NUROPE IV: Ljubljana oasis

17 - 21 September 2007

Ljubljana Events: www.nurope.eu/program_text.html

Narration and Criticism: Interrupted History
In collaboration with the Irwin group, Mestni muzej (the City Museum of Ljubljana) and Moderna galerija (Museum of Modern Art)

A fourth "oasis" of NUROPE - Nomadic University for Art, Philosophy and Enterprise in Europe - will take place in Ljubljana from Wednesday, 17. October until Sunday 21 October 2007. NUROPE, a joint initiative by European Cultural Parliament, Abo Akademi University and Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, is a mobile philosophical laboratory for reflection on the challenges European leadership is facing in the creative tension between business and art It is exploiting the full potential of the meaning, role and contribution of art in the transformation of society, organizations and enterprises. It also offers a multidisciplinary academic course for European postgraduate students, giving possibilities to share experience and develop creative models for education and research in social and cultural as well as economic entrepreneurship. The coordinationg organisation is Abo Akademi University in Turku (Finnland) so the nomadic journey begun in Abo / Turku in September 2006, The second oasis was in Biella, Italy in February this year and the third one in Kassel in June. The oasis in Ljubljana will start the second expedition, which will continue to Istanbul in January and finally end at the place of its origin Abo / Turku.

An oasis is an intensive four-day session including work shops, lectures, panel debates, art events and other activities. Each oasis is held on different locations interacting with local communities on local perspectives. The local partners in Ljubljana are the Irwin group, the City Museum of Ljubljana) and Moderna galerija (Museum of Modern Art), the oasisi is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. The programme is organised around 3 different modules: Interrupted Histories, Art & Economy, Radical Education.
The oasis will take place most of the time in the City Museum, some sessions will also be at the Škuc Gallery, Moderna galerija and the Chamber of Commerce.
One of the symbols of the nomadic university, the "mediterranean table", conceived and designed by Michelangelo Pistoletto will be at the City museum for the time of the meetings.

The Ljubljana oasis meeting is for registered participants only (the programme is available here or on www.nurope.eu/ljubljana.html)), but you are kindly invited to the free events:

Friday, 19 October 2007, at 8 p.m. , Mestni muzej / The City Museum, Ljubljana
Pierre Guillet de Monthoux: LIEDERSHIP
Music performances

Pierre Guillet de Monthoux is Professor and Chair of general Management, School of Business, Stockholm University. He has published extensively on the philosophy of management and marketing, among others he is the author of the book The Art Firm. Aesthetic Management and Metaphysical Marketing. As a visiting professor Monthoux holds seminars on art and aesthetics for top executives, curates exhibitions, and stages performances hybridizing art and management. He is also a Schwungprofessor of NUROPE.

Saturday, 20 October 2007, 10.00 - 16.30, Mestni muzej / The City Museum, Ljubljana
Radical Education

Radical education is a long-term project by Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana. It consists of an international working group, an ongoing platform and network for the exchange of different kinds of knowledge and its application in various socio-cultural contexts, and a copyleft educational resource web site http://radical.temp.si, It was initiated by Bojana Piškur and Marjetica Potrč.
The project and the ideas behind it mirror the current situation in education and conflicts in knowledge production not only in Slovenia but also worldwide. For example: because the Lisbon agenda aims to transform Europe into the world's most dynamic, competitive, knowledge-based economy, the role of the educational institutions has changed, being oriented more and more towards bringing forth the economic growth, i.e. the production of knowledge is at the centre of economy. The museums are no exceptions. Keeping this particular issue in mind we want to move with this project into the field of critical reflection, transgression of borders between disciplines, and dialogical inquiry. The importance of critical education for us lies in gaining access to the urgent and important issues of our days as a result of radical pedagogy, in linking up activism, in participation and artistic practice, and demarcating education not only as a model but also as a field for political participation and cultural creativity.
The following themes will be discussed in the frame of Nurope:
- Geopolitics of radical educational practices
- Self organization under conditions of the art system in Eastern Europe
- Nomadology

10.00 RADICAL EDUCATION intro: Helena Drnovšek-Zorko, Bojana Piškur

GEOPOLITICS OF RADICAL EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES
Brett Bloom, Marc Fischer (Mess Hall, Chicago), Marcus Grätsch (Reflect!, Berlin), Gal Kirn (Agregat, Worker's - Punk's University, Ljubljana), Gašper Kralj (Dost'je, Ljubljana / Buenos Aires), Nebojša Milikić (Rex, Belgrade / Serbia), Bojana Piškur (Radical Education, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana)

11.30 SELF ORGANISATION UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE ART SYSTEM IN EASTERN EUROPE
Ana Džokić & Marc Neelen: Stealth Unlimited (Rotterdam / Belgrade), Dmitry Vilensky: Chto delat? / What is to be done? (Petersburg / Russia), Marko Sančanin: Platforma 9.81 (Zagreb / Croatia), Tomislav Medak: Multimedijalni institut - MAMA (Zagreb / Croatia)

13.30 Lunch

15.00 NOMADOLOGY
Moderator: Bojana Kunst
Bengt Kristensson Uggla: NUROPE, Miran Mohar: Transnacionala Irwin, Dragana Alfirević: Nomad Dance Academy.

The Radical Education module will be held in English. More info about NUROPE: Adela Železnik, Moderna galerija, tel. +38612416808,
adela.zeleznik@mg-lj.si

In collaboration with the Irwin group, Mestn muzej (the City Museum of Ljubljana) and Moderna galerija (Museum of Modern Art)

PARTICIPANTS RADICAL EDUCATION

Dragana Alfirević (Nomad Dance Academy) is a performer/dancer/actress/pedagogue/coordinator of Nomad Dance Academy and co-founder and program coordinator of Station, service for contemporary dance Belgrade.

Brett Bloom & Marc Fischer (Mess Hall, Chicago) We draw on our varied backgrounds and interests to produce creative exhibitions, events, projects and publications. Within our work we create socially dynamic situations and spaces for dialogue. We collaborate both together and with others outside of our group. Our projects embrace a range of content that requires varied visual approaches and presentation strategies.

Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen (STEALTH.unlimited, Rotterdam/Belgrade). STEALTH.unlimited uses a cross-disciplinary approach and experiments on the borderlines of cultural and technological issues - visual culture, spatial research, programming, cultural activism.

Marcus Grätsch is a founding member of Reflect! - Association for political education and society research and a member of Fels - Für eine linke Strömung. His major research interests are political economy especially the transition of labour from fordism to postfordism.

Gal Kirn is engaged in autonomous students struggles and in theoretical production of critical review Agregat. He is a postgraduate student of philosophy and psychoanalysis and a member of Workers'-Punks' University.

Gašper Kralj is a member of Dost'je collective, anthropologist and co-researcher with the new social movements.

Bojana Kunst is a philosopher and contemporary art theoretician. Her primary research interests are the problem of the body in the contemporary performance, theatre and dance, gender studies, philosophy of the body, art and technology, art and science, theatre and dance studies, representation of contemporary identities.

Tomislav Medak is a member of Multimedia Institute/MAMA (Zagreb, Croatia). His theoretical interests are constellations of contemporary political philosophy, media theory and aesthetics. He's a free software and free culture advocate. He's member of urban activist initiative "Right to the City". In his spare time he's working with a Zagreb-based theatre group BADco.

Nebojša Milikić, artist, cultural worker and independent researcher from Belgrade. Initiator and participant of the projects Flux, Our building, KEF, Discussion On An Art Work. Works in the Cultural Centar Rex in Belgrade, Serbia as the youth program coordinator.

Miran Mohar/Irwin was founded in Ljubljana, acting within the NSK movement since 1984. Its work is based on potent eclecticism and the "retro principle," both as means of realizing the syncretic coexistence of various artistic styles ranging from the tradition of the historical avantgardes, to popular national imagery, to the visual production of the totalitarian regimes.

Bojana Piškur, curator in Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, one of the initiators of the Radical Education project.

Marko Sančanin is a senior researcher at Platforma 9,81 - Institute for Research in Architecture.

Dmitry Vilensky, artist, member of "Chto Delat?" workgroup, initiator of the project "Self-Education" which was realised in Moscow in September 2006.

Bengt Kristensson Uggla (NUROPE) is a Amos Anderson Professor of Philosophy, Culture and Management at Abo Akademi University and Head of the NUROPE project.