[-empyre-] Fwd: Call for e-action | Venice Biennale |Manifesto

Sun Jun 12 05:12:01 EST 2011

Hi Tim et all,

That may well be the case as you have so eloquently articulated.

However, these 20th c strategies strike me as speaking more to  
adaptive reuse than innovation - more as playing for the court than  
effecting truly a subversive action, as it so portends.  At this point  
in time and global context,  inhabiting the spectacle ( as inviting as  
it may be to some ) is simply shape-shifting.

Best,

Chris

On Jun 11, 2011, at 7:27 AM, Timothy Murray wrote:

>> Kristine,
>
> I understand your impatience but I'm wondering whether me might be  
> able to appreciate  this intervention to be in line and solidarity  
> with the kind of thinking about immigration, mobility, and  
> extrastatecraft posited, say, by Keller Easterling in her work on  
> infrastructure or by Arjun Appadurai on stateless migrants and  
> aspiration.   Perhaps we could understand this manifesto to  
> "inhabit" or "squat" in the spectacle it condemns precisely to  
> foreground rhetorically (and isn't rhetoric a formal and  
> performative condition of art?)  the conditions that Johannes  
> articulates.
>
> Best,
>
> Tim
>
>
>> I concur with Johannes. I find nothing interesting in the manifesto's
>> hubris, self-importance, and sophomoric lack of empathy and  
>> curiosity (to say nothing of understanding) of those it critiques.  
>> Finally, the manifesto exemplifies the spectacle it condemns.
>>
>> Kristine
>>
>> On Jun 10, 2011, at 9:32 AM, Johannes Birringer wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Not sure what there is,  so lovable,
>>> about the rhetorical manifesto (Stateless1 Pavillion  
>>> Biennale.jpg)  of futile gestures,
>>> and the proposal to squat between the fascist monuments (german  
>>> and  italian
>>> pavilions) in the Giardini, if one were to travel to Italy,
>>> that would require a passport, no?  and a Biennale ticket?
>>> when I became a stateless citizen of the State in Time (NSK
>>> issued the virtual passports in the mid 90s), i tried to enter
>>> the U.S. with it but no such luck.
>>> anyway, to those on the ground there, the pirates,
>>> my best wishes
>>>
>>> regards
>>> Johannes
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>
>>> I absolutely love this!
>>> xl
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jun 8, 2011, at 8:37 AM, Ricardo Dominguez wrote:
>>>
>>> I will let the group that developed this gesture speak for itself   
>>> (also a short manifesto as .jpg attached):
>>>
>>> On 5/27/11 3:35 AM, statelessimmigrantspavilion at riseup.net<mailto:statelessimmigrantspavilion at riseup.net
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>> We, the Anonymous Stateless Immigrants, will construct a "Stateless
>>> Immigrant's Pavilion" by occupying the Giardini during the Venice
>>> Biennale (June 5-15), pirate style, and we need your help!
>>>
>>> This is a call for participation to claim space for stateless
>>> immigrants in between the erected pavilions of all the nations for a
>>> sit-in with tents, bbq, music, dancing, etc. In solidarity with the
>>> Spanish Revolution and other emancipatory movements, our actions are
>>> closely aligned with our brothers and sisters all over the world who
>>> are struggling against the suffocating encroachment of capitalism in
>>> all its manifestations and forms. Advocating nomad-ism, autonomy and
>>> anonymity as alternatives to the representational border politics
>>> inherent within the structure of the biennale itself, this is a call
>>> for artists, activists and local people of Venice to join us!
>>>
>>> You could do so by replying to this email for further organizational
>>> support or forward it to relevant people in your network. More
>>> information about our statement can be found attached, but please do
>>> not hesitate to contact us directly for more info etc!
>>>
>>> statelessimmigrantspavilion[at]riseup.net
>>>
>>> Ps: This is not a mass email! our and your anonymity is important   
>>> for us!
>>>
>>> I did not attend VB and have only considered the event via this   
>>> gesture
>>> and this union strike:
>>>
>>> "Italian unions certainly know how to get a point across. At the   
>>> last Venice Bienale, in 2009, workers at the international   
>>> exhibition went on strike<http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/moma-preview9-29-09.asp
>>> >, protesting the degeneration of working conditions and  
>>> picketing  the Giardini in August. This time around it was the  
>>> vaporetto  operators who called the "manifestazione," meaning that  
>>> service on  the affordable water buses had been shut down for 24  
>>> hours in  protest of labor conditions. This being Venice, where  
>>> private water  taxis run a cool ¤60, and where the only other  
>>> alternative to  vaporetti is walking miles of twisty, staircase- 
>>> ridden calli (narrow
>> > streets), there were a lot of blisters and missed art at the
>>> Biennale today. Chalk one up for the vaporetto union. (Some of  
>>> the  tonier exhibitions fought back, however - the Prada  
>>> Foundation and  François Pinault both supplied water transport to  
>>> ferry press and  VIPs to their shows.)?
>>>
>>> But I do think the questions you asking about the performative   
>>> matrix playing out at VB in terms of routing around
>>> the question of the "Global Citizen" and transborder_bodies in  
>>> terms  of presence - even as a frame of a question is
>>> definitely out of the question for the state-driven definition of   
>>> art that state's internal crisis (as in the case of the tactic
>>> that you mention for Mexico etc.,) - but perhaps this has always   
>>> been the case for VB specifically (since Hitler came by and
>>> probably before) and the problem for most most Biennales in general.
>>>
>>> But to be clear this is all from a distance.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Ricardo
>>>
>>> On 6/8/11 7:58 AM, Timothy Murray wrote:
>>>
>>> Thanks, Ricardo, for letting us know about this action.
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm wondering if you would mind saying a bit
>>> more about the context of the action : "In order
>>> to maximize impact and attempt to gain
>>> visibility for
>>> nameless, anonymous, stateless, non-represented
>>> global citizens at theVenice Biennal."  In
>>> thinking about this month's discussion topic,
>>> Renate and I were hoping that the list would
>>> address precisely this kind of disparity between
>>> the (non)-representation of "global citizens" at
>>> the Venice Biennale and those endorsed by
>>> state-sponsored representation.  It's also
>>> interesting to note that some national pavilions
>>> seem this year to be engaging in an end run
>>> around this thorny issue (i.e. Mexico) by
>>> featuring non-national artists in national
>>> pavilions.
>>>
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Tim
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> <Stateless1.jpg>
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>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
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>
>
> -- 
> Timothy Murray
> Director, Society for the Humanities
> http://www.arts.cornell.edu/sochum/
> Curator, The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library
> http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu
> Professor of Comparative Literature and English
> A. D. White House
> 27 East Avenue
> Cornell University
> Ithaca, New York 14853
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
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