Utopian Pulse – Flares in the Darkroom SALON KLIMBIM

Giovedì 23 Gennaio 2014, 6:30 p.m. – 2 a.m

Utopian Pulse – Flares in the Darkroom
SALON KLIMBIM
Feeding vegetarian tigers – entertaining utopian sensibilities
Secession, Vienna


Secession, Vereinigung Bildender KünstlerInnen Wiener Secession
Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Wien
Tel: +43-1-5875307-10, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34

Con:
Ayreen Anastas / Rene Gabri, Elke Auer / Esther Straganz, Zanny Begg, Mariam Ghani, Miguel A. López: Guiseppe Campuzano, Die Schefin, Alexander Nikolic, Bert Theis, Schon-Schön-Girls, Tanz durch den Tag, Vitali Lesan, John Barker, Sexy Deutsch, BAM of the Jungle Brothers, Christoph Schäfer, Susiklub, Franz Kapfer, Krõõt Juurak, Proll Positions, Melodien für Millionen, Maja Osojnik, Hermann Seiwald / gabarage, GOLEM, Pedro G. Romero / Archivo F.X.: Marco de Ana, Niño de Elche, Martín Acosta / Chiara Cirillo, Zsófi Pirók, Laia Fabre, Stephan Voglsinger, Brigitte Langer e altri

Un progetto di Fahim Amir in corrispondenza con Ines Doujak e Oliver Ressler

Con il contributo del Austrian Science Fund (FWF) AR 183-G21

Il contributo di Bert Theis per Isola Art Center:

"Utopia has just left the Building...", or: Desperately Seeking Utopia
by Bert Theis, artivist and subcurator Isola Art Center.

Many years ago we asked where we could find Utopia, and Mister More answered: "Look for an island." So we moved to a place called "Isola" (Island) in Milan and asked people whether anyone knew of her whereabouts. "Utopia… of course we know her! She’s been living here for a long time, just around the corner." So we walked down Via Borsieri, turned left, and found a beautiful place with two parks and a former factory. We entered the old factory called "La Stecca" and asked the craftspeople working there about Utopia. "Utopia has just left the building," they said, "but she will come back if you desire it strongly." To demonstrate our desire, we decided to occupy the upper floor of the building. There and in the parks we started to create a new kind of center for art, philosophy, music and neighborhood activities, called Isola Art Center. Everything was running well when we heard about Utopia's return to Isola. To celebrate her homecoming we made a huge balloon, together with the whole neighborhood and the local school.

However, real estate companies, bankers, weird politicians and timeserving architects didn't like Utopia. They even hated her a lot. They also hated Isola. The only thing they liked was to always make more money money money. So they kicked us out of the "Stecca" with the help of the police and an anti-terrorist squad, destroyed the whole working class past of Isola, and built towers with luxury dwellings, offices, banks and shops in its place. For years we kept on looking for Utopia. Maybe she was hidden in a paradox? So we tried to find her by setting up a paradoxical Dispersed Center in Isola. Then somebody told us: "Utopia is back in town! You'll find her just over the horizon." We discussed how we could occupy horizons, and came to the conclusion that we would need a new headquarters to accommodate her. So we conquered a new space near the Garibaldi Station, named it Isola Pepe Verde, and turned it into a park and a place for social, cultural and art projects. Then something miraculous happened.

Now Utopia is always in the air in Isola, but she's also in our artworks, texts and songs. Would you like to read a book, listen to a song, or look at a video to meet her?
 
Network partner