solo exhibition: Clodagh Emoe at Project

18 December 2009 – 30 January 2010

Cult of Engagement, a new solo exhibition by GradCAM Research Scholar, Clodagh Emoe opens at Project Arts Centre on Thursday 17 December at 6pm.

Clodagh Emoe’s new exhibition Cult of Engagement continues her pre-occupation with mapping the in-between space which she manifests through her drawings, sculptural objects, installation, video works and events. If there was to be one overseeing eye which has been watching the chorus, stage and audience of Clodagh Emoe’s Cult of Engagement, it would be spirit of the cross-roads, Papa Legba.

The gathered elements within the exhibition – ‘The Approach’, ‘Azimuth’ and ‘Parados’ – may appear to take historically recognisable roles; a stage resembling travelling adaptations of Greek Theatre during the twilight of its form, or the Chorus, looming out of the semi-darkness, echoing an ancient role of revelation and discourse. Papa Legba, who was called upon to open communications between the deities and the people, was able to speak all known languages and controlled the doorway of communication at the spiritual crossroads. Some of this attitude has found its place in Emoe’s atmospheric installation, which at once reveals a route of procession and at the same time removes any presence of performance. If one were to enter through ‘The Approach’ – a large, perforated curtain – and call to Papa Legba for advice, the silence of his reply would only heighten the unnerving sense of expectation in the room, an expectation underlined by a low, reverberating, sound.

This sound which fills the room is part of the event approach to exhibition making that Emoe has followed in the months leading towards her newly commissioned solo exhibition at Project Arts Centre, attempting to create a space where something is bound to take place. The artist has been informed by a history of ritualistic induction and theatrical devices as channels that can herald a community as something other than a limited audience. ‘Azimuth’, a round, wooden stage with carved and stained markings are flanked by a by series of flags – petrified as monuments of kairos, a concept used by the ancient Greeks to describe time that is neither chronological nor representable, but that spans an event or action. The markings on this stage remind us of the messages and meaning that are meant to be delivered to a spectator, beyond the capabilities of human perception. Through aerial archaeology we can listen to the thoughts of the past, with marks made on the land still speaking in supplication to the unknown greatness of whatever was thought to be watching. This is the context into which an unannounced chorus emerges slowly out of the twilight of the magic hour, becoming present in the space where we least expect them.

In the early days of Greek tragedy the Chorus would enter the space of theatre through the paradoi, stage-flanking processional routes. They had evolved from the Dithyrambic chorus, who were a band of transformed people, for whom social histories and civic positions were consciously and entirely forgotten in the worship of Dionysus. As Greek tragedy developed, the role of the chorus moved to the periphery of the activity, although their position became more influential. They were a united body, able to reveal elements of truth, unknown as yet by the actors themselves. Thus the chorus were the eyes and the mirror of the audience, able to see in, around, and through the action taking place on the stage. ‘Parados’, the chorus of Cult of Engagement , has a more ambiguous character – it is united in silence and like an unreadable congregation, indecipherable in its purpose – neither revealing, nor concealing.

Clodagh Emoe is a Dublin-based artist and research scholar at The Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media.

Curated by Tessa Giblin

Engagement talks and lectures in January 2010, in collaboration with GradCAM.

We are grateful to Fire Station Artists’ Studios, IADT and DIT for their production support, with particular thanks to Liam Sharkey and John Travers. The artist also wishes to give special thanks to Edia Connole and The Event Research Group, Yvette Monaghan, Sean Breithaupt and Cormac Browne.

Christmas opening hours:
Mon 21 and Tues 22 DEC open 11am – 6pm
Closed 23 DEC – 1 JAN
Sat 2 JAN open 11am – 6pm
Mon 4 JAN normal opening hours resume

Project Arts Centre | 39 East Essex Street | Temple Bar | Dublin 2 | Ireland
+353 1 881 9613 | gallery@projectartscentre.ie | www.projectartscentre.ie
Gallery open Monday – Saturday, 11am – 8pm

who for? what for?

This unique event comprises a week-long series of symposia, workshops, conference presentations, performances and exhibitions in Dublin for the week 15-19 February 2010. Participants and contributors are invited to join us for the entire week – or to select those elements of our programme that are most relevant to their interests.

For example we have a particular focus on design and animation on Monday (15/2/10); music on Tuesday (16/2/10);culture and citizenship on Wednesday (17/2/10); and arts research and publics on Thursday (18/9/10) and Friday (19/2/10).

The conference will also feature a series of exhibitions and perfomances including: Critique of Archival Reason and Re : Public.

The conference addresses the state of development of contemporary research in and through cultural practice. It makes particular reference to questions of the public interest, and of the broad purposes, that arts research may serve. This five day major international programme of discussion, exchange and presentation builds upon the hugely successful ‘Art Research: The State of Play’ that took place previously in Dublin in 2008.

This conference will be of interest for anyone concerned with the current state of development in contemporary arts research. It will be of special interest to anyone concerned with the relationship between the development of creative research and the possibility of public culture – and questions as to what ‘public(s)’ might now be possible in the contemporary world.

At the heart of this timely international exchange of perspectives are the questions:

• what are the emerging priorities within the various fields of arts research?
• for whom is this research being developed?
• what motivates art researchers both in general and with respect to specific research projects?

In the most basic terms, this conference opens a dialogue with arts researchers in order to ask: ‘who for? what for?‘

The conference is organised in collaboration with the European Art Research Network and associated partners including: Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AU); Academy Sint-Lucas Brussels (BE); KUVA Helsinki (FI); UAIV Venice (IT); MaKHU Utrecht (NE); University of Lisbon (P); University of Malmo (SW); University of Gothenburg (SW); Slade UCL (UK); and Leeds (UK)

If you wish to be placed on a mailing list for this event mail conference2010(at)gradcam.ie

book your place at the conference

Bookings can be made to attend the conference for the whole week (15-19 feb 2010) OR on a per day basis.

In order to enable shared and meaningful participation in the dialogue of the conference, we are restricting bookings to approximately 100 per day. Refreshments and light lunch are included in this cost.

Given the exceptionally low cost, and the limited number of spaces available, we strongly recommend early booking. If you have enquiries about attendance at the conference please contact us with your queryconference2010(at)gradcam.ie

booking rates

• full week
  • normal rate: 100 euros
  • student rate: 50 euros (limited number of spaces)
• daily rates
  • normal rate: 20 euros
  • student rate: 10 euros (limited number of spaces)

list of speakers

Speakers and presenters at the conference will include (partial list only):

• Monday 15/2/10
  • Andrew Selby (Loughborough University UK)
  • Prof Suzanne Buchan (University for the Creative Arts UK)
  • Francis Lowe (Coventry University UK)
  • Ré Dubhthaigh (radarstation UK)
  • Dr. Gearóid O’Conchubhair (NCAD: GradCAM IE)
  • Björn Franke (RHA, UK)
  • Dr. Cearbhall E. O’Meadhra (NCAD IE)
  • Eames Demetrios (www.eamesdemetrios.com USA)
• Tuesday 16/2/10
  • Kristina Ilmonen (Sibelius Academy FI)
  • Anna-Kaisa Liedes (Sibelius Academy FI)
  • Timo Väänänen (Sibelius Academy FI)
  • Dr Joshua Dickson (RSAMD, UK)
  • Lori Watson (RSAMD, UK)
  • Dr Frank Lyons (Ulster, UK)
  • Alistair Anderson (University of Newcastle, UK)
  • Kruno Levaich (University of Zagreb, C)
  • Dr Helen Phelan (Irish World Academy of Music & Dance, IE)
  • Jan Lothe Eriksen, (The Norwegian Hub for Traditional Music and Dance N)
  • Ole Reitov (Freemuse, D)
• Wednesday 17/2/10
  • Anton Vidokle [keynote]
  • Willie White (Project Art Center IE)
  • Georgina Jackson (DIT: GradCAM IE)
  • Dr. Ed Carroll (Kaunas Biennale LT/IE)
  • Dr. John Mulloy (GMIT IE)
  • Dr. Francis Halsall (NCAD: GradCAM IE)
• Thursday 18/2/10
  • Yves Knockaert (IvOK BE)
  • Dr. Michael Schwab (Bern SWITZ)
  • Dr. Tom Holert (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna AU)
  • Dr. Paul 0’Neill (UWE UK)
  • Nollaig Ó Fiongháile (GradCAM IE)
  • Dr. Paul Collard (CCE UK)
  • Angeles Diaz Vieco (SFI ES)
  • Joan Fowler (NCAD IE)
  • Dr. Nuno Sacramento (Lisbon University P)
  • Claire Warnier (Sint-Lukas BE)
  • Tina Carlsson (Gothenburg SW)
  • Rachel O’Dwyer (Trinity, IE)

Friday 19/2/10

• Prof. Ute Meta Bauer [keynote]
• Dr. Daniel Jewesbury (GradCAM IE)
• Tim Stott (GradCAM IE)
• Dr. Terri Bird (Monash AUS)
• Dr. Mick Wilson (GradCAM IE)

schedule of conference events and activities

list of sessions and topics

• experimental film and animation: monday 15th (morning): elaine.sisson(at)iadt.ie
• design research: monday 15th (afternoon): godsonl(at)ncad.ie
• music research: tuesday 16th (all day): n.ofionghaile(at)gradcam.ie
• network culture + online publics: media 2.0?: wednesday 17th (morning): martin.mccabe(at)gradcam.ie
• culture and citizenship: wednesday 17th (afternoon): timothystott(at)hotmail.com
• art research and its possible publics: thursday 18th (morning): mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie
• three workshops where researchers present and respond to a larger question about the role of arts research
  1. remit: who is this for?: thursday 18th (afternoon) mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie
  2. relevance: how is this relevant?: thursday 18th (afternoon): mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie
  3. radicality: will this change anything?: thursday 18th (afternoon): mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie
• exhibition and dissemination strategies in arts research: friday 19th (morning)mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie
• cultural networks / research networks: friday 19th (afternoon) mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

experimental film and animation

monday 15th morning

The increasing use of animation within broadcast design, motion graphics, advertising, video games, visual effects, visual arts practices means that animation “appears” within a range of social and cultural discourses and to a variety of commercial and specialist audiences. What does this integration of animation into cultural practices mean for the future study, theory and research of animation as a discipline? What are the current research topics within the study of experimental film and animation?

animation: speakers include

• Andrew Selby (Loughborough University, UK)
• Prof Suzanne Buchan (University for the Creative Arts, UK)
• Francis Lowe (Coventry University, UK)
• Rene Bosma (Academy for Art and Design, St Joost, NE)

Enquiries and proposals to elaine.sisson(at)iadt.ie

design

monday 15th afternoon

This session makes particular reference to questions of the public interest, and of the broad purposes, that design research may serve, addressing the questions:

• what are the emerging priorities within the various fields of design research?
• for whom is this research being developed?
• what motivates design researchers both in general and with respect to specific research projects?

design: speakers include

• Ré Dubhthaigh (radarstation, UK)
• Gearóid O’Conchubhair (NCAD, IE)
• Björn Franke (RHA, UK)
• Cearbhall E. O’Meadhra (NCAD, IE)
• Eames Demetrios (www.eamesdemetrios.com, USA)

Enquiries and proposals to godsonl(at)ncad.ie

music

tuesday 16th all day

Defining an evolving aesthetic & innovation mechanism for Traditional & Improvised Music in Europe is of increasing importance to performers and researchers active in the traditional and improvised music field across Europe today. These research undertakings are underpinned by the understanding that traditional & improvising musicians today operate from a perspective based on a multiplicity of reference points demonstrating complex cosmopolitan histories of cross over and cultural cross-fertilisation which, as yet, have not been fully appreciated and understood. Our challenge is to confront the ‘nation state’ paradigm and to offer an aesthetic based on the experiences of musicians today demonstrating the ‘fluidity’ in how our traditions and cultures are in ‘real terms’ experienced and understood.

music: speakers include

• Kristina Ilmonen (Sibelius Academy FI)
• Anna-Kaisa Liedes (Sibelius Academy FI)
• Timo Väänänen (Sibelius Academy FI)
• Dr Joshua Dickson & Lori Watson (RSAMD, UK)
• Dr Frank Lyons (Ulster, UK)
• Alistair Anderson (University of Newcastle, UK)
• Kruno Levaich (University of Zagreb, C)
• Dr Helen Phelan (Irish World Academy of Music & Dance, IE)
• Jan Lothe Eriksen, (The Norwegian Hub for Traditional Music and Dance N)
• Ole Reitov (Freemuse, D)

Enquiries and proposals to n.ofionghaile(at)gradcam.ie

network culture + online publics: media 2.0?

wednesday 17th morning

The development of network culture in recent decades has prompted many commentators and academics to speak of the need for ‘media studies 2.0′. While themes such as social networking, the commons, crowd-sourcing, immaterial labour, and the precariat have become pervasive in discussions of network culture and digital media, there is as yet no clear agreement on the priorities for future research on media practice. This session will specifically focus on the question of current research orientations and agendas for network culture with particular attention to the contemporary re-thinking of the nature of ‘media audience’ and ‘public-ness’.

Enquiries and proposals to martin.mccabe(at)gradcam.ie

culture and citizenship

wednesday 17th afternoon

This session will discuss the possible ways by which cultural production and research might address deficiencies in engagement and agency among citizens – artists and non-artists alike. Is it reasonable to demand of cultural producers that they promote civic responsibility? How might this promotion be done? By whom and in whose name? Is it possible to differentiate between some notion of responsibility, whether as a citizen or to a public, and various methods of accounting for the economic value of culture?
This session is also part of an ongoing series called ‘after the economy‘.

‘culture and citizenship’ speakers include

• Willie White (Project Art Center IE)
• Georgina Jackson (DIT: GradCAM IE)
• Dr. Ed Carroll (Kaunas Biennale LT/IE)
• Dr. John Mulloy (GMIT IE)
• Dr. Francis Halsall (NCAD: GradCAM IE)

Enquiries and proposals to timothystott(at)hotmail.com

art research and its possible publics

thursday 18th morning

This plenary session examines the possible ways in which questions of public-ness, participation, and audience might be approached with respect to arts research. Presentations of 30 minutes length are invited from researchers, research supervisors, and practitioners who have a specific perspective they wish to introduce with respect to these issues. Presentations which draw upon concrete examples are especially welcome, however, we recommend that presenters make particular reference to the overarching question of ‘public-ness’ as a key contemporary problematic.

This strand of the conference builds upon a variety of activities undertaken by the European Art Research Network and by the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media which has sought to foreground the importance of current critical contests over the very possibility of a properly ‘public’ culture – however, we might now wish to define the contested term ‘public-ness’.

‘research and possible publics’ speakers include

• Yves Knockaert (IvOK BE)
• Dr. Michael Schwab (Bern SWITZ)
• Dr. Tom Holert (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna AU)
• Dr. Paul 0’Neill (UWE UK)
• Nollaig Ó Fiongháile (GradCAM IE)
• Dr. Paul Collard (CCE UK)
• Angeles Diaz Vieco (SFI ES)

Enquiries and proposals to mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

remit: who is this for?

thursday 18th afternoon

Competing interpretations of arts research provide different accounts as to who are the key beneficiaries of the research. There is, on the one hand, a widespread concern to avoid a crude bureaucratic instrumentalisation of arts practices. While, on the other hand, there is the question of public funding for research and the nature of the possible public interest/good served. Some commentators prioritise the researcher(s) themselves, while others point to larger societal and economic agendas such as inclusion, diversity, creativity and innovation. Others point to the contribution to the broader contemporary art field made by arts research and the complementarity between arts research and the current orientations for critical arts practices beyond the academy.

This workshop invites exploration of these questions based on a consideration of an international cross-section of specific doctoral research projects. Four researchers will be invited to make a 30 minute presentation of their work as follows:
15 minutes: outline of the overall project
10 minutes: positioning of the project with reference to the question of remit: ‘who is this for?’
5 minutes: short discussion with audience

After four presentations there will be a break followed by a discussion session. All participants in the workshop will be asked to contribute to an extended discussion of the issues raised by the presentations and the question of who benefits from arts research. (A rapporteur will produce a report for presentation to the plenary session on the following days.)

‘remit’: speakers include:

• Dr. Nuno Sacramento (Lisbon University P)
• Claire Warnier (Sint-Lukas BE)

Enquiries and proposals to mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

relevance: how is this relevant?

thursday 18th afternoon

The question of the relationship between new work within a field, and the already extant work within that field, is a standard issue within doctoral education in general. Doctoral practitioners are typically asked to indicate how their work contributes to, relates to, and has relevance for, a broader field of work beyond their own immediate enquiry. But the question of relevance can also point to the ways in which work is often produced in response to problems and situations that arise within the world outside the established terms of any given discipline, practice or professional field.

This workshop invites exploration of these questions based on a consideration of an international cross-section of specific doctoral research projects. Four researchers will be invited to make a 30 minute presentation of their work as follows:
15 minutes: outline of the overall project
10 minutes: positioning of the project with reference to the question of relevance: ‘how is this relevant?’
5 minutes: short discussion with audience

After four presentations there will be a break followed by a discussion session. All participants in the workshop will be asked to contribute to an extended discussion of the issues raised by the presentations and the question of who benefits from arts research. (A rapporteur will produce a report for presentation to the plenary session on the following days.)

‘relevance’: speakers include:

Enquiries and proposals to mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

radicality: will this change anything?

thursday 18th afternoon

The last three decades that have witnessed a widespread growth in doctoral arts research and in research-oriented undertakings within contemporary practice. There has been a consistent series of claims made for the ‘radicality’ and even ‘exceptionalism’ of arts research. This is complicated by the ways in which twentieth century avant-gardism, which espoused various forms of ‘radicalism’, has been subject to a critical debunking since the 1970s, while still demonstrating an appeal for many contemporary commentators working in the first decade of the 21st century.

The theme of ‘radicalism’ is of course hugely problematic, and further complicated by the various intersections and even ‘mis-encounters’ of cultural and political radicalism. By asking the question – ‘will this change anything?’ – this workshop seeks to place the question of radicality more firmly within the terms of transformation and agency. Is there a transformative agency possible within the terms of arts research? Again, the questions here are initially approached through examining specific cases, so as to avoid the tendency for overly abstracted or excessively rhetorical treatments of these issues.

This workshop invites exploration of these questions based on a consideration of an international cross-section of specific doctoral research projects. Four researchers will be invited to make a 30 minute presentation of their work as follows:
15 minutes: outline of the overall project
10 minutes: positioning of the project with reference to the question of relevance: ‘will this change anything?’
5 minutes: short discussion with audience

After four presentations there will be a break followed by a discussion session. All participants in the workshop will be asked to contribute to an extended discussion of the issues raised by the presentations and the question of who benefits from arts research. (A rapporteur will produce a report for presentation to the plenary session on the following days.)

‘radicality’: speakers include:

• Joan Fowler (NCAD IE)
• Tina Carlsson (Gothenburg SW)

Enquiries and proposals to mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

the role of exhibition

friday 19th morning

Exhibition is a key strategy employed by arts researchers. It can serve a role in the first stages of formulating a research project by working to construct and refine the initial terms of an enquiry. It can serve a role in mediating, manifesting, demonstrating and disseminating an enquiry, its outcomes and its basic orientation. Indeed, at any point within a research process, exhibition can serve a variety of functions. However, exhibition itself as a format is a controversial arena, and has been reconstructed in a variety of ways throughout the history of twentieth century, and subject to an extensive renewal of energies since the 1990s and the attendant reorientation of curatorial discourses. Thus, for many curators engaged in arts research, exhibition-making itself necessarily becomes an object of enquiry, rather than a taken-for-granted mode of production.

This session will focus on questions of exhibition within contemporary arts research, taking advantage of the realisation of a series of exhibitions as part of the conference programme. This session will use these exhibitions as a point of departure. The exhibitions include:

Critique of Archival Reason at the Royal Hibernian Academy, curated by Henk Slager

Re:Public at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, curated by Daniel Jewesbury

to be announced at Broadcast Gallery.

The discussion, will not be restricted to a consideration of the conference exhibition programme, but will also include broader discussions of exhibition and dissemination strategies in arts research. We welcome proposals for short papers of 20 minutes duration that address questions of exhibition-making and contemporary arts research.

exhibition speakers include

• [keynote] Prof. Ute Meta Bauer
• Dr. Daniel Jewesbury (GradCAM IE)
• Tim Stott (GradCAM IE)

Enquiries and proposals to mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

network

friday 19th afternoon

…the term network has become perhaps the most pervasive metaphor to describe a range of phenomena, desires and practices in contemporary information societies. The refrain one hears on networks in recent years goes something like this: fluid, ephemeral, transitory, innovative, flowing, non-linear, decentralized, value adding, creative, flexible, open, collaborative, risk-taking, reflexive, informal, individualized, intense, transformative, and so on and so forth. Many of these words are used interchangeably as metaphors, concepts and descriptions. [...] Governments have found that the network refrain appeals to their neoliberal sensibilities, which search for new rhetorics to substitute the elimination of state infrastructures with the logic of individualized self-formation within Third Way style networks of ‘social capital’. Research committees at university and national levels see networks as offering the latest promise of an economic utopia in which research practice synchronically models the dynamic movement of finance capital, yet so often the outcomes of research ventures are based upon the reproduction of pre-existing research clusters and the maintenance of their hegemony for institutions and individuals with ambitions of legitimacy within the prevailing doxas. (Ned Rossiter, 2006, Organized networks: Media Theory, Creative Labour, New Institutions, Rotterdam: NAi Publishers/ Institute of Network Cultures. pp. 46-7.)

The benefits of informal networks for cultural practitioners is well-understood within the everyday working practices of artists, curators, critics and other professionals within the art field. In a related manner, cultural institutions and academies have long utilised networking as a key strategy for pooling resources, cross-fertilizing initiatives and generating visibility. The European Art Research Network is itself a framework for open and flexible international exchange, cooperation and development. However, it is grounded in the desire to provide a critical self-organisation and enabling nexus for creative researchers which is not subject to crude bureaucratic imperatives or cynical exercises of self-promotion. Both Ned Rossiter’s critique of network cultures and the increasingly central role of initiatives such as e-Flux recommend careful scrutiny and reflection upon network tactics across both cultural and research activities. What forms and tactics can a critical self-organisation initiative adopt? How do networks achieve mutuality and integrity while retaining the potential of friendly-criticism? How are open-ness and viability be achieved without creating inhibiting and uncritically self-perpetuating organisational structures? What do we want our networks to become? How is individual agency, identity and value-system maintained within network exchanges and dynamics?

Presentations of 20 minutes duration are invited which address any aspect of networking across cultural practice and research. Speakers are encouraged to address the issues identified in a way that draws upon concrete experience in networks in a frank and open manner in order to help the conference participants develop a clearer understanding of the opportunities and risks entailed in network initiatives.

network speakers include:

• Dr. Terri Bird (Monash AUS)
• Dr. Mick Wilson (GradCAM IE)

Enquiries and proposals to mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie

This is a programme of research events, seminars and conferences, co-organised by the Graduate School network of collaborators and informed by the different research strengths and concerns of the collaborators. The programme seeks to create a cross-fertilisation of research themes and projects through regular structured public dialogues and discursive exchanges. Doctoral researchers and doctoral supervisors across the creative arts, both locally- and internationally-based, will be facilitated to develop critical dialogues with each other and with colleagues from other disciplines both inside and outside the academy through these various initiatives. The programme seeks to be both flexible and dynamic in facilitating researchers to share their established inquiries and project outcomes as well as enabling emergent research practices to find a first public voice.

See last year’s programme here.

The School is keen to work with colleagues from across all creative research domains to initiate, develop and realise new research conversations and projects. We welcome ideas for developing and actualising this outline framework of events as well as proposals for possible future events and thematics. Topics will be posted shortly.

• next event
• future events
• previous events

next ‘speaking matters’ event

• 9/11/09 monday 11:00-17:00cultural work: a day of research reports
  twenty months into their research projects, researchers from the graduate school present a public report on progress to date

  gradcam, johns street, off thomas street, dublin 8

  link to more info posted here shortly… booking a place email aidan.mcelwaine(at)gradcam.ie with ‘research reports booking’ in the message header

• 12/11/09 thursday 15:00-17:00the shanghai biennale
  keynote address: prof. Henk Slager, makhu, utrecht, chair of the european art research network
  [see also http://en.shanghaibiennale.org/index.php and http://www.apexart.org/exhibitions/slager.htm]

  booking a place email mick.wilson(at)gradcam.ie with ‘shanghai talk booking’ in the message header

future ‘speaking matters’ events

• 7/12/09 monday 14:00-17:00after the economy #2: a new speaking matters strand
  ‘organised labour and the precariat‘
  this is the second seminar in this series.

  Faced with a political imaginary committed to a discourse of economic realism and with the limited expectations concerning cultural research and policy that follow from this discourse, the graduate school of creative arts & media invites you to join a series of seminars that seek to challenge current orthodoxies concerning culture and economy and to re-imagine correlations between cultural production, the creation of wealth, and the value of labour.

  gradcam, johns street, off thomas street, dublin 8

  the seminar will consist of an introductory presentation on organised and precarious labour, and related concepts, followed by responses and short presentations.

  link to more info posted here shortly… booking a place email straylight2006@gmail.com

• 10/12/09 Thursday 15:00-17:00′issues in academic publishing‘
  workshop with researchers from ucd and gradcam
  what are the changes taking place in the landscape of academic publishing?
  how will research communication and research culture change in a new publishing regime? link to more info posted here shortly…
• 15-19/2/10 Monday to Friday 09:30-17:00′ creative arts research: of purposes and publics‘
  major five day international conference with researchers from around the world presenting work from across the creative arts and media
  co-organised with the european art research network and part-funded through the EU cultural networking and mobility project: “Artist As Citizen: European Publics and the European City”.
  link to more info and call for papers and particpation posted here shortly…

previous ‘speaking matters’ events

• see last year’s programme here.
• 22/10/09 thursday 14:00-17:00archaeology / memory / site
  keynote address: John Schofield
  this is the first seminar in a new series examining key concepts in cultural criticism and debate

  gradcam, johns street, off thomas street, dublin 8

  link to more info posted here shortly… booking a place email elaine.sisson(at)iadt.ie

• 19/10/09 monday 14:00-17:00after the economy #1: a new speaking matters strand
  ‘immaterial labour and creative economy‘
  this is the first seminar in a new series.

  Faced with a political imaginary committed to a discourse of economic realism and with the limited expectations concerning cultural research and policy that follow from this discourse, the Graduate School of Creative Arts & Media invites you to join a series of seminars that seek to challenge current orthodoxies concerning culture and economy and to re-imagine correlations between cultural production, the creation of wealth, and the value of labour.

  gradcam, johns street, off thomas street, dublin 8

  the seminar will consist of an introductory presentation on the genealogy of immaterial labour and related concepts, followed by responses and short presentations from speakers representing a broad range of interests in the current debate.

  link to more information posted here … booking a place email timothystott(at)hotmail.com

• 16/10/09 Friday 14:00-16:00workshop on intangible cultural heritages and ireland’s smart economy
  keynote speaker: Kristin Kuutma, professor of cultural research
  institute of cultural research and fine arts, university of tartu, estonia
  respondents: Lisa Godson (gradcam), Ríonach Uí Ógáin (ucd), Pat Cooke (ucd), Dermot McLaughlin (temple bar properties)

  physics theatre, ucd newman house, st stephen’s green, dublin 2
  jointly organised by ucd humanities institute of ireland (hii) and gradcam

  this workshop will focus on the unesco convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage and its role in developing a holistic and sustainable smart economy in Ireland. Organised by Dr. Marc Caball (UCD) and Dr. Mick Wilson (Gradcam)

• 2.10.09 Friday 14:00-17:00roundtable event: culture and conflict
• 1/10/09 Thursday 15:00-17:00″roundtable event: the university and the crisis”
  roundtable discussion with researchers from ucd and gradcam
  what is the role of the university in the current crisis?
  link to more info posted here shortly…
• 21-25/9/09 Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00′the question of culture‘
  summer school in cultural practice and research
  special guest include: Simon Sheikh, Barbara Holub, Brian Hand, Sarah Tuck, and more…
  a collaboration between imma, ucd, and gradcam.
  more info here.
• 19/9/2009 Friday 17:00prof. Declan Kiberd
  keynote address comenius education network project ncad
  for more info contact granvilleg(at)ncad.ie

These workshops are designed to support researchers in the PhD proposal development stage. The workshops typically consist of a one-day intensive programme consisting of lecture; criticism and analysis seminar; sample proposal evaluation and analysis; and technical writing session. The workshop is then followed up by a one-to-one 45 minute session based on a detailed discussion of the individual research proposal with members of the Graduate School team.

If you would like to participate in a workshop, simply email an expression of interest to aidan.mcelwaine(at)gradcam.ieincluding:

(a) a copy of your CV;

(b) a first draft of your research proposal; and

(c) an indication of why the general area of your proposed research is relevant to the goals and remit of the Graduate School.

To help make a first draft proposal see this Australian website that provides helpful and succinct advice on research proposal writing. However, the basic issues a proposal should address can be stated simply as:
(i) what is the enquiry about? what is it that we want to find out?
(ii) why is this worth doing? what has been done in this area before? what’s new about this enquiry?
(iii) how will we go about making our enquiry? where do we start? what is the sequence of steps in trying to arrive at an answer?
(iv) who would I like to work with? or what disciplines would I like to draw upon to make this enquiry?
(v) what kinds of resources might I need?
(vi) what materials will I be reading / viewing / accessing to inform my enquiry? (bibliography)

The numbers participating in each workshop are kept small to ensure that each participant is facilitated to evolve the best possible research proposal rooted in their specific personal research interests.

Email expressions of interest to aidan.mcelwaine(at)gradcam.ie

Include the phrase “proposal workshop” in the message title.

monday 7/12/09 14:00 – 17:30 gradcam seminar room, john’s street, d8.

precarious questions

Increasingly today workers are under pressure from the ‘massive attack’ of neo-liberal policies, global recession, and the ‘race to the bottom’. The result of these processes is the emergence of a greater number of vulnerable people whose working conditions are converging. The growing application of flexible, part-time, temporary and contract work is threatening both the middle-classes and the working poor. Precariousness is manifested through migration as the central driver of global capital in the contemporary world both in terms of the flight of jobs to low-wage economies and the ever-present threat of ‘capital flight’. As a result precariousness is the common characteristic that links the experience of the low-waged, the unemployed, agency/temp workers, and increasingly the well-earning strata of recent times; the self-employed, journalists, artists/creatives, academics, and teachers, amongst others. In response to this common situation you are invited to engage with us to address the following questions:

• What is precarity? What is organised labour?

• What is the relationship between organised labour and the precariat?

• Who is the precariat? Does it signal a convergence of class interest?

• How does this complicate cultural work?

This is the second seminar in the ‘after the economy‘ series. Seminar two in this series is organised by John Buckley andGlenn Loughran. (The first seminar in the series examined the terms ‘immaterial labour’ and ‘creative economy’.)

speakers

• Magdalena Freudenschuß is a PhD candidate in sociology at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. Her dissertation explores the negotiations on precarity/precariousness in public discourse. She is one of the co-editors of Femina Politica, a review for feminist political science, and works as a trainer in political education.
• Michael Taft is an economic adviser to Unite. His blog ‘Notes on the Front’ confronts the hard-line economic analysis found in much mainstream media See [http://notesonthefront.typepad.com/] He also writes forProgressive-Economy [http://www.progressive-economy.ie/]
• Mick O’Reilly is a leading trade unionist and former regional secretary of the trade union Unite the second largest union in Ireland. As a counterweight to SIPTU, Unite has been highly critical of the 21-year old social partnership process currently in crisis.

some competing ideas of precarity

“a different future, by definition, can only be constructed precariously, without firm grounds for doing so, without the measure of a general rule, and with questions that should, often, shake us – particularly what ‘us’ might mean.’”
Angela Mitropoulos (2005) Precari-Us? See [http://eipcp.net/transversal/0704/mitropoulos/en] and [http://www.metamute.org/en/Precari-us]

“twenty-first-century culture is invented with those works that set themselves the task of effacing their origin in favor of a multitude of simultaneous or successive enrootings? This process of obliteration is part of the condition of the wanderer, a central figure of our precarious era, who insistently is emerging at the heart of contemporary artistic creation.”
Nicolas Bourriaud (2009) The Radicant.

“In 2003, the concept of precarity emerged as the central organizing platform for a series of social struggles that would spread across thespace of Europe. Four years later, almost as suddenly as the precarity movement appeared, so it would enter into crisis. To understand precarity as a political concept it is necessary to go beyond economic approaches that see social conditions determined by the mode of production. Such a moverequires us to see Fordism as exception and precarity as norm. The political concept and practice of translation enables us to frame the precarity of creative labour in a broader historical and geographical perspective, shedding light on its contestation and relation to theconcept of the common.”
Brett Neilson and Ned Rossiter (2008) Precarity as a Political Concept: New Forms of Connection, Subjectivation and Organization”, A Precarious Existence: Vulnerability in the Public Domain, Open No. 17. pp. 48-63.

“Neo-liberal practices such as temporary and causal employment, chains of sub-contracting and informalisation affect both native and migrant workers. However, it is disadvantaged and vulnerable workers – migrant women, irregular workers, ethnic and racial minorities – who get the most precarious positions. But the deprivation of human and worker rights is giving rise to new social movements, such as the strikes of migrant workers in Dubai in 2006, the migrant rights demonstrations of 2006 in the USA, and the movements of youth of migrant background in European cities. The global financial crisis of 2008 could be a turning point, but the direction is not predetermined: it may lead to new forms of exploitation of vulnerable groups, or to employment and migration regimes based on equal citizenship and rights for all.”
Stephen Castles Research Professor of Sociology, University of Sydney and Associate Director of the International Migration Institute (IMI), University of Oxford.

after the economy

The Graduate School of Creative Arts & Media invites you to join a series of seminars that seek to challenge current orthodoxies concerning culture and economy and to re-imagine correlations between cultural production, the creation of wealth, and the value of labour.

Under the title of After the Economy, three seminars will offer informative presentations on problems and arguments relating to key pairings of concepts, followed by shorter presentations and discussion, in order to establish a series of platforms for dialogue and possible collaboration.

The next seminar in the series is Culture and Citizenship Wednesday 17th February 2010, 14:00 to 17:00. This session will also be part of the programme of the conference ‘Arts Research: Publics and Purposes‘.

readings

Some texts of interest::

• Freudenschuß, Magdalena (2009) ‘Negotiating Precariousness: Navigating Discursive In/Visibilities’, in In/visibility: Perspectives on Inclusion and Exclusion, ed. L. Freeman, Vienna: IWM Junior Visiting Fellows’ Conferences, Vol. 26.http://www.iwm.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=125
• Lazzarato, M. (1997) ‘Immaterial Labour’, http://www.generation-online.org/c/fcimmateriallabour3.htm
• Von Osten, M. (2004) ‘Double-Edged: creating an exhibition project on the contemporary transformations of creativity’, http://multitudes.samizdat.net/Double-Edged
• Henry, C. and Johnson, K. (2007), ‘The Creative Industries: Ireland’s New Tiger Economy?’ Irish Journal of Management, 28: 2

An extended bibliography relevant to the seminar series will be distributed to all participants at the time of the seminar.

reservations

To reserve a place please contact John Buckley at: straylight2006(at)gmail.com

monday 19/10/09 14:00 – 17:30 gradcam seminar room, john’s street, d8.

This first seminar in the new ‘after the economy’ series, will examine the development of an economy of immaterial labour and how this correlates with current arguments relating to creativity, cultural value and economic development. Some preliminary questions can be posed as a prompt to discussion. What are the transformations in labour and political imagination that have made of culture a primary economic resource and of cultural production an exemplar of entrepreneurial performance? What are the consequences of the demand that everyone must be creative and how might cultural policy adapt to this demand? When an economic rhetoric of the horizontal distribution of creativity and the capacity for innovation seeks to supplant cultural and political institutions as democratic representatives of social interests, what role can the creativity of cultural production have in revitalising a political imaginary? And not least, how might we rethink the relation of creativity to labour creatively, in response to the complexity of the problems faced?

speakers

The seminar will consist of three presentations from the following speakers:

• Tim Stott (Research Scholar, Graduate School of Creative Arts & Media)
• Dr. Enda Murphy (UCD School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy)
• Daniel Jewesbury (co-editor of Variant).

readings

The following short preparatory texts will be circulated to all participants prior to the seminar:

• Lazzarato, M. (1997), ‘Immaterial Labour’, http://www.generation-online.org/c/fcimmateriallabour3.htm
• Von Osten, M. (2004), ‘Double-Edged: creating an exhibition project on the contemporary transformations of creativity’, http://multitudes.samizdat.net/Double-Edged
• Henry, C. and Johnson, K. (2007), ‘The Creative Industries: Ireland’s New Tiger Economy?’ Irish Journal of Management, 28: 2

An extended bibliography relevant to the seminar series will be distributed to all participants at the time of the first seminar.

reservations

To reserve a place please contact Tim Stott at timothystott(at)hotmail.com

“Artist As Citizen: European Publics and the European City”

EC-EAC (European Commission Education, AudioVisual & Culture Executive Agency) Strand 2 – lead partner NCAD 52,800 euro. This project will showcase, examine and compare methods and approaches of artists and cultural theorists working in Europe, on questions concerning art in public involving artists, curators and now a professional network of partners through the European Arts Research Network (EARN). This is a mobility project on aspects of artistic research and the public sphere.

“Creative Policies for the Creative City”

EC-EAC (European Commission Education, AudioVisual & Culture Executive Agency) Strand 2 – lead partner IADT 90,000.0 euro. The Creative Policies for the Creative City is a project to develop cultural solutions that address scenarios reflecting current issues within each of our regions such as ‘developing a multi-cultural civic life for the historical centre of Toledo in Castilla – La Mancha; facilitating the engagement of marginalised and disadvantaged groups in society in formulating urban solutions for Newcastle-Gateshead; and addressing a suburban centres civic life outside of office hours for Dún Laoghaire. The Creative Policies for the Creative Cities consortium developed from an informal creative industries network between partners IADT- GradCAM (Ireland), Creativity, Culture & Education/ Creative Partnerships (UK) and Simetrías Fundación Internacional (Spain)