B-ZONE. Becoming Europe and Beyond
18 Dec 2005 - 26 Feb 2006
B-ZONE. Becoming Europe and Beyond
December 18, 2005 - February 26, 2006
Opening: December 17, 2005, 5 - 9 pm
Participants: Ursula Biemann (with Peter Cusack and Hosoya Schaefer Architects), Lisa Parks (with Miha Vipotnik, Bor Turel, Hosoya Schaefer Architects), Angela Melitopoulos and VideA (Ankara), Dragana Zarevac (Belgrade), Freddy Vianellis (Athens) and Oktay Ince (Ankara)
B-ZONE is a territorial research and collaborative art project on the transformation of the social and political geographies stretching from Southeast Europe (the Balkans) to Turkey and the Caucasus. Each of the three core projects follows the trajectory and history of a large-scale transnational infrastructure laid down in the territories of former communist states. The Black Sea Files by Ursula Biemann explores the new pipeline connecting Baku, the world's oldest oil capital on the Caspian shore, with the Mediterreanean; Postwar Footprints by media researcher Lisa Parks investigates telecommunication and satellite infrastructure before and after the Balkan wars; and Timescapes, a project by Angela Melitopoulos with partners in Ankara, Athens and Belgrade, follows the EU-financed "Corridor X" along the Yugoslav "Highway of Brotherhood and Unity," the historic migration route connecting Germany with Turkey. The exhibition B-ZONE investigates the implications of these distinct infrastructures as sites of lived experience against the backdrop of neocolonial economic strategies, mass migration and war, while at the same time questioning the democratic character of the current ideologies of capitalist "integration" prevailing since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, which are assumed to be progressive and of historical necessity. Beyond the simple accumulation of information and facts, these artistic and theoretical approaches interlace the symbolic production of subjective and collective spaces of representation with the "silent language" of infrastructure.
Curated by Anselm Franke.
An extensive publication accompagnying the exhibition including contributions by Maurizio Lazzarato, Ginette Verstraete, Andaluna Borcila and Nermin Saybasili among others is being published by ACTAR and KW Berlin.
Introduction to the projects by Ursula Biemann, Lisa Parks and Angela Melitopoulos on Saturday, December 17 from 4 - 7 pm, 3rd floor, KW.
The visual research project Transcultural Geographies, based at the Institute for Theory of Art and Design, University of Art and Design, Zurich, was funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes).
The publication and the exhibition were supported by the Research and Development Department at the University of Art and Design, Zurich.
Forum Goethe-Institut is supporting the project with the organization of a panel dicussion, which takes place at Goethe-Institut Berlin on February 12, 2006:
12.02.2006, 5 pm
Angela Melitopoulos presents Timescapes / Corridor X, Maurizio Lazzarato reads
December 18, 2005 - February 26, 2006
Opening: December 17, 2005, 5 - 9 pm
Participants: Ursula Biemann (with Peter Cusack and Hosoya Schaefer Architects), Lisa Parks (with Miha Vipotnik, Bor Turel, Hosoya Schaefer Architects), Angela Melitopoulos and VideA (Ankara), Dragana Zarevac (Belgrade), Freddy Vianellis (Athens) and Oktay Ince (Ankara)
B-ZONE is a territorial research and collaborative art project on the transformation of the social and political geographies stretching from Southeast Europe (the Balkans) to Turkey and the Caucasus. Each of the three core projects follows the trajectory and history of a large-scale transnational infrastructure laid down in the territories of former communist states. The Black Sea Files by Ursula Biemann explores the new pipeline connecting Baku, the world's oldest oil capital on the Caspian shore, with the Mediterreanean; Postwar Footprints by media researcher Lisa Parks investigates telecommunication and satellite infrastructure before and after the Balkan wars; and Timescapes, a project by Angela Melitopoulos with partners in Ankara, Athens and Belgrade, follows the EU-financed "Corridor X" along the Yugoslav "Highway of Brotherhood and Unity," the historic migration route connecting Germany with Turkey. The exhibition B-ZONE investigates the implications of these distinct infrastructures as sites of lived experience against the backdrop of neocolonial economic strategies, mass migration and war, while at the same time questioning the democratic character of the current ideologies of capitalist "integration" prevailing since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, which are assumed to be progressive and of historical necessity. Beyond the simple accumulation of information and facts, these artistic and theoretical approaches interlace the symbolic production of subjective and collective spaces of representation with the "silent language" of infrastructure.
Curated by Anselm Franke.
An extensive publication accompagnying the exhibition including contributions by Maurizio Lazzarato, Ginette Verstraete, Andaluna Borcila and Nermin Saybasili among others is being published by ACTAR and KW Berlin.
Introduction to the projects by Ursula Biemann, Lisa Parks and Angela Melitopoulos on Saturday, December 17 from 4 - 7 pm, 3rd floor, KW.
The visual research project Transcultural Geographies, based at the Institute for Theory of Art and Design, University of Art and Design, Zurich, was funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes).
The publication and the exhibition were supported by the Research and Development Department at the University of Art and Design, Zurich.
Forum Goethe-Institut is supporting the project with the organization of a panel dicussion, which takes place at Goethe-Institut Berlin on February 12, 2006:
12.02.2006, 5 pm
Angela Melitopoulos presents Timescapes / Corridor X, Maurizio Lazzarato reads