LUNÄ Talk: IN_DEPENDENCE

Event

01.04.2017: Performatik Biennial 17, Brussels, BE

PERFORMATIK17
Since the sixties, performance art has been going through a second wave, also in our museums. It is like a vat of indefinable visual creations that mix up genres in a huge variety of locations; last anything from a single minute to a whole year; and are aimed at a single person, a crowd or a chance passer-by. The body often plays a central role.

Performatik17 will be entering the intriguing twilight zone where artists – in collaboration with a number of different Brussels-based partners – tinker with the codes of visual arts and the performing arts. And with your position as a spectator. For if a revival of performance art is bringing about a renewal in the arts, then this now chiefly lies in the radical questioning of your position: your gaze as a museum visitor, your role as a theatrical spectator, or something beyond this.

“Without its Eurocentric distortions, decolonization would be at the center of the narrative we tell about the twentieth century – and this retelling would allow us to see that global capitalism today is most fundamentally shaped by the struggle for independence.” from ‘Empire of Cotton, A Global History’ by Sven Beckert. 

Take a seat at the LUNÄ table for a discussion about social, political, and ecological (in)dependence. Material aspects are also relevant: especially in relation to cotton, they form a constant theme throughout colonial history and the power structures that dominate today’s world. LUNÄ is a copy of the original table of the Lunar Society, an 18th-century group of British industrialists, scientists, poets, and writers. They used to hold inspiring meetings – mostly during full moon – to explore the ways in which science, technology, and art could serve society.

Invited contributors: Prof. Sven Beckert (author of ‘Empire of Cotton, A Global History’ / Harvard University, US ), Prof. Peter Pels (anthropologist, Leiden University, NL),  Prof. Wayne Modest (Research Center for Material Culture in Leiden, NL), Christine Chivallon (anthropologist and directrice de recherche au CNRS/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Bordeaux,  FR), Helen Elands (art historian, independent researcher, London, UK), Marjolijn Dijkman (initiator of LUNÄ Talks and co-host, BE), Maarten Vanden Eynde (artist and co-host, BE) and Alioum Moussa (artist and co-host, Yaounde, CM).

This LUNÄ Talk will reflect on issues raised by the project IN_DEPENDENCE as well part of Performatik17.

This summer, the Belgian Maarten Vanden Eynde and the Cameroonian Alioum Moussa are building a two-part mobile structure, of which one side is the other’s opposite: old versus new, wood versus plastic, and poor versus rich. Yet the structures depend upon one another to stay in balance. During Performatik17 they set up shop at Place de la Monnaie, where you are invited to visit them – in pairs – for a discussion about dependence and independence. At a personal, political ánd artistic level. The project will be translated into a growing photo exhibition at Kaaitheater. Moussa and Vanden Eynde originally created the project for SUD2010, the triennial art event in Douala (Cameroon), whose starting point was the 50thanniversary of independence being marked by 17 African countries.

Alioum Moussa and Maarten Vanden Eynde first encountered one another during Present Perfect. This project by Enough Room for Space initiates collaborations between European and Cameroonian artists. Vanden Eynde’s artistic practice encompasses sculpture, video, photography, installation and performance – which are often context-related. From a globalised perspective, he asks questions about evolution. What is progress? Are we actually progressing? And what are we progressing towards? He founded the Brussels-based independent arts space Enough Room For Space together with Marjolijn Dijkman. Alioum Moussa is a visual artist and graphic designer. His work ranges from street art to installation art, clothing and craft design, and is often based on social issues.
Practicalities:

Duration: 3 h 30 min.

Location: Enough Room for Space
Sterstraat 10 Rue de L’Etoile
1620 Drogenbos
Belgium

Directions from Brussels South Station:
Tram 82: stop Grote Baan / Grand Route
Metro 4: stop Stalle (P)  (10 min. walk)

Note: there are two number 10’s in our street, one in the commune of Ukkel/Uccle and ours in Drogenbos!

Tickets: € 12 / € 10 / € 8 order here

Language: English