[artinfo] Call for participation: Artivistic 2009 // TURN*ON

[lotu5]

Call for participation

TURN*ON
Artivistic 2009 (Fall)
Montreal, Canada
http://artivistic.org

The world to come is so sexy. We are unstoppable for we are fueled
with an incredible urge to embrace the pleasure provided by
difference, exchange and freedom. Our actions today are charged with
an energy that is animated by the rise of change and a movement that
is simply irresistible.

New movements are arising at the intersections of sex, politics and
technology. These movements are inspired by, as well as critical of,
the long traditions of struggle they stem from, remixing gender
bending, sex work (and play), and media activism. From body hacking to
the implosion of the service economy, where are we today and what new
possibilities can we envision and nurture?

For its upcoming fourth edition, Artivistic is going sexy. Discussing,
questioning, and imagining the past, present, future, and infinite
possibilities of sex. While keeping issues of power and control in
question, we want to turn to the potency of pleasure, curiosity,
humor, and desire in order to TURN*ON that which has yet to be thought
and experienced differently.

Building on previous generations of gatherings, Artivistic 2009 asks
the following questions:

* What kind of world is worth fantasizing about? How can imagination
act as a productive tool to think sex with and beyond the body?
Fantasy always plays a role in political projects when we imagine the
"world we want", but how does that fantasy become reality? Where does
the line blur? What feedback loops are created between what we desire
and the lives we live everyday?

* What actually makes resistance irresistible? The different notions
of sex, gender and sexuality draw our attention to the task of naming.
That task can be appropriated in liberating ways. How do we move away
from tired and troublesome terminology in order to create different
relationships that unleash new ways of thinking (and relating) and new
strategies for political action? How can reimagining sex contribute to
a process of decolonization in every sense of the word?

* What are the alternative infrastructures of sex? Sex is everywhere.
Everyone talks about sex and this can tend to be polarizing and
unproductive. How we address sex might get us somewhere more, say...
stimulating, by welcoming the critical analysis of the production and
consumption of sex, and an exploration of self-organized, even
intimate, initiatives. What new libidinal economies of service and
information are emerging with respect to sex work and how can we
struggle for the rights of communities forging these new paths?

In line with the self-organized aspect of the upcoming gathering, the
Artivistic collective seeks proposals that intervene in the very
(infra)structure of the event, welcoming proposals that involve food,
space, venue, communications, hardware, software, skill sharing,
documentation, dissemination and so on. The gathering further
encourages submissions that take on the challenge of collective
participation and collaboration, opening onto unconventional praxes
and theses of knowledge production.

Artivistic is an international transdisciplinary three-day gathering
on the interPlay between art, information and activism. Artivistic
emerges out of the proposition that not only artists talk about art,
academics about theory, and activists about activism. Founded in 2004,
the event aims to promote transdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue
on activist art beyond critique, to create and facilitate a human
network of diverse peoples, and to inspire, proliferate, activate.

To submit a proposal, please use the online form via: http://artivistic.org

Alternatively, you can send your proposal to: participation at artivistic.org

Deadline: 1st November 2008

Questions: info at artivistic.org