On the basis of a broad network of local cultural institutions – and strongly supported by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg – the establishment of a new annual »summit meeting« is planned for Stuttgart. It will be dedicated to the main sociopolitical lines of conflict and negotiate them in the spheres of the visual and performative arts, theory, and activism. The perspective here is expressly global.
The first edition of this new project will discuss alternative approaches to neoliberal financial capitalism that is based on algorithms, debt, and the myth of unlimited growth. How can such abstract structures be read, understood, and reinterpreted in face of their own contradictions? Which collective and individual forms of resistance are necessary in order to counteract the existing injustices and the mechanisms of exploitation and destruction? Which special potentials are harbored by poetry, imagination, and fiction for the concept of a different economy? This first summit encompasses more than twenty lectures, performances, and music and film contributions from various academic, artistic, and activist contexts – regularly followed by workshops (including workshops for pupils). The main focus during the four days is on the exploration of diverse forms of articulation that go beyond the classical academic formats – and on an intense joint debate based on a wide spectrum of discourses.
In view of climate change, the neo-feudal drive of financial capitalism, increasingly strong nationalism and racism, as well as a populism that deliberately operates on the basis of disinformation and demagogy, our concern is to initiate longterm reflection on both political and aesthetic conceptions of societal change. In so doing, we need to deal with the problem that a disturbing wave of political change is going on at present. With the growing number of demagogues who have been democratically elected (Donald Trump in the USA, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Narendra Modi in India, Vladimir Putin in Russia, etc.), we are facing a shift toward societies in which nationalism, racism, sexism, and homophobia are politically implemented, and in which pluralism and freedom of speech are massively restricted.
Thus, it is not a matter of fi ghting against neoliberal conditions only, but also against anti-democratic and neofascist tendencies, and it seems as if new languages, imaginations, and collective forms of agency are called for in such fight. Moreover, the complexity of the current political, societal, and economic conditions requires a reconsideration of concepts such as class, solidarity, law, and justice, but also of our forms and tools of critique and resistance. The summit aims at offering a forum for exactly these concerns.
Contributions by: Nabil Ahmed, Rheim Alkadhi, John Barker, Keti Chukhrov, Katja Diefenbach, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Gulf Labor Coalition / MTL Collective, Mohammad Abu Hajar, Srećko Horvat, Schorsch Kamerun, Hilary Koob-Sassen, PeterLicht, Neue Dringlichkeit, Boris Ondreička, Dan Perjovschi, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, David Quigley, Simon Sheikh, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Tools for Action, Enrique Matías Viale, We cannot build what we cannot first imagine (a. o.)
A project by: Akademie Schloss Solitude, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Schauspiel Stuttgart, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Theater Rampe, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
Idea and concept: Christine Peters, Iris Dressler
In cooperation with: Marie Bues, Hans D. Christ, Klaus Dörr, Martina Grohmann, Jan Hein, Jean-Baptiste Joly, Elke aus dem Moore, Katrin Spira
Main supporters: Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg
Supported by: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
In cooperation with: Die AnStifter, Fritz-Erler- Forum Baden-Württemberg, Hannah-Arendt- Institut, Stuttgart, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Baden-Württemberg, Rosa-Luxemburg- Stiftung Baden-Württemberg
Languages: German, English (simultaneous translation)
Entrance: free
Registration: info@kunstgebaeude.org; Phone: +49 (0) 172 344 6977
Press contact: gebhard_lehner@wkv-stuttgart.de
