Flusser Residency

Dear Friends and Colleagues, I am delighted to inform you about the
Launch of my second book Grexit, designed by Jack Henrie Fisher and
Neda Firfova, an edited volume including articles by Virginia Mavrika,
Ilia Roubanis, Panos Tsakaloyannis and myself. This publication is
culmination of the the Drachma Project that we have been working for
about two years now.

The launch will take place in Bethanien (Kunstraum Kreuzberg) next
Friday the 24th at 2000 (the same time as the Greek Prime Minister
will be negotiating with the German Chanchellor the extension of the
restructuring program of the Greek economy).  More info about the
launch:

http://www.transmediale.de/node/21863/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9477776/Debt-crisis-Greeces-Samaras-to-face-show-down-with-Angela-Merkel-in-Berlin.html

The Imag(IN)ery Constitution of the Economy

Workshop held at the UdK as part of the Residency at the Vilém Flusser ArchiveThe aim of this workshop is to provide the necessary theoretical tools for understanding the tensions related to the representation of economic value and power. By addressing the issue of representation, we can wage a critical analysis of the process of social constitution, at the same time as we clear the ground for a re-articulation of subjectivity and desire. 

Workshop dates:

29th & 30th May 18.00-20.30 - 26th & 27th June 18.00-20.30

Aula, Universität der Künste Berlin, Grunewaldstr.2-5, 10823 Berlin

Registration and contact: Anita Jóri - a.jori@medienhaus.udk-berlin.de

Yesterday I had the chance to participate and present my work on economics and its relevance on artistic practice in the context of the crisis @ DEAF Rotterdam. The session It’s the Economy, Stupid! was organized by LaAgencia and DARC, Aarhus University. 

My presentation speculated on the possibilities of artistic intervention relating to the questions of value, exchange and social organization employing theories and concepts related to post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and economics. The discussion gravitated around the importance of representation for the support the rituals of economic value and exchange. Furthermore, I reflected upon the vocation of the artist, on the relevance of artistic research on economic issues, and on how artistic practice can occupy the social imaginary and re-articulate the desire that animates economic interaction. Finally, I described the constitution of subjectivity (artist or not) in the market through the rituals of consumption and work.

 By the way the DEAF Festival is Great!

The Vilém Flusser Archive and the transmediale would like to invite you on Friday the 25th of May at 1830 to the Aula of the UdK (Grunewaldstr. 2-5), for the screening of the documentary Plowing the Time (2010), by the Kostas Kolimenos. Plowing the Time tells the stories, the small everyday struggles of the people in Athens. These stories comprise the recent history of Greece, still to recent to be objectively represented, but at the same time to intense to be left to ferment slowly to a shared narrative self-representation. The history is inadvertently written by men and women on the street, where resistance manifest itself brutal, naked, beautiful and ugly at the same time, but nonetheless honest.

Kostas Kolimenos is invited as part of the Drachma Project, a research initiative on the current economic and political history in Greece, hosted by the Vilém Flusser Archive and the transmediale. After the screening there will be a discussion about the current state of affairs in Greece with the director and the rest of the participants of the Project.  

Jack Henrie Fisher just arrived from New York for his residency at the Flusser Archive as part of the Drachma Project. Jack in going to work towards the publication proposal for the Drachma and will present his ideas at a panel on Flusserian Thought, entitled “Occupying the economic imaginary; the relevance of Vilém Flusser for artistic research”, as part of Pre-Occupied conference in Berlin on the 28th and the 29th of June. 

The graphic designer researcher and practitioner Neda Firfova arrived at the Vilém FlusserArchive in order to join the Drachma Project. I have collaborated with Neda in the past during the production of my book, Notes Towards a Critique of Money. Neda’s work supports reverse editorial processes and participation in the printed medium, investigating more open approaches to graphic design. Her interest in the interactive character of printed money, which can be considered the most participative form of printed matter is what brings her to this project. Neda will present her work in the Archive on Friday the 22nd of June (date tbc). 

On Thursday I joint the first ever event of the Flusserian Philosophical Flux, a laboratory for thought experiments, hosted by Claudia Becker and Rodrigo Maltez Novaes. We read “Curies Children - Vilem Flusser on Discovery” from Artforum, April 1988. The discussion was very informative and insightful. Looking forward to the next meeting :) 

An interview given in the occasion of my residency for transmediale, mentioning also the Drachma Project, published in the weekly magazine Athinorama (an equivalent of Timeout or Zitty).