Open # 17 with lecture by Nicolas Bourriaud

Lecture by Nicolas Bourriaud to launch issue #17 of Open, Cahier on Art and the Public Domain, at the 11th Istanbul Biennial.

Date and time: September 13th at 11 am
Location: Akbank Sanat Beyoğlu, Conference Hall

www.skor.nl

www.opencahier.nl

SKOR (Foundation on Art and Public Space) invites you to the presentation of Open # 17, ‘A Precarious Existence: Vulnerability in the Public Domain’ and the lecture ‘Precarious Constructions. Answer to Jacques Rancière on Art and Politics’ by Nicolas Bourriaud. . This event is part of the collateral events at the 11th Istanbul Biennial (September 12 – November 8). In his lecture, Nicolas Bourriaud reacts to Jacques Rancière’s claim that his ‘esthétique relationelle’ is little more than a moral revival in the arts. According to Bourriaud, the significance of the political programme of contemporary art is its recognition of the precarious condition of the world.

This lecture by Nicolas Bourriaud celebrates the launch of Open # 17, ‘A Precarious Existence: Vulnerability in the Public Domain’. Open. Cahier on Art and the Public Domain reflects upon contemporary public space from a cultural perspective. Through a thematic investigation into the changing conditions of public space and through new ideas related to public space, Open aims to make a structural contribution to the development of theories about these subjects and to function as a platform for reflection on socio-cultural and artistic practices. Thematic issues have featured such subjects as security, memory, visibility, sound, tolerance, hybrid space, cultural freedom, the rise of informal media, art as a public issue and social engineering. Among the international authors writing for Open are philosophers of culture, sociologists, media theorists, architecture- and art critics and political scientists such as: Brian Holmes, Michael Hardt, Chantal Mouffe, Thierry de Duve, Boris Groys and Simon Sheikh.

The issue Open # 17, ‘A Precarious Existence: Vulnerability in the Public Domain’ addresses precariousness in a cultural and social context and deals with such matters as the functioning of the art scene and the conditions of the precarious city and public space. For a few years now there has been an international discourse surrounding the notion of ‘precarity’ or ‘precariousness’, boosted by European social movements and philosophers such as Paolo Virno. Precarity refers to the relationship between temporary and flexible labour arrangements and an existence without predictability and security, which is determining the living conditions of increasingly larger groups in society. Open # 17 contains contributions by Nicolas Bourriaud, Pascal Gielen, Brian Holmes, Brett Neilson and Ned Rossiter, Merijn Oudenampsen, Matteo Pasquinelli, Recetas Urbanas, Gerald Raunig and Jan Verwoert, as well as an extensive interview with the Italian philosopher Paolo Virno by Pascal Gielen and Sonja Lavaert.

Open is edited by Jorinde Seijdel (editor in chief) and Liesbeth Melis (final editing) and appears twice a year in a Dutch-language and an English-language edition. The graphic design is by Thomas Buxò. Open is an initiative of SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) and is published by NAI Publishers. For information and subscriptions see: www.opencahier.nl and www.naipublishers.nl, or contact SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space) at: +31.20.672 2525, info@skor.nl

www.skor.nl

Programme September 13th

11.00 am Reception and coffee
11.30 am Welcome by Fulya Erdemci, director of SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space), Amsterdam
11.40 am Introduction by Jorinde Seijdel, editor in chief of Open, Cahier on Art and the Public Domain
11.50 am Lecture by Nicolas Bourriaud
12.50 am Discussion

English spoken
Admission free

Address: Akbank Sanat Beyoğlu, Akbank Sanat Beyoğlu, Istiklal Cad. No:8, BEYOGLU-ISTANBUL
(Very close to Taksim Square)