Art After the End of the World Discussion Platform for the 1st Kyiv Biennial Arsenale 2012

April 6-8, 2012

Venue: MYSTETSKYI ARSENAL, KYIV (Lavrska street 10-12)

Participants: Zygmunt Bauman, Boris Buden, Ilya Budraitskis, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Sebastian Cichocki, Maria Hlavajova, Aleksandra Jasinska-Kania, Artem Magun, Oleksiy Radynski, Gerald Raunig, Slawomir Sierakowski, Oksana Timofeeva

Art is quite comfortable with the idea of the end of art. But how can art deal with the end of the world?

The popular fantasy of the end of the universe coming in 2012 has recently acquired unexpected political significance. There is a growing conviction that the world as we know it should end. In fact, the resounding crash of global financial capitalism and spectacular manifestations of discontent all over the world are telling us that the world of unrestrained consumption is already on its deathbed. Why wait passively until the system decomposes by itself – until “the world ends”? Why not start inventing a new world, the one that will succeed the current apocalypse?

Program

Friday, April 6

18.00 – Introduction (Ekaterina Degot, Natalia Zabolotna)

18.30 – Living in the Interregnum. Keynote speech by Zygmunt Bauman

20.00 – discussion with Zygmunt Bauman, Vasyl Cherepanyn and Slawomir Sierakowski

Saturday, April 7

Session 1

11.00 – Boris Buden. Art After the End of Society

12.00 – Sebastian Cichocki. Dematerialization / Annihilation of Art in the 1960ies and What We Can Learn from It

13.00 – Maria Hlavajova. To Undo Contemporary Art: Some Interim Speculations from “former West”

14.00 – panel discussion (moderated by Ekaterina Degot)

Session 2

17.00 – The End of the World in Current Sociological Debates. Panel discussion with Zygmunt Bauman, Boris Buden, Aleksandra Kania, Slawomir Sierakowski. Moderated by Vasyl Cherepanyn

Sunday, April 8

Session 3

11.00 – Gerald Raunig. The Art of Existence and Molecular Revolution

12.00 – Oksana Timofeeva. Artistic Beast

13.00 – panel discussion (moderated by Ekaterina Degot)

Session 4

15.00 – Ilya Budraitskis. When Does the History of Revolution Start?

16.00 – Artem Magun. The Sense of Perestroika and Its Contemporary Meaning

17.00 – panel discussion (moderated by Oleksiy Radynski)

Session 5

18.00 – Vasyl Cherepanyn. Art, Knowledge and Politics after the End of the World

19.00 – After the Artistic Freedom. Panel discussion with Ilya Budraitskis, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Lesya Kulchynska, Oleksiy Radynski, Gerald Raunig, Oksana Timofeeva. Moderated by Ekaterina Degot.

Download conception