DARK MATTER GAMES
A platform for artistic intervention in Venice
expo & urban interventions
curated by S.a.L.E. Docks and Workspacebrussels
11 – 15 May 2017
S.a.L.E. Docks
Dorsoduro 265, Venice
with:
Peter Aers (artist, BE)
Arquitecturas Colectivas: (architects/activists, E)
Christian Bakalov (artist, choreographer, BG)
Filip Berte (artist, BE)
Federico Bonelli (artist, ITA)
Alessandro Carboni (artist, ITA)
Stijn Demeulenaere (artist, BE)
Noah Fischer (artist, USA)
Robbert & Frank / Frank & Robbert, (artists, BE)
Niko Hafkensheid & Valentina Stepanova: (artist, BE)
Roel Heremans (artist, BE)
Philip Janssens (visual artist, BE)
Melih Kiraç (coreographer, performer, TR)
Macao (art/activist collective, ITA)
Tuur Marinus and Flup Marinus (artist, BE)
Diane Rabreau (artist, BE)
Marnix Rummens (dramaturg, BE)
Gregory Sholette (artist, USA)
Kuba Szreder (curator, theorist, PL)
S.a.L.E.Docks (art/activist collective, ITA)
Mauro Somavilla (artist, ITA)
Einat Tuchman (dancer/performer BE/ISR)
Fabrizio Panozzo (docente, ITA)
Hans Van Wambeke (artist, BE)
Karl Van Welden (artist, BE)
Gosie Vervloessem (artist, BE)
Johann Merrich (musician, artist, ITA)
Müge Yilmaz (artist, TR)
More info & contact:
DARK MATTER GAMES
Dark Matter Games is an art project that aims to develop and present
innovative and socially engaged art practices that often fall out of the
scope of more classical art institutions. Inspired by the essay Dark
Matter by Gregory Sholette, the project gathers, shares, develops and
presents over 25 art practices that take social interaction and
transdisciplinarity as their starting point.
A workweek in april
will give the opportunity to the participating artists to share their
practice and articulate possible urban interventions. In the context of
the Venice Biennial opening weekend in May, we will present these
interventions during an urban festival, the Dark Matter Games. This
event will combine exhibitions, round tables, performances and
interventions alike. The aftermath will take the shape of a publication
that will be presented in Brussels, in late fall.
What is Dark Matter?
Dark Matter is a concept borrowed from astronomy: its the invisible
subatomic matter that constitutes all reality. New York based
theoretician Gregory Sholette borrowed this term to designate a
counter-hegemonic tendency in the art feld. Although horizontal,
experimental and hybrid artistic production rooted in social processes
is essential to the art world in general, it stays highly invisible in
the current system due to its object- and market oriented drive: it is a
dark matter. The art market, big institutions and offcial art history
represent only a few of the most visible artists. But those same artists
could not even exist without tapping into this dark sea, this liquid
matter, the telluric movement which ceaselessly experiments and produces
signs, symbols, practices and social action. In the current
polarisation between scepticism towards the arts and an almost
reactionary defensiveness from the sector, we believe that these
innovative and hybrid formats are even more relevant than they ever
were: they can generate new ways for diverse audiences to relate to art,
rediscover it and get inspired by it.
But above all these practices
referred to as Dark Matter represent another way of working and sharing
knowledge. Dark Matter represents another mode of production, and what
interests us is how the Dark Matter, the general intellect, can organize
itself. How it can generate new forms of social recomposition and
political representation, and the possible movements of appropriation
that outline future scenarios. How the general intellect will organize,
share its resources, and manage collective knowledge and capital. The
phenomenon became visible at the beginning of the ‘80s, as a result of
the break with the '60s and '70s, a season characterized by great social
struggles, the Cold War, the predominance of Fordism and factory
production. The productive power of this Dark Matter has then exploded
in post-industrial capitalism, in neo-liberal globalization, global war
and fnancialisation.
Let’s set the Dark Matter free!
This obscure substance, so fertile as exploited, let’s free it through
the means of co-research and self-organization: by giving voice to
social processes, by lying in the folds of its desire, and uncovering
scenarios for the future we want. We need to deal with art history and
to sustain that artistic production is the continuous invention of
imaginative strategies rooted in the experience of social production.
Social organization is an immense productive wealth seeking for forms of
self-organization and self-determination, as well as political forms of
representation in the daily struggles. It is an open and desiring
organization. As a result, it has the form of the game, of the
discovery, of the power of speech. This research is not the confrmation
of the already-known, of hierarchies as we know them. Instead, it goes
in the direction of giving voice to those who don’t have one and becomes
a political subject, a public discourse, a form of expression and
language.
A concentration of artistic action and collective research
The method of dark matter games encompasses two interwoven strands of
action based research. We will investigate existing movements of Dark
Matter - telluric forces of creativity and resistance, which sustain the
offcial artistic circuit while affecting it. We will instigate Dark
Matter manoeuvres and methodologies - urban games, collective actions
and performances - which will aim at politicizing Dark Matter while
harnessing its potential for collective engagement and creative
resistance. In this way, Dark Matter Games will activate artistic
competences and creative imagination, releasing the hidden wealth of
Dark matter, suppressed by the dominant production modes. Our action
research method relies on our networks of solidarity and trust. The
mapping of movements and methods is not an exercise in social
abstraction. Instead, it furthers collective affnity and expands
connections, while being rooted in common struggles across different
locations.
Why Venice?
Venice is home to the frst and
most famous Biennale, and during the opening days the city becomes a
pole of attraction for the global Art Market. The city, providing the
unique backdrop to the event, becomes itself paradoxically invisible.
The Biennale contributes to the reduction of the complexity of the city
to its branded image, blurring the distinction between contemporary art
and mass tourism. At the same time, the Biennale and the sea of
collateral offcial and unoffcial events around it are largely based on a
huge amount of invisible work. It is as it the visible tip of the
iceberg and the invisible backdrop literally touch eachother in Venice.
This dialectics between the visible and the invisible is addressed by
the participants through different practices and different perspectives:
by intervening in a city in a context of high visibility, while
formally being outside of the offcial programmation. This position
grants an ideal starting point to freely integrate and affect the
context and remain independent at the same time.
Why Games?
We don't mean the term literally, but some of the works will actually
be games (role plays, or kits for participative bodily urban mapping,
for example), and some projects are based on public calls for action in
which we invite the Dark Matter of Venice to play with us and to join
the platform. Nothing more engaging that playfull game structures. The
organisation of these games would respond to various urgent needs: To
create a public arena that gives visibility and promotes the debate
around the themes of artistic dark matter. To experiment with engagement
practices (through performances, events, instructions, competitions,
etc.) To use S.a.L.E Docks as the "headquarters" and the Dark Matter
Games as the device for dialogue, networking, organization and data
collection.
Participants
Peter Aers (artist, BE)
Arquitecturas Colectivas: (architects/activists, E)
Christian Bakalov (artist, choreographer, BG)
Filip Berte (artist, BE)
Federico Bonelli (artist, ITA)
Alessandro Carboni (artist, ITA)
Stijn Demeulenaere (artist, BE)
Noah Fischer (artist, USA)
Robbert & Frank / Frank & Robbert, (artists, BE)
Niko Hafkensheid & Valentina Stepanova: (artist, BE)
Roel Heremans (artist, BE)
Philip Janssens (visual artist, BE)
Melih Kiraç (coreographer, performer, TR)
Macao (art/activist collective, ITA)
Tuur Marinus and Flup Marinus (artist, BE)
Diane Rabreau (artist, BE)
Marnix Rummens (dramaturg, BE)
Gregory Sholette (artist, USA)
Kuba Szreder (curator, theorist, PL)
S.a.L.E.Docks (art/activist collective, ITA)
Mauro Somavilla (artist, ITA)
Einat Tuchman (dancer/performer BE/ISR)
Fabrizio Panozzo (docente, ITA)
Hans Van Wambeke (artist, BE)
Karl Van Welden (artist, BE)
Gosie Vervloessem (artist, BE)
Johann Merrich (musician, artist, ITA)
Müge Yilmaz (artist, TR)
More info & contact
saledocks@gmail.com
Dark Matter Games is supported by
Fondazione Finanza Etica
Adrenalink Tattoo Marghera
Osteria Nono Risorto
Corner Pub
Osteria Al squero
Caffè Rosso
Bar Puppa
Cantina Do Spade
Iguana
Il Santo bevitore
Trattoria alle due gondolette
Centrale Fies
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