EINDHOVEN CAUCUS
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
VAN ABBEMUSEUM
BILDERDIJKLAAN 10
EINDHOVEN – THE NETHERLANDS
+31 [0]40 238 1000
info [at] vanabbemuseum.nl
For the international CAUCUS, held in the Van Abbemuseum, The Netherlands, from 10 November to 2 December 2007 as part of the award winning project Be[com]ing Dutch, the Van Abbemuseum is now accepting applications from cultural producers worldwide, including visual artists, architects, writers, filmmakers, journalists, curators, composers, performers and other creative thinkers, who are interested in participating full-time in the complete three week programme.
CAUCUS November – December 2007
The CAUCUS starts from the principle that art proceeds from a discursive and critical culture. It seeks, in the context of art educational practices, to stimulate and transform. Thinkers and artists from all over the world will come to Eindhoven to inspire the future, and act as interlocutors for a group of local people and international students. Contributors include abroad range of critical theorists such as Rosi Braidotti, Homi K. Bhabha, Galit Eilat, Boris Groys, Dieter Lesage, Chantal Mouffe, Nikos Papastergiadis, Paul Sniderman, Paul Scheffer, Shepherd Steiner, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Gerard Raunig and inspiring artists writers and cultural producers such as Yael Bartana, Abdelkader Benali, Igor Dobricic, Tone O. Neilsen, Sarah Pierce, Bik Van der Pol, Renee Ridgeway, Artur Zmijewski and many others. For the completed programme check for updates on the website www.becomingdutch.com The CAUCUS is developed by Charles Esche, Annie Fletcher and Esra Sarigedik as part of the two year project Be[com]ing Dutch by the Van Abbemuseum and partners.
BE[COM]ING DUTCH
Be[com]ing Dutch aims to open up an exploratory debate which puts our ideas of national identity at risk and examines and challenges the processes of inclusion and exclusion today. As questions of cultural identity and normative ‘national’ values become ever more of an issue in political and cultural debate, the concept behind Be [com]ing Dutch is to move the agenda on from notions of toleration and difference towards building a shared but agonistic democracy on the cultural level through the use of one of the few remaining public sphere institutions left to us — the museum. The CAUCUS will attempt to look at the meaning of and context for a global visual culture right here (Eindhoven) and right now (2006-8). The four week intensive meeting will offer a programme comprising of a lecture series, publications, screenings, performances, collective production, radio programmes, workshops and other activities. Central paradoxes of the CAUCUS include:
B The revival of nationalism versus the reality of globalisation and migration. How can art imagine a way out of this dichotomy?
B The re-emergence of religion as the dominant cultural identifier versus the secular globalisation of capital. How can art imagine identity differently today?
B The autonomy of art versus its use (critically, economically and socially)
B How can a museum effect change in a provincial city (Eindhoven).
B Can art change politics, does politics determine art?
APPLICATION
Application closes on 15 September 2007. In order to submit your application please log on to www.becomingdutch.com
Be[com]ing Dutch is being developed by Charles Esche and Annie Fletcher and many others in- and outside the Van Abbemuseum. Institutional partnerships include: BAK [Utrecht], Goldsmiths College [London], Kosmose [Eindhoven], National Sculpture Factory [Cork], New Museum of Contemporary Art [New York], Royal University College of Art [Stockholm], Stichting InterArt [Arnhem] and TransLocal Express – Biennale of Young Artists [Tallinn]. The project Be[com]ing Dutch by the Van Abbemuseum has been awarded the Development Award for Cultural Diversity 2006 by the Mondriaan Foundation.
