throughout the presentation of the individual experimental approaches contemporary positions of real-time composition, morphing and resynthezising, generation and evaluation of tonal sequences, automatized classification processes, genetic algorithms and learning of machines are examined. 

speakers / sound composers / performers
christian stefaner-schmid, sound composer, concept artist and media theorist
kathrin stumreich
, media artist
peter szely, electronic sound art
thomas wagensommerer, media artist
moderation christian stefaner-schmid

Open Discourse Lab 5
Artistic work and economics
 

Reflecting intentionalities of contemporary art production also brings an additional perspective to the forming of the artist’s identity in the framework of economic settings. Contributions to private-sector, public or collective goods are accompanied by at least partial acceptance of norms. Throughout the presentations of their artistic works, the artists present examine processes of artistic self-conception in contemporary economic contexts. 

speakers
peter moosgaard, media artist
gerald nestler, artist and theorist
christian stefaner-schmid, concept artist and theorist
moderation alexandra reill, concept and video artist

Open Discourse Lab 6
Performance between discourse and act

Starting from the question to which extent the reflection and expression of subject matters request different methods of visualization in the various fields of the arts, options for the transposition of discursive-theoretical approaches into other media of depiction are reflected, and the translation of non-verbal gestures and scenarios into real-time discourse, respectively. 

speakers / performers
noah holtwiesche, artist and theorist
otmar wagner, director, actor, performer
brigitte wilfing, performer and choreographer
moderation alexandra reill, concept and video artist

Circles supported by

our thxs go to
— cospace gumpendorf
— depot
— department of culture of the city of vienna
— commission of culture 1070 vienna
— commission of culture 1060 vienna

Circles staged at

open discourse labs 1 / 3 / 5
— depot / vie / a / 15
open discourse labs 2 / 4 / 6
— cospace gumpendorf / vie / a / 15

Circles listed in | featured by

— bildraum 07 / presentation of opera publica. catalogue / vie / a / 18
— galerie5020 / presentation of opera publica. catalogue / s / a / 18
— opera publica. catalogue / s / vie / a / 18
— edm / vie / a / 17
— gerald nestler online / vie / a / 15
— artmagazine / vie / a / 15
— heyevent / vie / a / 15
— wherevent / vie / a / 15
— roundtown / vie / a / 15
— esel / vie / a / 15
— eop / vie / a / 15
— gocafés / vie / a / 15
— classic.rhizome / nyc / us / 15
— rhizome / nyc / us / 15
— spectre / int / 15
— arts-numériques / paris / f / 15