The concept of the avant-garde is arguably the most important and influential one in the history of modern art, but it is a notion often left unexamined. We are prompted to ask – which avant-garde? In the context of the recent popularity of a return to the issues of modernism within contemporary art and criticism, this conference proposes a critical re-engagement with the theory, histories and politics of the avant-garde.
The conference is intended to make original connections between a range of moments in the history of the artistic avant-garde, and to explore its relevance for contemporary cultural and social issues. It will focus, in particular, on the endurance of avant-garde approaches across the twentieth-century and their contemporary resonances.
Keynote speakers: Sylvère Lotringer, Franco Berardi, Gerald Raunig.
Sylvère Lotringer is professor of French literature and philosophy at Columbia University and general editor of Semiotext(e).
Franco Berardi, aka ‘Bifo,’ the founder of the famous ‘Radio Alice’, was an important figure in the Italian Autonomia movement and a collaborator with Felix Guattari. He has written a number of books, most recently Félix Guattari. Thought, Friendship, and Visionary Cartography and Precarious Rhapsody: Semio-capitalism and the Pathologies of the Post-Alpha Generation.
Gerald Raunig is a philosopher and art theorist who lives in Vienna, Austria. He works at the European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies and is the author of ‘Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century.’
Date: Friday 3rd July
Full Program:
09h00 Registration
09h30 Sylvère Lotringer – Keynote Speech.
10h15 Gavin Grindon – On Strike Against Society: Aesthetic and Political Autonomy in the Project of the Radical Avant-Garde.
11h00 David Cottington – Historicising the “Historic Avant-Garde.”
11h45 Break for tea/coffee
12h00 Gerald Raunig – Beyond Avant: Flight-Lines of a Non-Linear Revolution.
12h45 Lunch
13h45 Anja Kanngeiser – The Aesthetic-Political Gestures of Berlin Dada and the Situationist International.
14h30 Gillian Whiteley – Provocative Praxis: Activism and the Political Avant-Garde.
15h15 Break for tea/coffee
15h30 Franco Berardi – The Century That Trusted in the Future
16h15 Lina Stergiou – Beyond the Myth of Creative Genius: Architecture and Activism.
17h00 Stevphen Shukaitis – The Artistic Dérivative, or Splitting Dead Hares.
17h45 Ends
Prices: Day pass, including lunch and drinks: £60 / Student concession: £25. To book please contact G.Grindon@kingston.ac.uk
Revising/Revisiting the Avant-Garde
Visual and Material Culture Research Centre, University of Kingston
Dorich House museum
University of Kingston
67 Kingston Vale
London
SW15 3RN
Contact: Gavin Grindon
G.Grindon@kingston.ac.uk