First International Conference. Performance Art: Ethics in Action
December 12 – December 14, 2013
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
Pionieer Pond, Gorky Park, Moscow
Organized by: Yulia Aksenova and Snejana Krasteva in collaboration with Sasha Obukhova, Kate Fowle and Anastasia Mityushina
This December is the centenary of the seminal Cubo-Futurist performance Victory Over the Sun created by Kazimir Malevich, Alexei Kruchenych, and Mikhail Matyushin, which premiered in St. Petersburg in 1913. The performance caused quite a stir, since it broke with tradition in a number of ways, from the unconventional subject matter celebrating man’s technological potential and innovative anti-realist costumes in shocking colors, to the chaotic music and nonsensical lyrics. Today, this ground-breaking piece can be considered the first avant-garde performance in Russia.
In the century that has followed, artists have continuously defied and challenged not only pre-established artistic traditions, but also social and moral conventions. By pushing the boundaries time after time, often creating situations where art and life converge, they pose questions that go beyond aesthetics, introducing an ethical dimension to the artistic experience.
To mark the centenary of performance art in Russia and to explore the complex relationship between ethics and aesthetics in the development of performance today, Garage presents its first international conference, “Performance Art: Ethics in Action.” The conference is also the first on this topic in Russia.
Tracing the evolution of Russian performance art in relation to parallel developments around the world, the conference focuses on the radical experiments from the early 20th century avant-garde to the present day that have brought art beyond aesthetics into real-world situations. The two days are divided into thematic sessions, including a session on the Russian experience and a session introducing international parallels or divergences.
Each of the sessions explores the complex relationship between ethics and aesthetics in the development of performance today through questions including:
- Why did certain forms of artistic actions historically emerge in Russia?
- How do these examples resonate with the current situation in a more global context, and what lessons can be learned?
- How does an artistic action become a personal ethical experience, and how can this experience be shared with an audience?
- What are the tendencies in performance art today?
- What are the economic, social, and political conditions by which they are predefined, and where will they take us?
Programme:
December 12:
19:30-21:30 еvening lecture and book launch with Roselee Goldberg, founder of Performa in New York.
December 13
10:00-18:00 programme of case studies, panel discussions and lectures, involving leading artists, academics, writers and curators from across Russia, East Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin and North America.
19:30 Live programme of performances: Nastio Mosquito, Olga Kroytor and Ksenia Sorokina
December 14:
10:00-18:00 programme of case studies, panel discussions and lectures, involving leading artists, academics, writers and curators from across Russia, East Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin and North America.
19:30 Closing performance programme: art groups Provmyza and Edelweiss, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center
Speakers:
Yulia Aksenova, curator, Garage, Moscow; Ludmila Bredihina, curator and critic, Moscow; Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School for Social Research, New York; Yulia Liderman, cultural studies scholar, Moscow; Song Dong, artist, Beijing; Lina Džuverović, curator and co-founder of Electra, London and Zagreb;RoseLee Goldberg, curator and founding director of Performa, New York; Ana Janevski, associate curator, Department of Media and Performance, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jurij Krpan, curator, Kapelica Gallery, Ljubljana; Laura Lima, artist, Rio de Janeiro; Magda Lipska, curator, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Victor Misiano, curator and editor-in-chief, Moscow Art Magazine, Moscow; Nástio Mosquito, artist, Luanda; Sasha Obukhova, art historian and head of Research Department, Garage, Moscow;Anatoly Osmolovsky, artist, Moscow; Tanja Ostojic, artist, Berlin; Elena Petrovskaya, philosopher and writer, Moscow; Stas Shuripa, artist and teacher, Moscow; Maria Tsantsanoglu, director, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki.
Photo: Artem Loskutov, From The Monstration, Novosibirsk, 2012. © Artem Loskutov, Courtesy Garage Center of Contemporary Culture