Announcement ASCA newsletter

Second Encountro Murcia–Amsterdam on Migratory Aesthetics, September 19-21, 2007. Convenors: Mieke Bal & Miguel-Angel Hernandez-Navarro

This Encuentro, to which everyone is welcome, is the fourth in a series of N.W.O.-sponsored workshops on the combination of a keyword in the arts, “aesthetics,” and another keyword, describing the social makeup of the contemporary world, “migration.” Putting the two words together, a changing group of international scholars explores in an ongoing collaborative effort what can be defined and analyzed beyond the thematic link. The resulting term, “migratory aesthetics” explores the current cultural and artistic moment in view of the merging of cultures.
The project began with two workshops, organized in collaboration with the CentreCath at the University of Leeds, in 2004 and 2005, and continued with a focus on Spain. In this second set of workshops, a video exhibition accompanies the academic discussions – or the other way around. In March 2006, the exhibition 2MOVE opened in Murcia, in the South of Spain, and on September 19th, the exhibition opens in the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen, with the support of, among others, the Mondrian Foundation. (www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl)
The Encuentro is titled “Migratory Politics” and continues the examination of migratory aesthetics with special attention to the ”micro-politics” of art: art’s agency to make small interventions in the social world and the politics that inform it; mostly on the barely visible level of person-to-person interaction, but also the ways information streams are organized and cinematic and televisual presentations “image” participants of the plural society of today, for example.
Four of the working sessions take place at the beautiful location of the Lloyd Hotel, Oostelijke Handelskade 34, Amsterdam. The first session, in the morning of Wednesday September 19th, takes place in the old Bakery of the Zuiderzeemuseum. Participants will be collected at the station by a boat that sails over the IJsselmeer to the museum. After the session, lunch is provided and followed by a short introduction to the exhibition by Mieke Bal. This is followed by the official opening of the exhibition.
On Thursday and Friday a public lecture will be given by Miguel-Ángel Hernandez Navarro, co-organizer of the workshop and co-curator of the exhibition, in the Lloyd hotel at 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 20th and by Salah Hassan in the Bungehuis 1.01, also at 4.00 p.m.

Participation
Those who wish to participate in the entire workshop are asked to read the papers ahead of time. A Reader with all the papers will be provided. This is free of charge but engages the taker to participate fully.