Almost Half a Dozen

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Five Scandinavia-based curators, critics and researchers make their way to Vilnius to conduct research in conjunction with the curatorial experiment titled The Lottery—inspired by the harrowing short story by Shirley Jackson (The New Yorker,1948). The story is set in a small village which periodically sacrifices one of its inhabitants for the sake of maintaining their insular community as part of an ongoing ritual of violence, inhumanity and exclusion by stoning to death one unlucky ‘winner’ of their twisted lottery.

These incoming individuals plan to re-contextualize and explore the narrative’s thematics and concerns stemming from this classic literary gem—once banned and negatively criticized—in the form of new work via their specific practices. Vilnius is the starting point, inquisitive site of investigation and constraint for mapping and making connections between theory and practice. The ‘community’ in the story could be metaphor for the art world at large. If so: what should this supposed art world discard, so as to thrive and protect itself against detrimental components lurking within its fragile yet evolving structure (e.g. influence, nepotism, association, authority, discrimination)?

The group desires to meet and collaborate with Vilnius-based creatives and professionals—to locate overlapping interests and begin formulating new possibilities for engagement between Vilnius and Scandinavia—both in connection to The Lottery and in support of other ambitions. Following a loose format, each individual shall introduce him/herself, previous tangents, current projects and any developments unfolding.

 

6-6:30pm: introductions

6:30-7:30pm: presentations

7:30-8pm: wind-down

 

Speakers

Jacquelyn Davis (SE / US) is an independent curator, writer, editor and critic; she is a recent participant at Rupert. Davis’s critical writing has frequented publications such as Art Agenda, Artforum, Art Review, Echo Gone Wrong, Frieze and Kunstforum—among others. She is editor and curator of various books, e.g. Lorazepam and the Valley of Skin: Extrapolations on Los Angeles / 730910-2155, Vad har du på gång? and Pasiphaë and has contributed texts to books, such as Imagining the Audience: Viewing Positions in Curatorial Practice and Ann Lislegaard’s Spiral Book.Davis self-publishes chapbooksand is working on two full-length works: short stories titled sham and a poetic narrative the climber derivative. She holds a MA from Konstfack in Critical Writing & Curatorial Practice and a MFA in Creative Writing from the School of Critical Studies from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Davis is founder of the curatorial node and small publishing press valeveil, as well as initiator offorthcoming curatorial experiments and platforms Non Finito and The Lottery. www.instrumentandoccupation.se

Power Ekroth (SE / NO) lives and works in Berlin; she is an independent curator and critic as well as an editor of the magazine SITE. She writes regularly for Artforum and has published frequently in Contemporary, Flash Art, Frieze and other magazines. During 2013-2014, she holds the position as external curator at Telemark Kunstnersenter, Skien, Norway. Recent curated exhibitions: “High on Low-Life” (2014) at Telemark Kunstnersenter; “Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast” / Momentum Biennial (2013); “Idyll” / Turku Biennial (2013); Nordic Pavilion (2012) in the Dak’Art Biennial (co-curated with Marita Muukkonen); Nordic Art Today: Conceptual Debts, Broken Dreams and New Horizons (2011) (co-curated with Kari Brandtzaeg, Birta Gudjunsson, Simon Sheikh, Anna Bitkina and Aura Seikkula)among others. www.sitemagazine.net

Stefanie Hessler (DE)is an independent curator and writer currently based in Sweden. She is the co-founder of the art space Andquestionmark in Stockholm (with Carsten Höller). Recent curated projects include the exhibition “Outside” at Index—The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation with a film screening at Moderna Museet in Stockholm; “Klara Lidén: The Myth of Progress (Moonwalk)” at Lugar a Dudas in Cali; “The Return of the Object” at Invaliden1 in Berlin; “Marjetica Potrč. Caracas: Dry Toilet” at Die Ecke Arte Contemporáneo in Santiago de Chile and the festival and symposium “Performing Recalcitrance” at the Royal Institute of Art Stockholm. Hessler regularly writes for Contributor and has published articles in several exhibition catalogs, for instance for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago de Chile and Museum DKM in Duisburg, and co-edited books such as “Máquina de Escrever / Typewriter” published by Capacete São Paulo and “Katja Aglert: Winter Event—antifreeze” published by Art & Theory Stockholm. During the 2010 Bienal de São Paulo, Hessler initiated and wrote the blog “Studio Visits” for the Goethe-Institut in Brazil. Upcoming projects include the exhibition “Speed” at the Mamam Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães in Recife and the Momentum Nordic Biennial for Contemporary Art in Moss.

Alida Ivanov (b. 1985) is an independent curator and writer based in Stockholm. She received her BA in Art History combined with Business Administration in 2008 and her MA at the International Curating Art Programme at Stockholm University. In the past eight years, she has worked with various exhibitions and art projects, which led to running her own art space, Alida Ivanov Gallery in Stockholm 2009-2010. She now writes regularly for the Latvian online magazine Arterritory and other journals. The focus on young, up-and-coming Swedish and international artists continues as a main interest combined with how myths around art and people are created. www.alidaivanov.com

Lars-Erik Hjertström Lappalainen is an arts writer teaching philosophy at Södertörns Högskola, Stockholm. He has done research on Nietzsche at CNRS (Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in Paris and published on Kierkegaard. His theoretical and critical writing has appeared in Art Papers, Springerin, Spike Art Quarterly, SITE, Code Magazine, Kunstkritikk—among others. He has been involved in curatorial projects, given lectures, taught at various art schools and has translated philosophy from French, German and Italian (Deleuze, Derrida, Agamben, Ettore Roca, Schelling and others) and art texts (e.g. R. Smithson) from English. Additionally, he is an editor of tsnok. www.tsnok.se

Prticipating Lithuanian artists/critics/curators: Kristina Inčiūraitė, Evaldas Jansas, Laima Kreivytė, Julius Balčikonis, Saulius Leonavičius, Vytautas Michelkevičius, Vsevolod Kovalevskij.