Cartographies of Hope: Change Narratives
22 Nov 2012 – 21 Feb 2013
Patrick Reinsborough
The project Cartographies of Hope: Change Narratives was born out of the sense of urgency and the effort to address this situation. It seeks to bring attention to this condition and to call for joint effort to identify alternatives we can agree. The premise of the project is that narratives of social imaginary play a key role in generating positive changes. Social change is always seen as a certain story, which then becomes an important driver of the change itself. This double function of reflection and agency constitutes
a methodological core of the project.
The last
couple of decades have been characterized by the dominant influence of
neo-liberal ideology, notably by its narrative about the market mechanisms as
natural principles penetrating all fields of social life, including education,
healthcare, science, and art. The result is rising inequality, thinning social
cohesion, and the fragmentation of polity. In this situation, to simply critique
and historicize the neo-liberal system is not enough. We need to connect
alternative narratives into a coherent whole –
a metanarrative that would
provide us with a sufficient social cohesion
on one hand and openness and hope
on the other. The
project Cartographies of Hope: Change
Narratives comprises of an exhibition, two conferences, workshops, and
discussions. Its objective is to map different narratives of social imaginary
and to start connecting them to a coherent bigger story, as well as to develop
networks and shared databases of individuals and institutions associated with
those narratives on local and international levels. The exhibition is organized
in several sections and subsections that represent diverse narratives of
change, while their sum and sequence indicate a larger picture that may inspire
thinking about a new metanarrative:
1. Multitude of social change (local and global, fast and slow, generational and inter-personal)
2. Crises (ecologial, financial and economic, political, moral)
3. Disrespect and protest (forms of disrespect: injustice, inequality, unfreedom, forms of protest, protest movements)
4. Social imagination (solidarity and participation, moral and political dimensions of economy, global respect and justice, humanity and nature)
The project
is organized by the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague
in collaboration
with the following partners: the Centre for Global Studies
in Prague, the
Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences,
the Council for
Foreign Relations, Prague. Representatives of various NGOs
and social movements
from the Czech Republic and abroad will also participate in the project.
Video interview with artist Michael Joaquin Grey about his work called “So What” Moon Calendar 2012 (Mayan Calendar Edition). Author: Richard Cortés. Source: www.ceskapozice.cz
Exhibiting artists:
Daniel García Andújar, Kader Attia, Eva Bakkeslett, Michael Bielicky and Kamila Richter, Matthew Connors, Teddy Cruz, Amy Franceschini, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Michael Joaquin Grey, Ingo Günther, Toril Johannessen, Fran Ilich, OS Kantine, Krištof Kintera, Kitchen Budapest, Kultivator, Suzanne Lacy, Steve Lambert, Daniel Latorre and Natalia Radywyl, Lize Mogel, Naeem Mohaiemen, Nils Norman, Christian Nold, Sascha Pohflepp and Karsten Schmidt, Morgan Puett, Oliver Ressler, Abu Bakr Shawky, Superflex, Terreform ONE, Krzysztof Wodiczko, The Yes Men and Ztohoven.
Curator: Jaroslav Anděl
Cartographies of Hope: Change Narratives builds on a series of similar previous projects organized by the DOX
Center for Contemporary Art in the last two years, including the exhibition The Future of the Future (2010)
and the
marathon of ideas 12 Hours of the Future
(2010), the exhibitions
The Lucifer
Effect (2011) and Democracy in Action
(2012), and the two forums for public debates called DOXagora (2012) and What is
the Vision
of Prague (2011-2012).
16. 1. Living cultures - fermentation as social imagination - workshops with Eva Bakkeslett
17. 1. Eva Bakkeslett - The art of seeing patterns that connect
Authors: Jaroslav Anděl, K. J. Levanti. With english subtitles.