Register July, 2018 | Submit July, 2018 |
AFFECT SUMMER 2018
BRIEF
AGORA’S PROGRAM FOR COLLABORATIVE ARTISTIC PRACTICES IN BERLIN
AFFECT is Agora’s Program for Collaborative Artistic Practices in Berlin.
Initiated in 2014 by Agora Collective e.V.
The AFFECT residency offers an opportunity to take part in Agora’s multi-layered and
inclusive program of artistic projects and events that deal with relevant questions of
nowadays. Under the topic of Micro-Utopias: Cartographies of Relational Art in
Berlin, the program is curated to work as a catalyst in and outside its physical location in
Berlin.
The Agora Collective – Berlin-based Center for Contemporary Practices – was
originally founded in 2011 by a multidisciplinary team as an independent project space in
Berlin. In 2017, the project has been totally relocated to the former Kindl-Brauerei Area in
Rollbergstrasse / Am Südhaus, being proudly part of the Vollgutlage, a 38.000 sq.
meters area acquired by the Swiss Foundation Edith Maryon. This location in the heart
of Neukölln, has been secured for initiatives devoted to social, ecological, cultural
and artistic projects. Agora ́s current facilities consists of 1100 sq. meters basement
space, being developed to be an ongoing experimental center for artistic production and
presentation. This includes: exhibition and event programs, month-long workshop
projects, a contemporary dance platform, studios for artists, community driven activities
and artistic residency opportunities.
Under this unique new stage harboring different cross-disciplinary models of cultural and
educational production, Agora presents the fourth edition of AFFECT, relaunched as
a summer program open to international artists and culture practitioners willing to
engage within collaborative and community-based practices, experimenting with models
of working & living together in Berlin. Agora has since it’s early stages embraced
interdisciplinarity, bringing together artists and professionals from multiple fields,
providing spaces for experimentation.
Agora means now, in Portuguese, language of its Brazilian founders and also
coincidentally, in Greek, Agora is the place for encounters and exchange, the market-
place. Applications for AFFECT 2018 edition are now open.
BERLIN PROGRAM OVERVIEW
AFFECT 2018 is conceived as a research type of residency, under the theme: “Micro-
Utopias: Cartographies of relational art in Berlin”.
Taking place during June and July 2018, the program consists of four intensive week-
workshops each led by an international artist, who open their research practice as a
context for experimentation, learning and collaborating across disciplines: Diego Agulló
(Module #1), Club Real (Module #2), Zorka Wollny (Module #3) and Susanne Bosch
(Module #4). The program is initiated by Agora Collective, and curated by Paz Ponce.
Content wise the modules renew the question about the social function of art, offered as
case studies to support residents contextualizing the program’s main question in Berlin,
triggering autonomous research strands at AFFECT based on the insights gained
through the exchange of practices during their stay.
The residency outcome consist of an e-publication project, with growing contributions
by residents issued by topics, shaping a self-styled cartography of subjectivities,
encounters and methods within Berlin’s micro-utopias of art+life.
No previous collaborative experience is required to participate in AFFECT, the unique
combination of participatory workshops, studio visits, guided walks, public lectures,
open reading groups and series of interventions planned for each module, serve
international applicants as a practical research base & capacity network for the
implementation of future projects in the city. Participants have the opportunity to
collectively delve into the proposed research question, bringing in their own
sensibilities, practice and experience, while engaging with the different (micro)
densities of stories / biographies / subtopics nourishing the dynamic area of
collaborative, relational and participatory art practices.
In its fourth year of implementation, the AFFECT program hosted at Agora unites a set
of skills, tools, approaches and applied philosophies in direct conversation with a
mixed Berlin-based crew of artists, curators, independent researchers and academics,
culture managers, artist-run spaces, local institutions and other relevant social initiatives
in the city, with a special focus on the district of Neukölln.
Our hybrid residency model welcomes a wide spectrum of international and local
participants from artistic, theoretical, scientific, engineering or social working
backgrounds, to be part of a “thought-collective” exploring into artistic themes and a set
of practices related to the city of Berlin, exchanging and sharing research
methodologies in group.
WEBSITE
http://projects.agoracollective.org/affect/