Within his presentation, Anton Lederer, co-founder of < rotor >, will talk about projects and experiences of the past 2 to 3 years, some of them taking place outdoor in the neighbourhood, some others being realized in the premises of the art centre. In this frame, works of the following artists will be presented: Daniela Brasil, Jakup Ferri, Robert Gabris, Gideon Horváth, Nikolay Oleynikov, Eliana Otta, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Margo Sarkisova.
Since the late 1990s < rotor > has been active in a certain district in the city of Graz, Austria, the so called Annenviertel, by bringing along artistic and cultural practices, both local and international, and a plethora of site-specific and context-based projects in around questions of place, citizenship, cohabitation, often directly involving neighbours, and local urban dwellers. The art centre has conducted an ongoing action-research through artistic and cultural propositions understood as a long-term, multi voiced and holistic experience, in which the methodology has always been a deep listening and involvement of other social actors and local organizations.
In the last couple of years, the notion of archipelagic thinking by philosopher and writer Édouard Glissant came to mind, as a major source of inspiration and guidance of < rotor >‘s practice. In his collection of essays Introduction à une Poétique du Divers he wrote: “Another form of thought is developing, more intuitive, more fragile, threatened, but in sync with the chaos-world and the unforeseeable. Though buttressed perhaps by the conquests of the human and social sciences, it derives from a poetic and imaginative vision of the world.”
In 2022 < rotor > dedicated an exhibition series with four chapters on our “other-than-human” companions. Present and ephemeral, apparently real and allegedly imaginary beings and creatures make their appearance. Thereby, humans do not occupy a special position in the sense of posthumanism, they represent one of very many species. Among others, the involved artist’s works reflect on the existence of beings on a planet Earth that has been damaged by humanity. They address the threats to species and diversity, take on the role of vulnerable beings, look for alliances and sketch ways out. Others deal with the cooperation and the symbioses of organisms, forms of coexistence between humans, animals and plants as well as with the relations to previous or future generations of “Beings & Creatures”.
Note: This presentation comes as part of the Education+ program in the framework of the In the making exhibition.
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This activity is supported by Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) program ‘EJA Kosovo’, co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Sweden, and Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
As well as the Office of President of Kosovo, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and Municipality of Prishtina