19.11.–23.11.2005

Exhibition / Symposium / Panel Discussion

A project of the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste - Städelschule, Frankfurt/Main, in co-operation with Missing Identity, Kosovo, and relations.

Nikola Dietrich (Portikus, Frankfurt/Main) and Dirk Fleischmann (Städelschule, Frankfurt/ Main) together with a team from Missing Identity conceived of a program to enable the exchange between young artists from Prishtina and Frankfurt/Main and allowed this project to unfold and develop over the course of one year.

Beginning with the themes from Missing Identity, that is part of the two-year long program with relations, the question is posed as a recurring element to collaboration: to what extent can artistic production reflect the methods and mechanisms of identity formation? Students from the alternative art academy of Missing Identity, the Contemporary Art Institute EXIT in Prishtina, and the Städelschule meet each other and develop individual art projects that will be realized in Prishtina and Frankfurt. These interactions are accompanied by a series of theory workshops.

The ACADEMY REMIX project is one of the few initiatives that enables an exchange between artists from Kosovo and Germany. The project is especially important for the Städelschule, as it creates an extension of the art academy by generating a forum for the interaction of young artists and the cooperation between different cultures in a very intensive way. Providing motivation and support for communication and collaborative, artistic work - in this sense, the academy expands into a forum for cultural exchange and discourse.

The difficulty in understanding - both the historical and current - social and political situation in Kosovo forms the basis for the interaction between the students in this exchange. The plethora of information about the current situation in Kosovo will be reduced through these collaborative events, although the notion about how the questions and themes that arise from the specific situation in Kosovo pose themselves in a bilateral context will also be brought up for discussion. Dealing with Kosovo is at the same time occasion for the fundamental discussion around the limitations and potentials of artistic actions in relation to social issues.

This year, two working meetings took place in Frankfurt/Main (February 2005) and in Prishtina (April 2005). Workshops and lectures from internationally renowned artists and curators are offered not only at the academies but within the framework of these collaborative working meetings. The project was accompanied with theory seminars from the artist and art-critic, Ronald Jones. Jones is professor at the Konstfack Art Academy in Stockholm and has often been invited in the past to guest workshops and seminars at the Städelschule. For the second working meeting in Prishtina, presentations were held by the Albanian curator, Edi Muka, the Kosovo architect, Veton Orona, and the Peja-based artist, Sokol Beqiri.

In the three-step program, the 25 students present the development of the individual projects to the central theme of the program: within the framework of the StadtRaum project, Frankfurt (Summer 2005) the sketches and the first interim report were presented. The next project presentation took place in Prishtina between September 23 - 27, 2005. The final presentation of the project will be on view in Portikus, Frankfurt/Main between the 18th and 23rd of November, 2005.

The progress of the project is documented on the website (www.academy-remix.de). The website brings together the exchange of ideas and collaborative efforts of the participants outside of the physical meetings as well as functioning as an archive of the project's activities and research.

 

SYMPOSIUM
November 19 - 20, 2005
Portikus im Leinwandhaus, Weckmarkt 17, 60311 Frankfurt/Main

In the same way as artist practice amongst the students, lectures and seminars have promoted discussions and exchange between the participants. To shed light upon the broad spectrum of the ACADEMY REMIX project, the ACADEMY REMIX SYMPOSIUM is creating a supplementation for the presentation of the final individual projects from the ACADEMY REMIX in Kunsthalle Portikus.

The symposium deals with the methods, models and possibilities for art academies and integrates the central questions posed by the ACADEMY REMIX projects:

1. What are the limitations and potentials for artistic achievement in relation to social-orientated subject matter?

2. How do specific social themes manifest themselves in individual artistic activities?

3. To what extent can artistic production reflect the methods and mechanisms of identity formation?

4. What context enables the questions posed by the specific situation in Kosovo to be addressed?

The presentation in Portikus brings both aspects of the ACADEMY REMIX together: The Kunsthalle is not only an exhibition space for the artists' projects, but also the venue for the symposium. With this an exhibitions-architecture emerges that integrates not only art works and documentation about the participating students, but also offers more than 130 seats for the symposium participants. To meet the demands of this event, there will be grandstand elements installed up the ceiling in the Kunsthalle.

The Panels and Questions in Overview

1) Paradigms in art teaching
The relation and emphasis of interdisciplinary and conceptual approaches to artistic techniques in education will be discussed. To what extent should the education of the students delve into and prepare them for the mechanisms of the western art industry? What critical approaches should be therefore required? In a social context, what function does the art academy fulfil in relation to other institutions of higher education?

2) The artist teacher and the art student
The roll of the teacher and the relation to the individual students should be discussed. What models and functions are there outside of the master-class system or academic structures of education? What does the art student expect from the academy - and what does the academy expect of the art student?

3) The art academy in between international exchange and the local
What roll does the art academy play in the local, urban community, and how important is the local community for the academy in the art-world's global network?

4) What is artistic competence and how is it mediated
How does it come across to a young artist? Should the specific competences be only offered in their respective classes or are there more general approaches? What is the meaning of 'professionalism' and 'competence', and are these terms even suitable or applicable in the discipline of art? Are there standards or criterion for artistic quality, or is everything dependant on the originality of the artist? To what extent does one run the risk in this case of falling back on a romantic idea of the artist?

The following guests have been invited:
Joseph Backstein, Ute Meta Bauer, Mehmet Behluli, Sokol Beqiri, Saskia Bos, Ekaterina Degot, Branko Dimitrijevic, Okwui Enwezor, Bruce Ferguson, Teresa Gleadowe, Maria Hlavajova, Ronald Jones, Katrin Klingan, Steven Henry Madoff, Joanna Mytkowska, Dan Perjovschi, Marjetica Potrc, Arturas Raila, Erzen Shkololli, Angela Vettese, Florian Waldvogel, Richard Wentworth, Anton Vidokle, Borut Vogelnik, Sislej Xhafa.

The following professors at the Städelschule have confirmed their participation in the panel:
Daniel Birnbaum, Isabelle Graw, Christa Näher, Tobias Rehberger, Simon Starling.

The symposium has been made possible by the friendly support of the Heinz and Gisela Friederichs Foundation.

PROGRAM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2005

13:00 - 13:15 Welcome with Daniel Birnbaum and Katrin Klingan
13:15 - 13:30 Mehmet Behluli about the project "Missing Identity"

I Paradigms in art teaching
Moderation: Steven Henry Madoff
13:30 - 14:30 Statements
Ute Meta Bauer, Mehmet Behluli, Saskia Bos, Ekaterina Degot, Okwui Enwezor, Richard Wentworth
14:45 - 16:00 Discussion
16:00 Break (30 min)

II The artist teacher and the art student
Moderation: Daniel Birnbaum
16:30 - 18:30 Discussion and Statements
Teresa Gleadowe, Ronald Jones, Christa Näher, Marjetica Potrc, Tobias Rehberger, Arturas Raila, Anton Vidokle, Borut Vogelnik; with active participation of the students
19:00 Panel Discussion KOSOVO - WAITING FOR THE STATE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2005

III The art academy in between international exchange and the local
Moderation: Bruce Ferguson

13:30 - 14:15 Introduction: Dan Perjovschi
14:15 - 15:00 Statements
Angela Vettese, Florian Waldvogel, Sislej Xhafa
15:00 - 16:00 Discussion
16:00 Break (30 min)

IV Art academy now - What is artistic competence and how is it mediated?
Moderation: Maria Hlavajova

16:30 - 18:00 Discussion und Statements
Josef Backstein, Sokol Beqiri, Branko Dimitrijevic, Isabelle Graw, Joanna Mytkowska, Erzen Shkololli