Arthub Launches Default with Ramdom
Default is a biennial experience which was born from the reflection of public art’s role among the urban regeneration policies, the recovery of disused places, as well as the exploitation and interaction with public spaces. The first edition, launched collaboratively by Arthub and Ramdom, took place in Lecce (Italy); the debate between artists and professionals focused on key questions of our (austere) time:
how to interact within a wider governmental policy concerning urban regeneration? How to tackle the increasingly politicized stakes that underpin cultural inquiry on urban centers’ and neighborhoods’ revitalization?
Furthermore, do artists, curators, art managers and policy makers have to default to “art and regeneration practices” which are no longer feasible yet still entrenched in cultural structures because there is no other alternative given?
The Project
For ten days, twenty international artists tackle with curators, artists, cultural producers, transnational partners and local audience the issues of the regeneration of urban spaces, exchanging, discussing and analyzing previous projects and experiences, as well as conceiving new ones.
The emerging artists were selected through a transnational call which boosted diversity and was open to visual and performing arts, as well as new media practices.
By the end of the Masterclass, artists were asked to implement, improve and adapt to the local environment. They will move forward with their artistic proposals according to the input they received from the experience in locale as well as the meetings, the events and the exchange with the other participating artists.
The final presented projects will be evaluated and the best ones, in terms of in terms of quality and feasibility, will be produced the following year.
The Masterclass is enriched by complementary activities (e.g. panels and an exhibition) open to the “general public”, which aim is to build consciousness on the above mentioned topics. In order to create a clear and supportive frame, the months both preceding and following the Masterclass are characterized by events that will take place in some of the cities and countries participating in DEFAULT. Particular attention will be paid to the participation of the local and general audience, through the organization of meetings with sector experts on the role of public art as a tool for socio-cultural transformation.
Participants include:
Rachela Abbate (DEU), Heba Amin (EGY), Maria Rebecca Ballestra (ITA), Bean (UK), Alberto Borea (PE), Stefano Cagol (ITA), Natascha Hagenbeek (NL), Emma Houlihan (EIRE), Lucia Leuci (ITA), Tonka Malekovic (HRV), Simone Massafra (ITA), Anthony McInneny (AUS), Marcus Owens (USA), Giuseppe Pansa (ITA), Serena Porrati (ITA), Rosario Montero Prieto (UK), Sergio Racanati (ITA), Alessia Rollo (ITA), Tatiana Villani (ITA), Angela Zurlo (ITA).
Full biographies on artists can be found here.
Guests:
Lewis Biggs (Biennial of Liverpool), Celine Condorelli (artist), Hannah Conroy (curator, AGM), Alfredo Cramerotti (curator, AGM and QUAD), Julia Draganovic (No Longer Empty), Ana Hoffner (artist), Andrea Lissoni (Xing and Hangar Bicocca), Paolo Mele (Ramdom), Gregor Neuerer (artist), Filipa Ramos ((curator and art critic), Andrei Siclodi (Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen), Yesomi Umolu (curator, AGM) and Pietro Gaglianò (art critic).
Partners:
Associazione Sud-Est – Manifatture Knos (ITA); AGM – Annual General Meeting Culture (Nottingham, UK); Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen (Innsbruck, Austria); Bjcem – Biennale dei Giovani Artisti dell’Europa e del Mediterraneo; Fondazione Fitzcarraldo (Torino); Archiviazioni (Lecce)
With the support of: Vessel (Bari); Arci Puglia; Officine creative; Comune di Lecce, Lupiae Servizi, ANFITEATRO Lab.
