Igor Štiks: Activist aesthetics — RESHAPE Intensive Cluj
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2019-11-18

Tuesday 12 November 2019 in Cluj, Romania

Igor Štiks presents cases of activist aesthetics in the artistic acts, practices and works related to contemporary political and social activism of progressive and left-wing movements and groups in the post-Yugoslav region.

In order to understand the variety of activist aesthetics, as well as the specific influence of Yugoslav socialist heritage, Štiks builds upon Hans-Thies Lehmann’s distinction between the aesthetics of resistance and the aesthetics of rebellion. The aesthetics of resistance is characteristic of the works exploring the actuality of past resistances, their memories and their (realised and non-realised) potentialities. The aesthetics of rebellion, on the other hand, remains in service of the movements and their actions in the context of the contemporary post-socialist crisis. In addition, he will show what happens when two aesthetics are combined and how engaged artistic practices influence the acts of activist citizenship we can observe over the last decade in occupations, protests and new social movements in the Balkans.

Igor Stiks is a writer and scholar. Earning his PhD at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and Northwestern University, he worked for years at the University of Edinburgh. He is currently a professor of politics at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade. His recent publications include Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States: One Hundred Years of Citizenship (Bloomsbury) and, together with Srećko Horvat, Welcome to the Desert of Post-Socialism (Verso). His award-winning novels The Judgment of Richard Richter and A Castle in Romagna have been translated into 15 languages.

RESHAPE presented the Intensive Cluj meeting livestreaming from Cluj, Romania on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Tuesday 12 November and Thursday 14 November 2019.

Intensive Cluj is a meeting of art practitioners interested in creating alternative organizational models for the arts.

It takes place in the framework of RESHAPE, a research and development project that brings together artists and art workers from Europe and the South Mediterranean to jointly imagine how arts will be created, accessed and experienced in the future. RESHAPE relies on the collective intelligence and creativity of the cultural workers on the ground. A bottom-up process, it gathers artists and activists who already have experience and expertise in imagining alternative practices and transforming them into concrete actions and policy recommendations.

Intensive Cluj is the first occasion when art workers who, until now, have been working in smaller groups and specific topics, come together to cross and share their findings, reflections, ideas and inspirations. It will provide a first glimpse of where this research might lead us to.

Moreover, Intensive Cluj connects the RESHAPE research to the Romanian artist and activist initiatives, sparkling new conversations and ideas.

Intensive Cluj is also an opportunity to infuse the reflection on alternative models in the arts sector with ideas and practices from broader societal debates, movements and tendencies.

Finally, Intensive Cluj is an open invitation for sharing and reflecting: how can we make sure that future artistic practices are better adjusted to the values of the sector and the evolution of society? There are no ready-made solutions and the future is ours to imagine!