Lange Nieuwstraat 7
3512 PA Utrecht
The Netherlands
info@casco.art
Dear readers,
Only one month left before the research trajectory for Casco’s 2013–15 program Composing the Commons comes to a close with the completion of our project exhibition We Are the Time Machines: Time and Tools for Commoning. This also signals our transition into a new phase in our program. For now, we are delighted to share a glimpse of it!
We Are the Time Machines: Time and Tools for Commoning
Exhibition and study program
Until March 13, 2016
Since mid-November, many commoners continue to join and cohabit the “exhibition space” through the act of study and tooling, including: Ask Annabel, David Bennewith with Bram van den Berg, Ruth Buchanan, Cooperativa Cráter Invertido, Doorbraak, Rosie Eveleigh, Katherine Gibson, Roel Griffioen, Abel Heijkamp, Adelita Husni-Bey, Indonesian Migrant Workers Union Netherlands, Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik (Jesko Fezer and Andreas Müller with Peter Behrbohm), Annette Krauss, Mattin, Open! Platform for Art, Culture & the Public Domain, Revolutionary Feminism Reading Group, Rigo 23 with Zapatista artists, Tadasu Takamine, Terra Critica, Graeme Thomson and Silvia Maglioni, (Un)usual Business, and Aimée Zito Lema. Upcoming forums consider governance of the commons, with Michel Bauwens, Aetzel Griffioen, and Manuela Zechner (February 28) and “aesthetics” of commoning, with Maria Lind, Stavros Stavrides, Marina Vishmidt, and Arseny Zhilyaev among others (March 12).
Lekker Schuld Zonder Betalen [Have a Nice Debt]
Project by Wok the Rock
June 4–26, 2016
Yogyakarta-based artist and cultural activist Wok the Rock initiates a temporary music band alongside other collaborations across the Dutch art landscape to address questions around the economy of art production, such as: “How much funding is needed for an artist to realize her or his imagination?” The project explores forms of fund management, comparing commons-oriented production processes in Indonesia and the Netherlands, with an emphasis on openness in the management of art exhibitions and performances and transparency of funds and labor relations.
INLAND Nederland
In collaboration with Fernando García-Dory
Ongoing, diverse activities and conference-camp in the second week of June 2016
Beginning with an introductory exhibition in 2015, Casco and artist Fernando García-Dory have been looking into how INLAND, a “para-institutional“ practice of inquiry, art, and agriculture between the city and countryside, could be extended to and embedded in the Netherlands. We are now laying out the five-year plan to actualize this, which includes setting up an experimental site in a nearby rural area, a conference-camp with like-minded initiatives with which we can form an alliance toward INLAND’s goals, and the ongoing monthly class at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI). In addition, look out for INLAND Volume, a collection of case studies by artists and graphic designers from the DAI and Werkplaats Typografie out this March!
To Become Two
Project by Alex Martinis Roe
November 2016–January 2017
To Become Two traces the genealogy of “feminist new materialist” and “sexual difference” philosophies via a number of international feminist communities and political practices to explore what has been—and what could be—transferred to feminist collective practices today. It comprises a series of six films, including Their desire rang through the halls and into the tower, a performance recorded in 2014 and made with the Gender Studies department at Utrecht University and commissioned by Casco. It also consists of sculptural, architectural, and archival elements, performances and workshops, and an artist’s book. Organized in collaboration with many partners including If I Can’t Dance (Amsterdam), The Showroom (London), and ar/ge kunst (Bolzano).
Other collective works
In parallel with the above, Casco continues to engage with the Arts Collaboratory (AC) network, which just entered a new phase establishing itself as a trans-locally self-organized ecosystem. The network is transforming approaches to fund relations and its mode of long-term planning and individualized mode of operation. Its third assembly takes place in Kyrgyzstan in June 2016, hosted by AC member Art Group 705. Also, (Un)usual Business, a research collective initiated by Casco and Kritische Studenten Utrecht and focused on local community economies in Utrecht, further develops their “how to—series” and publishes the journal Utrecht Meent Het.
Publications
Finally, several of our publications will meet the world this year, including: Practice International, edited by Binna Choi, Grant Watson, and Lisa Rosendahl with Andrea Phillips and co-published by Valiz, Amsterdam; 365 pictorial pamphlets against labor as we know it by Werker Magazine; Site for Unlearning: Art Organization by Annette Krauss and the Casco team; and Commonist Aesthetics, a collaboration between Casco and Open! Platform for Art, Culture & the Public Domain.
The program evolves throughout the year with some shape-shifting, more partners, and in the spirit of improvisation. For more information and to stay informed please visit our website or contact Steyn Bergs at steyn [at] cascoprojects.org.
Casco’s program is made possible with financial support from City Council of Utrecht, Mondriaan Fund, DOEN Foundation, and European Union Culture Programme. We Are the Time Machines: Time and Tools for Commoning is also supported by K.F. Hein Fund.
