Art of the Stateless State / New World Summit

Protest Puppetry in the Philippines, 2013, Photo: Jonas Staal

27 January - 26 April 2015
Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana

The New World Summit is an artistic and political organization founded by artist Jonas Staal that develops "parliaments" for unacknowledged states, stateless and blacklisted political groups. The members from the New World Summit together collaborate in creating temporary platforms all around the world in art institutions, theaters and public spaces to tell the histories of stateless political struggle banned from the existing political order.

The New World Summit claims to redefine the project of democracy - the unrestricted representation of all voices - through the space of art. Developed in the age of the War on Terror, the summits that took place so far in Berlin (Germany), Leiden (the Netherlands), Kochi (India) and Brussels (Belgium) focused largely on organizations confronted with modern day politics of blacklisting, such as the Basque Independence Movement, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the Kurdish Women Movement, the National Liberation Movement of Azawad and the Oromo Liberation Front.

In a period of two years the New World Summit effectively build a network of representation for dozens of stateless political groups, created collaborations with both art and diplomatic institutions, and founded its own school, the New World Academy, with BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, which facilitates collaborations between artists, students and stateless political organizations.

The title of this first overview of the work of the New World Summit refers to two fundamental aspects of the organization. On one hand, it refers to the role of art in creating alternative political platforms through new visual, architectural and choreographical models in the form of parliaments in which stateless political groups can speak publically. On the other hand, it also refers to the role of art within stateless political groups.

Art of the Stateless State will exhibit the architectural models and designs of the New World Summit as well as video documentation of several of its speakers. Further, the exhibition will give an overview of the role of art in representing unacknowledged states through contributions of artists, writers and theorists engaged in stateless political struggle, such as the role of protest puppetry in creating alternative people's trials in the Philippines and the role of art in the creation and representation of the new state of Azawad (northern-Mali).

With contributions by Lisa Ito (theorist, Concerned Artists of the Philippines), Moussa Ag Assarid (writer, National Liberation Movement of Azawad) and Mazou Ibrahim Touré (Artist Association of Azawad).

http://www.newworldsummit.eu

New World Summit is: Jonas Staal (artist and founder); Younes Bouadi (production and research); Renée In der Maur (project coördinator and programmer); Imara Limon (communication); Henry Procter (media and communications officer); Paul Kuipers (architect); Remco van Bladel (visual identity); Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei (editor and advisor); Robert Kluijver (diplomat and advisor); Sjoerd Oudman (web design); Kasper Oostergetel (development and construction); Jan de Bruin, Rens van Meegen, Rob Schröder and Gabriëlle Provaas (film documentation).

The exhibition is curated by Bojana Piškur.

The project has been supported by