[artinfo] conference: Performance Art: Ethics in Action

[e-flux]

"Performance Art: Ethics in Action"
First international conference at Garage
12-14 December 2013

Garage Center for Contemporary Culture 
Gorky Park, 9 Krymsky Val 
119049 Moscow
Russia

T +7 495 645 05 20

<http://interspire.e-flux.com/link.php?M=116335&N=57&L=260&F=H>www.garageccc.com

"I cannot imagine talking about ethics without 
discussing two particular things: one, authority, 
and the second, belief." 
-Nástio Mosquito

"If performance art becomes commonplace in a 
society over time, it will be impossible for it 
to stir an ethical or political reaction."
-Anatoly Osmolovsky

This December is the centenary of the seminal 
Cubo-Futurist performance Victory Over the Sun 
created by Kazimir Malevich, Alexei Kruchenych, 
and Mikhail Matyushin, which premiered in St. 
Petersburg in 1913. The performance caused quite 
a stir, since it broke with tradition in a number 
of ways, from the unconventional subject matter 
celebrating man's technological potential and 
innovative anti-realist costumes in shocking 
colors, to the chaotic music and nonsensical 
lyrics. Today, this ground-breaking piece can be 
considered the first avant-garde performance in 
Russia. 

In the century that has followed, artists have 
continuously defied and challenged not only 
pre-established artistic traditions, but also 
social and moral conventions. By pushing the 
boundaries time after time, often creating 
situations where art and life converge, they pose 
questions that go beyond aesthetics, introducing 
an ethical dimension to the artistic experience. 

To mark the centenary of performance art in 
Russia and to explore the complex relationship 
between ethics and aesthetics in the development 
of performance today, Garage presents its first 
international conference, "Performance Art: 
Ethics in Action." The conference is also the 
first on this topic in Russia. 

Tracing the evolution of Russian performance art 
in relation to parallel developments around the 
world, the conference focuses on the radical 
experiments from the early 20th century 
avant-garde to the present day that have brought 
art beyond aesthetics into real-world situations. 
The two days are divided into thematic sessions, 
including a session on the Russian experience and 
a session introducing international parallels or 
divergences. 

The conference opens with a public lecture and 
book launch by RoseLee Goldberg, founding 
Director of Performa, New York, followed by two 
days of case studies, panel discussions, and 
lectures, including a keynote paper by Simon 
Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor at The New School 
for Social Research in New York, and 
contributions from leading artists, academics, 
writers, and curators from across Russia, Eastern 
Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin and North America. A 
special performance for Garage by performance 
artist, musician, and poet Nástio Mosquito will 
take place at the end of the first day, followed 
by a program of live performances in partnership 
with the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in 
Moscow. 

Speakers: 
Yulia Aksenova, Curator, Garage, Moscow; Ludmila 
Bredihina, curator and critic, Moscow; Simon 
Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School 
for Social Research, New York; Ekaterina 
Degot,curator and critic, Moscow; Song Dong, 
artist, Beijing; Lina ?uveroviç, Curator and 
co-Founder of Electra, London and Zagreb; RoseLee 
Goldberg, curator and founding Director of 
Performa, New York; Ana Janevski, Associate 
Curator, Department of Media and Performance, 
Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jurij Krpan, 
Curator, Kapelica Gallery, Ljubljana; Laura Lima, 
artist, Rio de Janeiro; Magda Lipska, Curator, 
Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Victor 
Misiano, Curator and Editor-in-Chief, Moscow Art 
Magazine, Moscow; Nástio Mosquito, artist, 
Luanda; Sasha Obukhova, art historian and Head of 
Research Department, Garage, Moscow; Anatoly 
Osmolovsky, artist, Moscow; Tanja Ostojic, 
artist, Berlin; Elena Petrovskaya, philosopher 
and writer, Moscow; Spas Shuripa, artist and 
teacher, Moscow; Maria Tsantsanoglu, Director, 
State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki


Advance booking required. 
For further information, please contact 
<mailto:brittany at garageccc.com>brittany at garageccc.com.


About Garage
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture is an 
independent platform for new thinking in Moscow. 
Through an extensive program of exhibitions, 
events, research, education, and publishing, 
Garage reflects on current developments in 
Russian and international culture, creating 
opportunities for public dialogue and the 
production of new work and ideas. 

Garage Center for Contemporary Culture is a 
non-profit project of The IRIS Foundation.