Seht das Leiden. Gedenkt der Tat. Was nur machen wir mit unsresgleichen. Denkt an Frieden, denkt an Sühne, wie uns vorgegeben ward.

Bleistift, Polychromo und Aquarell auf Zeichenkarton 29,7 x 21 cm.

Preis auf Anfrage.

Several years ago, a comic artist/social activist, Ted Dave in Vancouver started the now global ‘Buy Nothing Day*’ which is today , November 27 in the US and November 28 Internationally.

Often it is hard to gauge the effect that the creative area can bring to important issues and that charge is now being laid more frequently in front of individual artists and the wider arts community in regards to climate change and many other connected issues such as consumerism.

Find a new use for your credit card today!

Single artists/artworks can have profound effects across our culture, it’s hard not to think of the late German Joseph Beuys for e.g., a giant in the contemporary fine art world but who was also a founding member of the first Green Party, now the most quickly growing political party in Europe.

But Art is not like other areas of human activity that we can define or measure and creators march to a myriad of ideas and expressions. Their artworks connection with their audience, at a particular time, can not be easily calculated or predicted and nor it should they be – art’s greatest asset is it’s mystery, surprise and its power to connect and inspire. The only thing we must do is ensure support for our artists’ development so our cultural responses will be strong, rich and imaginative enough to respond to today’s challenges.

PS Apple has its one day sale today in Ireland, just the day before the Europe 2009 Buy Nothing Day -  phew, I bet it was relieved  it hadn’t coincided with Buy Nothing Day.

* excerpt from Wikipedia: The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September 1992 “as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption.”^[2] In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, also called “Black Friday”, which is one of the 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside North America and Israel, Buy Nothing Day is the following Saturday. Adbusters faced censorship from major television networks and CNN was the only one to air their ads.^[3] Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, France, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.^[2]

Grübelnd liegt er oder wissend, doch er ist nicht wahr bei sich. Auf der Brust das rote Mal, deutet Gutes wirklich nicht.

Pitkreide, Pastellkreide und Polychromo auf Schreibmaschinenpapier 29,7 x 21 cm.

Preis auf Anfrage.

—”… als ein totgeschossner Hase auf der Sandbahn Schlittschuh lief…”— Täglich befasst er sich mit solchen Paradoxen, denn er hat bemerkt, dass wir immer an der Wirkung herumdoktern und nur selten die Ursache beheben.

Für den Kohlrabi schälenden Beuys!

Bleistift, Polychromo und Aquarell auf Zeichenkarton 28 x 20 cm.

Preis auf Anfrage.

Er hat Lauscher, um zu hören, und so erzähle ich ihm gern, was Bedeutung hat im Schaffen und Bedeutung hat für ihn. All die Worte sind erläuternd und so klärt sich manches auf, denn für mich ist’s mit Gewissheit der Beginn zu Weisheit und zu Sinn.

El passat dia 3 de Septembre va tenir lloc l’inauguració de l’ubicació del retrat de Gerardo Fernández Albor,  ex–president de la Xunta de Galicia, a la sala II de protocol de la planta de presidència del Reichstag. El retrat permaneixerà mirant cap a la Porta de Branderburg en el edifici restaurat per Sir Norman Foster. El retrat creat per Rita Martorell l’any 1995 en el Parlament Europeu d’ Estrasburg i que ara els germans han rescatat per a rememorar les importants realitzacions materialitzades en pro d’Alemanya i davant de tot, de l’Europa comuna­­ i unida. Aquest retrat realitzat per Rita Martorell perdurarà als murs del Parlament Alemà  formant part de la seva col.lecció d’art juntament amb obres d’altres artistes que s’han pronunciat en el Bundestag per a l’història d’Alemanya com G.Baselitz, J.Beuys , G.Richter o C.Boltanski.

L’acte d’inauguració amb la col.laboració de l’Ambaixada d’Espanya a Berlin i el Gabinet de presidència del Bundestag, fou presenciat pel vice–president del Parlament Alemany Dr. Wolfgang Thierse, la directora general de relacions exteriors i Coa Unió Europea de la Fundació Galicia Europa Sra. Belén Hevia i el Ministre Conseller de l’Ambaixada d’Espanya a Berlín Sr.Enric Sardà.

Norbert Lammert, president del Bundestag comunicà el seu desitg de que “aquest retrat ocupi un lloc destacat en la col.lecció d’art del Parlament Alemà” en homenatge a Fernández Albor doncs aquesta és la segona ocasió que les autoritats germanes mostren l’agraïment que Alemanya li honra després de la caiguda del mur de Berlín el 3 d’octubre de 1990, per la seva compromesa activitat durant el procés d’unificació de les dues meitats del país en la seva etapa d’eurodiputat (1989-1999). La primera vegada que van destacar les seves meritòries gestions com a president de la Comissió del Parlament Europeu, va rebre la màxima condecoració del Govern Alemà, la Gran Creu de l’Ordre al Mèrit amb Estrella.

Rita Martorell prepara en aquests moments tres exposicions itinerants per a tres ciutats la Fundació Mudima de Milà, l’Institut Cervantes de Palerm i l’Institut Cervantes d’Atenes, on presntarà dues sèries dedicades al cos. “Tècnicament busca refugi en el neoexpressionisme i el neofauvisme. El gest i el color…i, al darrere de tot plegat, la persona, l’individu amb nom i cognoms. Cada ànima aflora i transmet una personalitat concreta i determinant que de vegades conté  arravatament, però d’altres moments expressa una tendresa quasi poètica. Ha desitjat establir aquest diàleg entre el creador i l’ésser humà per mitjà de personalitats no només conegudes, sinó reconegudes, i ha intentat en tot moment narrar allò de més potent i més propi que li suggereix la persona que intenta immortalitzar. El resultat ha estat una àmplia galeria de diferents personalitats presentades sota la seva particular lectura del que són en realitat.” Arcadi Calzada

Joseph Beuys: Das Schweigen von Marcel Duchamp wird überbewertet

In seinem  Artikel “Schokolade verzweifelt gesucht” berichtet das Portal der WAZ-Mediengruppe DER WESTEN über die Restaurierung eines Kunstwerks von Joseph Beuys. Eine verschwundene Tafel Schokolade aus dem Werk „Das Schweigen von Marcel Duchamp wird überbewertet” wird aufwendig rekonstruiert und auf ihrem Platz wieder eingesetzt. Manche mögen das als Scherz empfinden. Wenn ich auch darüber schmunzle, so begrüße dennoch die ernsthaften Restaurierung dieses bedeutenden Kunstwerks.

“Das Schweigen von Marcel Duchamp wird überbewertet”  bezieht sich auf Marcel Duchamps Werke, wie z.B. die “Schokoladenreibe” oder “Das große Glas”. Der Intelligenz, dem Witz und der Ironie der Kunstwerke dieser beiden Künstler nachzuspüren ist eine empfehlenswerte Aufgabe für Alle, die an moderner und zeitgenössischer Kunst interessiert sind.

I’m excited to be presenting two newly-commissioned works for P.S.1 for their upcoming exhibition, “1969″ that opens October 25. I’ll post more in detail about the works, which revisit both Robert Morris and Joseph Beuys’, but for now, here’s the exhibition description on their website… So excited to be a part of this lineup and an amazing honor to be asked to contribute to the dialogue!

On a side note, kinda awesome that Vito Acconci (among others) is a part of the show… I just included an image of him from the latest J.Crew catalog in my ongoing series “1001 Words” for the SFMOMA blog. Hellooooo, Vito!

———————–
1969
On view October 25, 2009 – April 5, 2010

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents 1969, a large scale exhibition occupying the entire second floor with works drawn from every department of The Museum of Modern Art. Exploring a cross section of art made during a period marked with revolution and socio-political tumult, this exhibition also will embrace five interventions by a current generation of artists whose work reflects the concerns of 1969 and brings the exhibition into the present. These younger artists will be given free reign to respond to the works on view and to the time period in general.

1969 is organized by a team of curators representing both institutions and includes MoMA’s archivist. One of the questions that shaped this exhibition early on was whether the customary curatorial approach of P.S.1, with its fast-paced process and focus on living artists as well as the rustic architecture of the former schoolhouse, would offer a different visual setting for work ordinarily seen in the minimal white galleries of MoMA. This exhibition includes examples of painting, sculpture, photography, print, illustrated books, design, drawing, media, and film as well as a wealth of documents drawn from MoMA’s archives.

Diverse artistic practices, concerns, and themes are presented ranging from the minimalist sculpture of Sol LeWitt and Carl Andre, abstract painting and drawing of Helen Frankenthaler and Gego, to films by Walter de Maria and Michael Snow, and politically charged works of the Art Workers Coalition and Martha Rosler. By exploring a single year, this exhibition is not an attempt to recount the events of 1969, but rather, to present a variety of works made in a single year, each one with its own narrative and point of view. Clearly, the exhibition also outlines MoMA’s own collecting history; as such, it is part of a cross-departmental curatorial examination of MoMA’s collection with an eye to expanding the range of its holdings from a period when art was being redefined.

Several of the featured works from the collection will be exhibited for the first time, including pieces by major artists like Robert Barry, Mel Bochner, Lutz Mommartz, Bruce Nauman, and John Wesley. In addition, Mel Bochner’s room-sized installation, Theory of Painting, marks not only its debut at P.S.1 and MoMA, but the first time it will be realized in New York City.

Central to the exhibition is the re-staging of MoMA’s 1969 exhibition, Five Recent Acquisitions, organized by noted MoMA curator Kynaston McShine, highlighting then-recently acquired works by Larry Bell, Ron Davis, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, and John McCracken. This exhibition within an exhibition is further contextualized by photographs by Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander, among others, in addition to exhibition catalogs, books, and archival documents which depict the events, excitement, and anxieties of the period. By juxtaposing the meditative space of the white cube gallery of the transplanted MoMA exhibition with the tumult of the outside world, 1969 reflects the expansive concerns held by artists of the time. Archival materials document MoMA’s relationship with and involvement in the momentous events of the time.

Similar to the presentation of Five Recent Acquisitions, a younger group of artists will create interventions within the galleries that highlight, reflect, and disrupt the collection show. The intervention artworks will speak to themes both present and absent from the exhibition, such as NASA’s lunar landing, the legacy of iconic post-war artists like Joseph Beuys and Robert Morris, the rise of collaborative artistic practices, and the cultural and political affects of the Civil Rights movement. The artists acting as commentators are Base, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Mathew Day Jackson and David Tompkins, Stephanie Syjuco, and Hank Willis Thomas.

Artists include: Vito Acconci; Robert Adams; Ryoji Akiyama; Carl Andre; Keith Arnatt; Richard Artschwager; Richard Avedon; Lewis Baltz; Robert Barry; Larry Bell; Mel Bochner; Marcel Broodthaers; Scott Burton; James Lee Byars; John Cage; Vija Celmins; Ron Davis; Walter De Maria; Agnes Denes; Jan Dibbets; Fluxus; Helen Frankenthaler; Lee Friedlander; Gego; Guerrilla Art Action Group; Philip Guston; R. L. Haeberle, Art Workers Coalition and Peter Brandt; Richard Hamilton; Strike Poster Workshop, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Douglas Huebler, Robert Irwin; Jasper Johns; Ray Johnson; Donald Judd; Stephen Kaltenbach; Craig Kauffman; Joseph Kosuth; Standish Lawder; Sol LeWitt; Lee Lozano; George Maciunas; John McCracken; Lutz Mommartz; NASA; Bruce Nauman; Claes Oldenburg; Dennis Oppenheim; Nam June Paik; Richard Pettibone; Adrian Piper; Arnulf Rainer; Ely Raman; Robert Rauschenberg; Gerhard Richter; Martha Rosler; Dieter Roth; Edward Rusha; Rudolf Schwarzkogler; Seth Seigelaub; Richard Serra; Joel Shapiro; Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt; Michael Snow; Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, David Novros, Forrest Myers, Robert Rauschenberg, and John Chamberlain; Lawrence Weiner; John Wesley; Christopher Wilmarth; and Gary Winogrand.

Organized by Neville Wakefield, P.S.1 Senior Curatorial Advisor; Michelle Elligott, MoMA Archivist; and Eva Respini, MoMA Associate Curator of Photography.

The exhibition is supported by MoMA’s Wallis Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art through the Annenberg Foundation, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and Sally and Wynn Kramarsky.

i once took a history classes that marked the formation of early Chinese dynasties and I remember my German professor (Jacob Eyferth) saying something in the realms of: in critical writing we too often end up romancing/ praising the past or the deed of the past. but how could we not. if we weren’t in love with them how could we trail on? 

Ich lese unter anderem ab und zu die Atelier – die Zeitschrift für Künstlerinnen und Künstler. Die Ausgabe August / September 2009 finde ich flach.
Aber dieses kann auch an mir liegen und vielleicht nicht an der behandelten Themen, vielleicht hab eich schon Schritte getan und damit mir Wissen angeeignet, welches andere nicht haben. Wenn es nicht so ist, dann …… ))

Nun ich habe mit Schmunzeln den Artikel „Kabinettausstellungen“ – die News aus dem Immenhausen von Jürgen Raap gelesen. Hier werden Klischees bedient, gerade die Parallelen zu Beuys finde ich gelungen. Denn diese sind Wasser Mühlen, sprich das Bild, welches ich von Beuys vermittelt bekommen habe, wird weiter genährt…

Den Artikel „Der Künstler ist sein eignes, kleines Callcenter“ von Mathias Fritzsche ist für mich besonders flach. Aber dieses kann daran liegen, dass ich im Vertrieb arbeite. Für Menschen, die keine oder nur wenig Erfahrungen in der Kommunikation, insbesondere bei Erstkontakten haben, kann dieser Artikel nur der Einstieg in seichtes Wasser sein. Wichtig ist, der Gesprächspartner auf der anderen Seite der Strippe spürt in welcher Verfassung sie sind und hört jedes Lächeln auf ihrem Gesicht.

Auch der Beitrag „Der Teil eines Rädchens sein ….“ von Bence Fritsche ist für ein Thema wie Ausstellungen im öffentlichen Raum recht oberflächlich. Hier möchte ich auf die Artikelserie in der Zeitschrift Palette & Zeichenstift in einer Reihe von Fr. Astrid Kehler in den Ausgaben 2 bis 6 von 2006 verweisen. Hier wird sehr gut auf das Thema Ausstellungen und deren Vorbereitungen eingegangen und wenn Erfahrungen fehlen, kann daraus eine eignen Scheckliste entwickelt werden.

Nun was lesenswert ist, ist der Beitrag „Der Wert einer Fälschung“ von Cornelia Fischer. Aber dieses spielt in einer anderen Liga. Ich kenne keinen, der meine Bilder fälschen würde, noch nicht

Visionärer blauer Filz, Wohltuend schallisolierend. Krankenschwester als Künstler? Krankenschwester ist Krankenschwester, mit schöpferischem Potenzial natürlich, weil Mensch.

Joseph Beuys Plight 1986 : State of the Art Episode 3

In March, 1980, I traveled  to Dusseldorf to meet Joseph Beuys, whose work I became aware of the previous year.  In December 1979 I visited New York to view the Beuys retrospective at the Guggenheim, and met Ronald Feldman at his gallery.  The smoked kipper remains in a box with a glass lid (kipper devoured by Beuys) tempted me (only $200).  To help arrange a meeting, Feldman offered to pass along a letter to Beuys, who never answered the several letters posted to him.  Feldman reported that Beuys said I would be welcome to visit, but he could not say when he would be at home.  So I went when I was free (Spring break), arrived at Beuys’s doorstep, knocked, and Beuys opened the door.

Joseph Beuys

During the two-hour converesation, Beuys presented me with a copy of “Report to the European Economic Community on the feasibility of founding a ‘Free International University for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research’ in Dublin” (1975).  He signed the book on the front cover (a white binding) in pencil.  This gift is the origin/inspiration for  the EmerAgency, of which Imaging Belfast is, for me, the latest experiment, devoted to the design and testing of a new consultancy.

Before the Snack

The manifesto portion of the document is an appeal for a new model of education that integrates elements of all disciplines and arts to produce a hybrid capable of focusing the full resources of civilization on the complexity of a social problem.  A further proviso was that the specialized learning is not separated from quotidian experience and the public at large, with art as the interface modality.  This approach to infusing learning and problem solving into lifeworld situations expresses Beuys’ motto, stating that every person is an artist, and his insight into art as “social sculpture.“

Intuition...instead of a cookbook

The seat of this branch  of the FIU was proposed to be Dublin.  Reasons for establishing a center in Ireland included the particular conditions of Irish history.  Some of these conditions, such as the relative underdevelopment of Ireland economically, have changed considerably since the early 1970s.  Here is the entry on the issue of Northern Ireland.

2.10. In the context of the Free University this would be seen as a challenge and not a disincentive since it represents the most acute example in Europe of a total breakdown of communication and understanding, as well as the apparent inability of the cultural  and intellectual worlds to offer any convincing alternative to the bankruptcy of ideas that  lead to violence.  There are parallel situations in different degrees in other parts of Europe — the conflicts between the Basque countries and Spain, between Corsica/Brittany and France, or the Jura and the  Swiss confederation — and the Free University with  its range of approaches, nationalities and disciplines would be in a strong position to undertake comparative study of such situations.

Developments subsequent to this assessment make the two Irelands a model of solutions as well as of problems.  The vision of Beuys, Boll, and the other founders of the FIU, remains a worthy relay for further invention.  The first instruction may be:  take the multiple as a genre for further development.

Moon and sun elements from the Vitrines in the Beuys room in the states gallery Suttgart

I just visited the room, which was completely arranged by Beuys personally, when States Gallery was built. I think they made a contract with him, which prohibites to change anything in this arrangement. So I think it is impossible for them to lend the vitrines to other exhibitions, remove them etc., which is a good thing, too, I think.

I didnt find any reproduction image of the vitrines or the Elements in them, neither in their own publications, nor in the internet, so I draw them into my scetch book just today. I also send an image of a similar vitrine in Tate Gallery, London

I like very much and chose as you see on my drawing
- a coffee spoon, covered with wax
- a piece of card-board, used as a tool, to pour wax
- a broom, used too hard on one side
- a opium blossom/seed capsula in fat sockle

Peter Haury

edition of Peter Haury
Copy Shop Show, Stuttgart, 2009

Um galo canta ao amanhecer e lança um fio que é apanhado por um outro galo, que por sua vez também canta e lança outro fio, e assim uma rede complexa e invisível de fios lançados é tecida.

O poema de João Cabral, que me foi contado pelo André, serve como boa introdução para a tentativa de relatar este encontro.

Uma série de fios, de relacionamentos cruzados atravessa a Cabana. Sua configuração final é de difícil visualização. Tenho me perguntado (e sei que outros também se perguntam) onde isso tudo vai dar.

Até por isso, foi um encontro que começou com uma recapitulação dos encontros anteriores.

E há um nome: a Cabana agora é a Cabana-Solaris.

A Missão Solaris. De Stanislaw Lem e de Tarkovsky. Da estação que paira sobre o oceano vivo de Solaris. Dos homens da estação que tentam se comunicar com o oceano. Do oceano que dá presentes. E dos homens que os recusam.

Não compreendem.

Temem. E resistem.

E foi sobre a resistência que André fez sua pergunta monstruosa: onde se dá a resistência? Na ignorância? Na projeção? No trajeto? No lugar? A pergunta é complexa, a resposta é mais complexa ainda. Demanda tempo e energia.

Continuando a analogia com Solaris, onde se dá a resistência de Kelvin?

Na ignorância sobre a natureza da inteligência do oceano? Na projeção de Kelvin, que é obra do oceano (e como tal, cifra zero)? No seu tortuoso trajeto, da cápsula que o leva à estação até a sua triste compreensão dos fatos? Ou no próprio lugar? No oceano indevassável, cujo único gesto que pode ser compreendido como uma tentativa de comunicação é visceralmente rechaçado por Kelvin?

Como a própria analogia indica, e como Rubens também afirma, a resistência pode se dar em cada um desses pontos, bem como na lacuna que há entre eles.

Porque a resistência é o medo, o medo atávico do animal adormecido que nos habita, e que nesses pontos cruciais urra e mostra os dentes porque se sente acuado e sozinho.

Rubens propõe uma troca de variáveis: ignorância por formação, projeção por psicanálise, trajetória pelo caminho do artista e lugar pelo sacrifício.

E a resposta inesperada para a equação monumental é o gato. O gato que não é o bicho (mas bem que podia ser). O gato que é a fome da conquista do que não nos é dado, que nasce da falha e da falta, e que é a resposta da Terra Papagalis ao peso da cultura e da tradição do Velho Mundo, que pela sua inércia só nos faria soterrar. Mais uma vez, trata-se de ocupar o espaço, expandir seus limites além do razoável. O gato é a resposta de quem arranca na marra o que a vida não quer dar (porque a vida não dá nada). O gato é a fome, a falta e a falha afirmando-se no presente e no devir. Aqui a cifra não é zero, aqui ela é positiva. É a resposta tapuia para a forma nebulosa, tímida, obscura que turva a visão. Fome, falta e falha pedem sol, clareza e ação. No limite do sacrifício e do milagre. O gato é o improvável. É o inabordável.

A formação combate a ignorância. Formação sofisticada, que está num limite entre a intelectualidade e a não-intelectualidade. Cifra: a cadeira de Beuys.

A psicanálise dá a oportunidade de reconstituição, conquistada através de um prévio desmoronamento de si. Cifra quase inatingível: Freud/Nietzsche.

Nesse encontro, paramos aqui. Os outros dois pontos ficaram para a próxima reunião.

Eu cruzo os fios que me foram lançados com outros fios. Lembro que Borges afirmou que só existem quatro histórias: a da cidade sitiada e defendida por homens que sabem que sua batalha é inútil; a história de um regresso; a história de uma busca, e a história do sacrifício de um deus.

Penso que essas histórias e os pontos levantados pelo André tratam de algo em comum: o medo que gera a resistência e que exaure a potência do ser. O medo que deve ser vencido, de um modo ou de outro, porque a alternativa é a morte.

Galos cantam e lançam fios. A Cabana-Solaris está atravessada por essa rede móvel de fios invisíveis, que se prolongam e se enroscam até muito além do espaço concreto que ocupa na Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade. Vamos para casa com eles, dormimos e sonhamos com eles. Alongamos e estreitamos os fios dessa rede intangível.

E eu me pergunto, e sei que outros também se perguntam, onde isso vai dar.

(Fotos por Fabiola Chiminazzo)

Élet = tőke | Life = Capital
képeslap | postcard
10,5×15cm, 2009

Joseph Beuys: Duerer, I will guide Baader and Meinhof personally through the documenta V, 1972

Recipe published now by Peter Haury, Oberwelt Stuttgart
“There exists already a Fragment of a Multiple done by me, it is felt shoes to wear above street shoes in Museums or castles, not to damage the floor, inside is fat and dry rose sticks. The signs, you see on the image, are destroyed, because I needed the Material later for another purpose.
I would like to do more of them, maybe in different shapes.”

Joseph Beuys: Dürer, ich führe persönlich Baader
+ Meinhof durch die Dokumenta V.
Dürer, személyesen vezetem körbe Baadert
és Meinhofot az ötödik Dokumentán, 1972
edition of Peter Haury, Copy Shop Show, Stuttgart, 2009

“Das Ziel ist es die Welt mit Bäumen vollzupflanzen!” Joseph Beuys 1982

Bleistift und Aquarell auf  Zeichenkaton.

Zum Nachdenken:

Eine 100-jährige Buche hat eine Blattfläche von 1600 Quadratmeter und liefert Sauerstoff für 64 Menschen.

Jetzt kann jeder hochrechnen, was es bedeutet, wenn gesunde Bäume gefällt werden.

Con i colleghi dell’unità di ricerca Pa.S.T.I.S. abbiamo organizzato a Padova, per l’11 e il 12 giugno 2009 un workshop dal titolo “Le costruzioni sociali della tecnoscienza”. Potete trovare tutte le informazioni nel sito di Pa.S.T.I.S.

Il programma del workshop di STS Italia

L’obiettivo del workshop è di riflettere sui molteplici significati assunti  dell’espressione “costruzione sociale” nell’ambito della comunità degli studiosi della scienza e della tecnologia.

Tra gli highlights dell’evento, oltre alla presenza del sociologo della scienza Barry Barnes e dell’epistemologo Davide Sparti, una sessione di discussione “il giardino delle idee” (prevista per il tardo pomeriggio dell’11), con occasioni di scambio intellettuale e di networking che avranno luogo proprio nel meraviglioso giardino del Dipartimento di Sociologia di Padova, davanti ad un bicchiere di spritz e a qualche cicchetto buono.

In quest’ultima sessione presenterò un intervento dai toni piuttosto provocatori, che si interroga e vuol far riflettere sulla necessità dell’appendice “sociale” all’attività di costruzione. Abbiamo veramente bisogno del termine sociologia per identificare quello che facciamo? In fondo, la domanda sulla reale attività (e utilità) dei sociologi è piuttosto frequente.

Di seguito riporto l’abstract del mio intervento:

Prendendo le mosse dal dibattito STS che riguarda l’alternativa tra costruttivismo e costruttivismo sociale l’intervento vuole porre ai partecipanti un quesito che ha il sapore della provocazione: attraverso quali mezzi è possibile identificare il “sociale” nei processi che riguardano la costruzione della realtà? E’ possibile vedere/sentire/udire o percepire il sociale in qualche modo, oppure la sua esistenza presuppone un atto di fede? E se qualcuno questa fede dimostra di non averla, può avere almeno la speranza che sia possibile costruire qualcosa nella realtà? Che cosa resta ai santommaso, creare nuovi nomi per nuovi corsi di laurea o consegnare ad altri (semiotici?) lo scettro della propria legittimità disciplinare? La discussione è particolarmente indicata per chi ha sempre – anche senza ammetterlo in pubblico – sentito accompagnare all’enunciazione del termine “sociale” un leggero brivido di schiena, per arrivare all’amara conclusione che forse, in fondo e fortunatamente, non siamo mai stati sociologi.

Conclusione e morale della favola.
Ieri mentre vagavo a Venezia alla ricerca di ispirazione – concedetemi questa punta di romanticismo – ho scovato nella fantastica libreria di usati Bertoni in calle de la Mandola un libro sul lavoro di Joseph Beuys, uno tra gli artisti più interessanti del XX secolo. Come anticipazione di un post su Beuys che mi prometto di pubblicare presto, volevo qui ricordare il primo principio del suo lavoro: “tutti gli uomini sono artisti”.

Beuys, fondatore anche di un’università indipendente – la Free International University – era interessato in modo piuttosto anarchico a liberare il potenziale di creatività delle persone da quello che chiamava il giogo del potere statale e dei partiti. Penso che il lavoro da fare con la sociologia sia lo stesso: liberare il lavoro di giovani riercatori e di studiosi creativi dal giogo dell’accademismo, dalla battaglia tra le correnti e dall’influenza di poteri di diversa natura. Uno degli obiettivi del mio interevento “non siamo mai stati sociologi” è anche quello di porre l’accento sulla necessità di liberarsi di inutili etichette. E allora, perchè non partire  proprio dal nome della (nostra???) disciplina. Idealmente il mio maestro in questo è proprio Beuys, con il suo richiamo al nostro essere tutti “artisti”.

Non siamo mai stati sociologi. E allora cosa siamo? Artisti, forse? La discussione è aperta.

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