A cycle of discussions by Kafe-Morozhenoe: On Labor and Resource Policies in Russian Contemporary Art

DESCRIPTION

The cycle of discussions continues and expands the point “field study” of the resource allocation system and its impact on the functioning of contemporary art in Russia, launched by Kafe-Morozhenoe media activist collective as part of their project for the show Assuming Distance: Speculations, Fakes, and Predictions in the Age of the Coronacene.

Kafe-Morozhenoe used the method of collective analytical and speculative mapping to develop this project. Together with the working group (Dmitry Bezuglov, Ilya Budraytskis, Angelina Burlyuk, Ilona Voitkovskaya, Maria Dmitrieva, Dina Zhuk, Elena Ishchenko, and Nikolay Spesivtsev), Kafe-Morozhenoe members Nastya Dmitrievskaya and Dasha Yuriychuk created maps of problem areas in the current resource allocation system, while also suggesting a kaleidoscope of projective ideas-dreams, from fantastic utopias to specific practical proposals. The research results were designed by artist Ulyana Bychenkova into rhizome-like schemes, displayed at the exhibition and published as a zine.

During the cycle of discussions, the working group members, together with guest speakers, will address a number of key issues raised while preparing the project, including the effects of neoliberal cultural policy, legal mechanisms for the protection of cultural workers, strategies for the decentralization of power and resources in contemporary art, as well as the possibilities for the development of alternative economies.

Discussion moderators: Kafe-Morozhenoe media activist collective

ABOUT KAFE-MOROZHENOE

Kafe-Morozhenoe media activist collective was founded in 2020 in Moscow by Nastya Dmitrievskaya (b. 1993, Vyazniki) and Dasha Yuriychuk (b. 1992, Moscow). Kafe-Morozhenoe curated the series of nomadic discussions Union of Sets (syg.ma; Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, Moscow; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020), laboratories as part of the Labor Studies research school (DOXA/STADIS; Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences; Center for Contemporary Political Research of the Institute for Social Sciences at RANEPA, Moscow; Laboratory of Public Sociology, Moscow, 2020), as well as laboratories at the Congress of Contemporary Dance (New Space of the Theater of Nations, Moscow, 2020). They were invited as guests to the platform-performance Caries of Capitalism (Meyerhold Center, Moscow, 2020). The participants live and work in Moscow, Vyazniki, and Vienna.

HOW TO TAKE PART

Free with advance registration.

Schedule

Discussion: Neoliberalization and Self-Employment: Working Conditions of Cultural Workers

In recent years, cultural workers have found themselves in a neoliberal paradigm: the staff of institutions define their work and relationships in terms of running an effective business, artists and lecturers have launched self-employed content production and cannot think of an alternative mode to this order of things. Neoliberal ethics and precariousness go hand in hand with ignorance of legal mechanisms. Lawyer Ilona Voitkovskaya and sociologist Vadim Kvachev will discuss why we constantly work and earn so little, feel guilty, and do not understand how to protect ourselves.


About the participants

Ilona Voitkovskaya is an independent researcher of labor law. Since 2017, she has been conducting research on labor law for the International Labor Organization. Since 2019, she has been researching labor law of the Eurasian Economic Union under a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. From 2010 to 2019, she conducted a law practice in Kyiv and Moscow.

Vadim Kvachev holds a candidate’s degree in Sociology and is a sociologist, researcher, and teacher. His academic interests include modern neoliberalism, late capitalism, ideology, and economic theory. He hosts the Telegram channel neoliberal condition (t.me/nlbrlsm).

REGISTRATION

Date
Tuesday, July 13
Time
19:30–21:00
Place
Garage Auditorium

Discussion: Geographic Periphery and Inequalities

The hypercentralization of power and resources creates geographic, political, cultural, and economic periphery. How does this affect the art system? The discussion will focus on the importance, within the Russian context, of the geopolitical dimension of art and an analysis of optics, attentive to spatial inequalities and forms of interaction that bypass the center.


About the participants

Elena Ishchenko is a curator, researcher, and author of texts. Since 2017, she has been curating exhibition programs at Tipografia Center of Contemporary Art, Krasnodar. She conducts research in the field of contemporary art, focusing on self-organizations, contemporary art initiatives in different cities of Russia, and art communities.

Angelina Burlyuk is a producer and functionary. Since 2018, she has been working at the TsK19 Cultural Center, Novosibirsk. Co-curator (together with Pyotr Zherebtsov) of the lecture program and reading group Discerning Amateurs (subject: “Intangible Labor and Artistic Production,” 2019). Winner of the Innovation State Prize in the Regional Project nomination (2020). She currently produces Trajectories, a program of support for young contemporary artists.

Arina Nesterova is external projects manager at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. She has worked on the Museum’s joint projects with Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Almaty, the Yeltsin Center Art Gallery, Yekaterinburg, Arsenal, Nizhny Novgorod, etc. Former member of the Work More Rest More self-organized initiative (2019, 2020).

Irina Shirobokova is a PhD student of the Earth and Environmental Sciences doctoral program at the City University of New York and a fellow at CISR (Center for Independent Social Research).* Her research interests include urban geography, political anthropology, and transdisciplinary studies with a focus on spatial justice, uneven development, collaborative methods, and the production of embodied knowledge.

*By the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, ANO “CISR” is included in the register of nonprofit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent (Federal Law No. 7-FZ “On Nonprofit Organizations”).

REGISTRATION

Date
Wednesday, July 14
Time
19:30–21:00
Place
Garage Auditorium

Discussion: Pirate Dreams and Mutual Assistance Networks

Independent cultural initiatives often operate in gaps, grey economic zones, and unstable funding conditions. At the same time, they invent alternative economies and solidarity practices that help envision a fairer and more diversity-sensitive future. The speakers will discuss sharing practices as well as pirate networks of resource redistribution and mutual assistance.


About the participants

Maria Dmitrieva is a curator and artist, member of niichegodelat group’s L/ACC acceleration department. Co-organizer of Studio 4413 and the space THIS IS HERE (St. Petersburg). Initiator of the ~free mapping project (freemapping.net), co-curator of feminist translocalities (feminisms.co), author of the Techno Motherhood Telegram channel about techno motherhood (t.me/technomotherhood). She lives and works in St. Petersburg.

Natalia Tikhonova is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and researcher. As an independent curator, she works on the educational projects Natural Circulation and Guidebook (together with the North-West branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg), runs Video Art Club (Kuryokhin Center of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg), and the cross-platform project for the sharing and disposal of equipment and materials Art Garbage Co-op. Her writings have been published on Aroundart.ru, Colta.ru, syg.ma, and in the Khudozhestvenny Zhurnal (Moscow Art Magazine). She runs the telegram channel procartistination (t.me/procartistination).

Dmitry Bezuglov is a staff member of the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art and a translator.

REGISTRATION

Date
Thursday, July 15
Time
19:30–21:00
Place
Garage Auditorium