At MoKS:
Wednesday August 6th, from 4pm until it goes...
Thursday August 7th, from 11am until it goes...
Unconference sessions with John W Fail and Tanel Rander
Survival is a weighted term often associated with the most challenging
aspects of preservation of life as a living organism. Economy is equally
weighted with the complexity and extent to which it seems to dominate
our lives. And while both terms are essentially linked as fundamental
aspects of contemporary reality, we often overlook the significance of
connecting the two. Yet, when we think about each more carefully and
independent of each other, important questions come to the surface. How
often are we really confronted with the biological notion of survival?
How much, and in what way do we really contribute to or engage in an
economy? In particular, how do such questions apply to us as artists and
creatives, living often at the "fringes" of society, attempting to
define our roles on our own terms? Although these are "big" questions,
the focus of this symposium is not to provide answers so much as offer a
frame in which we can move beyond the myths and modes of survival
economics, to investigate constructive methods and approaches to art
making and cultural production. In practical terms the symposium will
take the form of an open but moderated set of discussions and workshops,
based on shared interests and ideas.
Topics to pursue:
- culture as necessity, not luxury
- operating in alternative economies, exchange, gift, commons etc
- importance of informal networks, real vs virtual networks
- learning environments, exchanging knowledge, skills and experience
- collaboration as a creative act
- defining value (particularly non-monetary) in culture (of work,
materials, products etc.)
- add your own...
