Art and Politics #5: assembly
June 19–30, 2023
The IMMA International Summer School 2023 will take place online from June 19–30, 2023. This two-week programme of lectures, seminars, discussions and workshops will focus on the theme of “assembly” and will feature a range of national and international artists, theorists and educators including Sarah Pierce, Ahmet Öğüt and Eva Weinmayr, among others.
The capacity for people to be able to come together, to express their views and opinions, share ideas, problem-solve and to create and collaborate, is an essential feature of a healthy democracy. Coming together in public space to meet, rally, or protest, allows citizens to organise and drive political and social change. This right to peaceful assembly is increasingly contested, through the privatisation and enclosure of public space; through legislation aimed to curb protest and strike action; or through repressive state responses to acts of assembly worldwide.
In recent years, when many democratic institutions and processes are coming under threat, it seems timely to consider the role of assembly in addressing these current predicaments and how can it create the conditions for new thinking and practice on collective action. New and alternative methods are being devised to bring people together, to form publics spaces and allow for decision-making and collective action. Contemporary art is a space where such methods have been developed and enacted.
Foregrounding the role of art and artists, the Summer School will explore the subject of assembly. Drawing on a range of thinking and ideas on the subject of assembly we will consider what happens when people come together to discuss, make, think, argue and be with each other in person or virtually. We will also explore the role of the museum, and the summer school in particular, as a place of assembly and consider the potential of the collective as a model for artists' practice as well as political action.
Call for participants
This interdisciplinary programme will be of particular interest to artists, students and graduates, as well as to anyone with an interest in the subject of assembly, and many elements of the programme such as the lectures will be open to the wider public.
The programme is free and will be delivered in English.
During the Summer School, participants are required to attend online workshops, lectures and discussions between 12.00noon and 8.00pm, (GMT+1) weekdays from 19 to 29 June, and a closing event on 30 June. Participants will also be required to take part in group discussions and online project work over the course of the programme. There will also be a number of electives including reading groups, curator talks and workshops scheduled between 19 - 29 June. A small number of electives may take place on-site in IMMA but the core programme will take place online.
The seminars and keynote event will be open to the public and they will be recorded.
Participants will also be required to undertake preliminary reading in advance and attend three online reading/discussion sessions in advance, on the 11 and 25 May and the 8 June, 2023. Reliable internet access is essential.
Participation is based on a statement of intention outlining why you wish to take part in the summer school (400 words max). Please include your name and contact details.
Application deadline is March 3, 2023.
Application is via email to summerschool [at] imma.ie.
Further details at www.imma.ie.
Note: This is a provisional schedule, some dates/times may be subject to minor adjustment or cancellation.
