Freiraum Festival & Summit 2020
Online Summit & Physical Events around Europe
30-31 October & 1 November 

[online] [physical] [conference] [festival] [platform] [network] [tool]

ABOUT 

The Freiraum Festival & Summit is a pan-european festival joining cultural and civil society institutions, thinkers, artists and audiences from Europe and beyond. 

In the current situation caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, Goethe-Institut and its partners are seeking to continue their support to the European cultural and creative sector and the civil society. While arts and culture played an important role in times of lockdown for people to stay in touch with the outside world, artists, cultural and educational professionals are among the most fragile ones. 

To support the sector and zoom in on highly relevant debates around issues of civic and artistic freedom in Europe today, the “Pan-European Freiraum-Festival”, is organised in the framework of its Freiraum project/network/platform, in collaboration with a curatorial team representing 53 partners from around Europe, and under the artistic direction of Goethe-Institut Brussels and ArtBOX Creative Arts Management, in the context of the German EU presidency in fall 2020. 
“Freiraum” is a project of the Goethe-Institut in Europe in cooperation with 53 actors from the sectors of culture, science and civil society. Since 2017, around 40 European cities have been exploring the issues: What is the state of freedom in Europe today? Where is it endangered? How do we strengthen it?

FORMAT: ONLINE & PHYSICAL

The Festival Freiraum is digital, local, sustainable and solidarity-based: it is a decentralized collaborative festival held simultaneously online and in physical locations all over Europe on 30-31 October and 1 November 2020. The festival is developed jointly by all the partners and consists of a jointly designed online summit and 20 local events held by the partners. The curated online programme is live broadcasted on 31 October and 1 November so that everyone can watch at home or at organised Freiraum events and comment live. ​

TOPICS

The Freiraum Online Summit tackles the subjects of the State of Freedom in Europe today and the State of the Arts. Invited scholars and practitioners think along the lines of the following themes and present their questions, knowledge, ideas, and solutions. ​

THE STATE OF FREEDOM IN EUROPE TODAY
30-31 October 2020

Keynotes

​Ivan Krastev (political scientist, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna) 
Philippe Van Parijs (political philosopher, Guest Professor, Universities of Louvain and Leuven and Robert Schuman Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence)
Eva Illouz (Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, author)
​

Session 1: The ongoing biopolitical demo-crisis

How can societies respond to the coming schisms of the anthropo-centric world, which has been causally linked to pandemic outbreaks? How will individuals navigate the constant connectivity the future holds and the wish to unplug?

With contributions by: 
Franco Bifo Berardi (philosopher, theorist and activist), 
Andreas Weber (Dr., Biologist, Philosopher and Nature Writer, University of the Arts, Berlin)
Moderator: Liam Gillick (artist)
​

Session 2: Social movements and emerging solidarities

What can be the future of open and cohesive societies after this experience? Closed borders and limited travel, restrictions on public gatherings and no-touch imperatives could all feed a culture of indifference and social disengagement, including disinvestment from global society. Is an empathic vision for global democracy possible, where the actual needs of people are put ahead of the neoliberalisation of social life?

With contributions by:
Wendy Brown (political theorist; core faculty member in The Program for Critical Theory - University of California - Berkeley), 
Alfredo Saad Filho (Professor of Political Economy and International Development in the Department of International Development at King’s College London), 
Svetlana Slapsak (Prof. of Anthropology of Ancient Worlds, Anthropology of Gender and Balkanology, Former Dean of ISH, Ljubljana Graduate School in Humanities)
​
Moderator: Anna Carastathis (political theorist based at the Feminist Autonomous Centre for Research in Athens)

THE STATE OF THE ARTS: NEW FORMATS & AUDIENCES
1 November 2020

In partnership with Common Lab project by Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki & ArtBOX, in the framework of Goethe-Institut's Excellency Initiatives 2020-21 and in collaboration with TIF-Helexpo (GR)

Can the art world reflect an inclusive attitude in its aims without pretending to be all things to all people?  Can we give political life to the notions of the precarious art worker, the inclusive audience, and critical ephemeral art for social change?
​

Topics & Speakers

REMEDIATION & DIGITISATION
Helgard Haug (Author and director. Co-founder of Rimini Protokoll)
Daria Mille (Curator at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe)
Ben Vickers (Chief Technology Officer, Serpentine Galleries)

AUTHOR/CREATOR, ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIES, PRECARIOUS LABOUR FUNCTIONS
Julieta Aranda (artist, co-director of e-flux)
Gregory Sholette (artist, writer, activist and teacher)

COMMONING
Mark Beasley (curator and curatorial director, Pace Gallery, New York)
Eric Ellingsen (Landscape Urbanist and Artist)
Mark Titchner (artist)

INSTITUTIONS
Ash Bulayev (Director of Onassis AiR & independent curator)
Thomas Oberender (Director of Berliner Festspiele, Artistic Director of Martin Gropius Bau - Immersion Programme)

Moderators: Sotirios Bahtsetzis (art theorist, curator, scientific advisor of Common Lab, Research Director of ArtBOX.gr), with Christos Savvidis (artistic director of Common Lab and founding director, ArtBOX.gr) and Lydia Chatziiakovou (curator of Common Lab, Co-Director of ArtBOX.gr)
Live-Stream from Brussels, Thessaloniki and other cities in Europe
30-31/10 & 1/11 2020

​Organised by Goethe-Institut

Artistic Direction: 
Goethe-Institut Brussels & ArtBOX 

General Coordination: 
Maud Qamar, Goethe-Institut Brussels 
 
Curatorial Committee: 
Sotirios Bahtsetzis (art theorist, curator, Research Director - ArtBOX.gr),
Ira Bliatka (Independent researcher), Signe Sophie Boggild 
(Copenhagen Architecture Festival), 
Lydia Chatziiakovou 
(Co-Director - ArtBOX.gr), 
Jane Dudman (Arist and Curator), 
Alonia Elizalde (Cultural Program Director for the Goethe-region Southwest Europe), Iskra Geshoska (Kontrapunkt, Skopje), Edit Pula (Artist, Curator, Music Producer), Maud Qamar (Goethe-Institut Brussels), Christos Savvidis 
(Founding Director - ArtBOX.gr), 
Milan Zvada (Záhrada, Banska Bystrica)

State of the Arts organised in collaboration Common Lab by
Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki & ArtBOX 
General Director: Dr. Rudolf Bartsch (Director - Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki)
Coordination: Aris Kalogiros (Culture Department - Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki)

Technical Advisors: 
Hyperwerk Institute for Postindustrial Design (Max Spielmann, Martin Scaffner)

Technical Coordination: 
​Sotirios Stampoulis

Under the auspices of the German presidency of the EU Council.

FULL PROGRAMME & MORE DETAILS ON THE PROJECT WEBSITE