[artinfo] Festival on the State of Freedom & the State of the Arts

[e-flux]

Freiraum Festival

A Pan-European Hybrid Festival on the
State of Freedom & the State of the Arts Today

October 30-November 1, 2020

<https://email.e-flux-systems.com/campaigns/gw405054xzfee/track-url/rl482sqxhp5a5/e80f8960d1b8480165c3d881d516211a7b20830e>www.freiraumfestival.eu

Online Summit & Local Events in 22 cities across Europe

Live talks, discussions, artistic interventions and more

The Freiraum Platform presents the Freiraum 
Festival 2020: a collaborative, decentralised, 
democratised festival taking place simultaneously 
in the physical and the digital worlds.

Initiated by Goethe-Institut and developed 
jointly by more than 40 organisations, the 
Freiraum Festival includes an Online Summit and 
23 Local Events in 22 cities across Europe. It 
addresses two issues that have been accelerated 
by the recent pandemic crisis: "The State of 
Freedom in Europe: the ongoing biopolitical 
democrisis and emerging social solidarities," and 
"The State of the Arts: new formats and 
audiences."

In the Freiraum Festival, the online and offline 
worlds come together thanks to a specially 
developed Mobile Studio, combining the 
technologies of a tv-studio and video-conference 
platform, set within the Freiraum Mobile Stage, a 
light installation/tool designed to activate 
public spaces and communities, providing a common 
ground for participatory performative and 
collective actions. The online programme is 
specially conceived for the online medium, as a 
forward-looking tool consistent with Freiraum's 
commitment to participation, decentralisation and 
democratisation: a tool that shortens distances 
and expands possibilities, enabling us to spread 
geographically, exchange ideas and share 
experiences even when physically distancing. At 
the same time, the Freiraum Festival takes place 
simultaneously in 22 cities, directly engaging 
civil society and the cultural scene, 
underscoring the need for local action and the 
importance of integrating the local into a global 
network. The proposed format is a strategic 
decision taken by Goethe-Institut and the 
Freiraum partners to acknowledge the current 
situation and directly support initiatives around 
Europe.

The Online Summit includes talks, discussions, 
artistic interventions and live connection to the 
local events. Among the contributors are: Julieta 
Aranda (artist, co-director of e-flux), Mark 
Beasley (Curatorial Director, Pace Gallery, New 
York), Franco Bifo Berardi (writer), Liam Gillick 
(artist), Helgard Haug (director, Co-founder of 
Rimini Protokoll), Eva Illouz (Professor of 
Sociology, Hebrew University Jerusalem, School 
for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, 
Paris), Ivan Krastev (political scientist, 
Chairman - Centre for Liberal Strategies in 
Sofia, Permanent Fellow - Institute for Human 
Sciences in Vienna), Daria Mille (Curator, ZKM 
Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe), Thomas 
Oberender (Artistic Director, Berliner 
Festspiele), Gregory Sholette (artist, writer, 
activist, teacher), Svetlana Slapshak (Professor 
of Anthropology of Ancient Worlds, Anthropology 
of Gender & Balkanology), Tiziana Terranova 
(Associate Professor in Cultural Studies & 
Digital Media, Università degli Studi di Napoli), 
Rirkrit Tiravanija (artist), Mark Titchner 
(artist), Ben Vickers (Chief Technology Officer, 
Serpentine Galleries), Andreas Weber (biologist, 
philosopher, nature writer, University of the 
Arts Berlin).

The artistic interventions-commissioned or 
selected through an open call-form an integral 
part of the programme, offering artistic 
approaches to the discussed subjects, and 
exploring the possibilities of online formats in 
different mediums.

About the Freiraum Platform and the Curatorial Team
Freiraum (Free Space) is a project launched by 
Goethe-Institut in 2017, in collaboration with 53 
actors from 40 cities around Europe, active in 
culture and the arts, the research community and 
civil society. Freiraum is now in the process of 
becoming an autonomous platform, in which the 
Goethe-Institut will continue playing an 
important role. The Freiraum Festival 2020 is 
organised in collaboration with a curatorial team 
representing the partner institutions, under the 
artistic direction of Goethe-Institut and ArtBOX 
(<https://email.e-flux-systems.com/campaigns/gw405054xzfee/track-url/rl482sqxhp5a5/4059aeac53577c334a61722a8615d4f60563635f>www.artbox.gr). 
Day 3 of the Festival-The State of the Arts-the 
Mobile Studio and the Freiraum Mobile Stage are 
developed in partnership with Common Lab 
(<https://email.e-flux-systems.com/campaigns/gw405054xzfee/track-url/rl482sqxhp5a5/7755f6106a9641418538b380c5593accc23f2b9b>www.commonlab.info), 
a Goethe-Institut Excellency Initiative by 
Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki & ArtBOX, in 
collaboration with Helexpo (Thessaloniki 
International Fair), Freiraum and Hyperwerk 
Institute for Postindustrial Design (Basel).

Join the Freiraum Festival in your city or online:

<https://email.e-flux-systems.com/campaigns/gw405054xzfee/track-url/rl482sqxhp5a5/e80f8960d1b8480165c3d881d516211a7b20830e>www.freiraumfestival.eu

<https://email.e-flux-systems.com/campaigns/gw405054xzfee/track-url/rl482sqxhp5a5/725301924f88fc4e546763464f3387bc32999c6e>www.faceook.com/freiraumplatform