Practicing the Object. Give me an (art)object so I can find my position and continue to move

‘Practicing the Object: Give me an (art)object so I can find my position and continue to move’ intends art as the device and the terrain where autobiographical identity negotiates its position and relation with others, where borders incessantly touch, fuse, intertwine and separate.

In practicing the diverse possibilities of the art object (through case studies, experiments, analyses and production) mentor and participants will be working – in a peer-to-peer relation – on the open definition of singular and collective identities that are shaped in a continuous collision of borders between art and spectator.

Positioning oneself through the (art)object is intended to be an investigation open to the re-writing of self, which happens in a place, in a space, in an experience, in a language and it is a porous state that changes through the experience. The art object will be intended as theory, as a projection into others, as a gift, as a part of me, as the possibility to rotate around it and around others, as a way of spacing place and placing space. The encounter with the art object will make us at the same time look for a sense of belonging and find something outside our perceived known self.

Practicing the (art)object will be a movement in and out boarders, an investigation on a personal and autobiographical position which is at the same time living outside of us in the relation with the object and with the others. Special objects will be taken into consideration to define the methodology and practice of the module. The (art)object is considered as a possibility of an ethical participation to the construction of a public space, and in this sense the experience at Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto will give the group a very unique context of historical density and future development as art citizens.

The final experience – a space, a performance, journal/log, a record or everything all together, to be defined with the group – will register the seismographic activity and relations between (art)objects and subjects involved.

SCHEDULE

October 3rd
morning
Guided tour to Cittadellarte (Curated by Elena Rosina), including the Pistoletto, Arte Povera collections and temporary exhibitions.
Introduction to the Theorem of Trinamics, the symbol of the Third Paradise and the concept of Demopraxy.
afternoon
Participants and mentor's presentations: looking for an authobiographical position in the experience of curating.

October 4th
morning
The object as theory, the object as critical discourse: presentation of essays.
Reading group: (Boris Groys - Multiple authorship and Marcel Duchamp and the absolute art; Hans-Ulrich Obrist - Interviews; Enrique Vila Matas - Illogic of Kassel; Stuart Hall - Minimal Selves).
afternoon
Presentation and discussion of one essay chosen by each participant. Group discussion.
Experiment: Your object is a part of me: an object of the others that becomes mine. Each one records in an open way an experience of the other which resonated and became yours. Defining authobiographical positions through the margins of the others's choices.

October 5th
morning
The art object as an experience: presentation of case studies of artistic practice using the object in an experiential way.
Why and what for do we use objects? And what about the role of the art object in the awareness of a position? Research and production of experiential art objects by the participants (from objects present in Pistoletto Foundation’s collection to any other). Group discussion.
afternoon
Guest lecture by the artist Fatma Bucak followed by group discussion.

October 6th
morning
Experiment: Your object is a part of me: an object of the others that becomes mine. Each one records in an open way an experience of the other which resonated and became yours. Defining authobiographical positions through the margins of the others's choices.
afternoon
Around the object, around others: producing? an 'object' (action/ reconding/ writing/ object), thinking at one participant of the group, and donating a gift. Group discussion.

October 7th
morning
Position/ Positions/ Objects/ Subjects/ Occupying space.
Assemblage of the object/ record/ sysmographer/ log.
afternoon
Position/ Positions/ Objects Subjects/ Occupying space.
Final session and group discussion.
evening
Party.

REFERENCES

The mentor will prepare a reader for participants with key texts, some of which will be discussed during the week. The reader will include pieces by authors, artists, curators and intellectuals, such as Boris Groys – Multiple authorship and Marcel Duchamp and the absolute art; Hans-Ulrich Obrist – Interviews (selection); Enrique Vila Matas – Illogic of Kassel; Stuart Hall – Minimal Selves; Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev – An intimate distance riddled with gaps: the art of Janet Cardiff; Terry Smith – Artists as Curators/ Curators as Artists: Exhibitionary Form Since 1969; Elena Filipovic – When exhibitions become form: on the hystory of the artist as a curator; Stefano Velotti - La Filosofia e le arti; Aristotele – Physics 212a 5-15; Daria Filardo – Distance for Identity?; Daniel Tutt - The Object of Proximity: The Ethics of Psychoanalysis in Žižek and Santner via Lacan.
Websites
• www.contemporarypractices.net/essays/volumexi/fatmabucak.pdf
• https://vimeo.com/user12442109
• www.claudialosi.com
• www.galegati.net
• www.cardiffmiller.co
Other websites will be added to this list.

BIOGRAPHY

Daria Filardo is an art historian and independent curator based in Florence. Her curatorial practice focuses on the research of an autobiographical position which is built in experience. She is Professor of Contemporary Practices at the SACI Master Program in Studio Art in Florence and tutor of the MFA students' artistic practice. She also teaches Visual Art and coordinates the Final Project at the Master course of IED, Florence.
Selection of recent projects: curator of solo show of Alfredo Pirri, Contemporary art Museum, Podgorica, Montegegro (to be announced, 2016); I passi del Pittore, essay in catalogue of solo show Alfredo Pirri, Florence - 2016; Do you remember, Aleksander Duravcevic, (essay in the catalogue) Montenegro Pavillion, Venice Biennal - 2015; I can reach you (from one to many), Valerio Rocco Orlando, Bianco/Valente, Claudia Losi, co-curated with Pietro Gaglianò and Angel Moel Garcia, Tenuta dello Scompiglio, Lucca - 2015; Filling the void - Walker Keith Jernigan residency and solo show, Boccanera Gallery, Trento - 2014; Material Marks (as far as I can reach) Sophie Tottie, Renata Fabbri Arte Contemporanea, Milano - 2014 ; co-curator of Arte torna arte, Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence - 2012.

GUEST
Born in Iskenderun, on the Turkey-Syria border, Fatma Bucak studied Philosophy in Istanbul University and etching in Italy at the Accademia Albertina before completing an MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, London.
She has had solo exhibitions at, ARTER (Istanbul), Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art (Turin), Artpace (San Antonio), and The Ryder Project (London). Her work has also been exhibited at The Jewish Museum (New York), the 54th Venice Biennale-Arsenale/Academies, International Festival of Non-fiction Film, MoMA (New York), SALT (Istanbul), ICA (London), Spike Island (Bristol), Contemporary Art Platform Gallery Space (Kuwait), and Art in General (New York), among others. In 2013 she was the winner of the 13th Illy Present Future Prize, and was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries. She was artist-in-residence at Townhouse, Cairo in 2014.




The residency fee includes accomodation and half-board.