The Present and Disharmony

About

This course is part of the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts's 2020 programme.

Course leader

Nicolas Schafhausen

Target group

open to anyone interested

Course aim

It has become a fixed narrative in cultural life, that we have to act politically. It is interesting that this leaves a wide cross-section of our society unimpressed – which has become not only a socio-political but also an aesthetic problem. Is art even appropriate for political debates? Does art have to be scientifically or academically correct? Does art have to be moral today? Does everything have to be possible in art – is this still a valid category? When artists engage in political debate, do they not lose their alleged autonomy? In what moral categories must we as curators judge art production?

For decades, contemporary art institutions claim art to be a "protected area". In my experience, we still find ourselves in an institutional discourse, arguing on the level of the 1990s. There are no longer any protected areas; it is a question of implementing far-reaching ideas.

The basis of the social, political and aesthetic questions in the course is: how can we establish a model that ensures the essential achievement "freedom of art" now and in the future? We aim to develop intervention strategies and forms of communication which do not lead to the false belief that better arguments can bring about change, but which show that practice itself must change. For at present, we do not have the institutions (and perhaps not even the skills) that can represent the problems of the present day.

Fee info