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IMMA International Summer School will take place online from June 19–30, 2023. This two-week programme of lectures, seminars, discussions and workshops will focus on the theme of assembly and will feature a range of national and international artists, theorists and educators including Ahmet Öğüt, Sarah Pierce, Rike Frank, Florian Malzacher, Eva Weinmayr, Iliada Charalambous, Lua Vollaard, Emma Mahony, Victory Nwabu-EkeomaStephen O’Neill and John Wilkins, among others.

The capacity for people to be able to come together, to express their views and opinions, share ideas, problem-solve and to create and collaborate, is an essential feature of a healthy democracy. Coming together in public space to meet, rally, or protest, allows citizens to organise and drive political and social change. This right to peaceful assembly is increasingly contested, through the privatisation and enclosure of public space; through legislation aimed to curb protest and strike action; or through repressive state responses to acts of assembly worldwide.

In recent years, when many democratic institutions and processes are coming under threat, it seems timely to consider the role of assembly in addressing these current predicaments and how can it create the conditions for new thinking and practice on collective action. New and alternative methods are being devised to bring people together, to form publics spaces and allow for decision-making and collective action. Contemporary art is a space where such methods have been developed and enacted.

Foregrounding the role of art and artists, the Summer School will explore the subject of assembly. Drawing on a range of thinking and ideas on the subject of assembly we will consider what happens when people come together to discuss, make, think, argue and be with each other in person or virtually. We will also explore the role of the museum, and the summer school in particular, as a place of assembly and consider the potential of the collective as a model for artists’ practice as well as political action.

This interdisciplinary programme will be of particular interest to artists, students and graduates, as well as to anyone with an interest in the subject of assembly, and many elements of the programme such as the lectures will be open to the wider public.

The programme is free and will be delivered in English.


Summer School Theme

Art & Politics #5 assembly

This two-week programme of lectures, seminars, discussions and workshops will focus on the theme of ‘assembly’. To assemble suggests the coming together of a group of people in one place with a common purpose or the fitting together of separate component parts of a machine or other object. Each year we gather or assemble people from all over the world for a period of time on the shared virtual platform of the summer school with a common purpose to discuss, listen, think and make together in response to the theme of the summer school.

Foregrounding the role of art and artists, the Summer School will explore the generative potential of assembly. Drawing on a range of thinking and ideas on the subject of assembly we will consider what happens when people come together to discuss, to make, to think, to argue, to be with each other in person or virtually.

Through a series of workshops, talks, and discussions, we want to think through a number of questions:

What are the uses of assembly as a democratic mechanism, allowing for the exploration of shared interests as well as conflicts and contestations?

What is the role of assembly in structuring what Florian Malzacher refers to as a ‘democratic arena of radical imagination’?

What is the role of a museum such as IMMA, and the summer school in particular, as a space to assemble?

What is the role of assembly in education – what are the latent and bodily forms of learning embedded in the ‘hidden curriculum’?

What is the potential of the collective as a model for artists’ practice as well as political action?

And how have alternative, often radical political strategies and models been explored and tested in recent years in the field of contemporary art?


Public Programme

Below are details of the public programme

Many events in the summer school programme are open to the public and places are free but booking is essential.

Confirmed speakers include Ahmet Öğüt, Sarah Pierce, Rike Frank, Florian Malzacher, Eva Weinmayr, Iliada Charalambous and Lua Vollaard, among others.

PUBLIC PROGRAMME
19 – 30 June
All events will take place online, via zoom

Florian Malzacher
Art as Assembly.
Spheres of radical imagination and pragmatic utopias
Tuesday 20 June
6.30pm – 8.00pm (GMT+1)
Register here

Eva Weinmayr
Temporary Stabilizations
Thursday 22 June
6.30pm – 8.00pm (GMT+1)
Register here

Seminar
The Assembly: twenty five years on
Stephen O’Neill, Tara McEvoy and Michael Magee
Friday 23 June
6.30pm – 8.00pm (GMT+1)
Register here

Ahmet Öğüt
Continuity in Times of Rupture
Monday 26 June
6.30pm – 8.00pm (GMT+1)
Register here

Sarah Pierce, Rike Frank and John Wilkins
in conversation
Tuesday 27 June
6.30pm – 8.00pm (GMT+1)
Register here

Iliada Charalambous + Lua Vollaard
Commoning (un)common ground
Thursday 29 June
6.30pm – 8.00pm (GMT+1)
Register here


Call for Participants

Call for participants

The call for participants is now closed but many events will be open to the public

During the Summer School, participants are required to attend online workshops, lectures and discussions from 12.00noon to 8.00pm, (GMT+1) weekdays between 19 and 29 June, and a closing event on 30 June. Participants will also be required to take part in discussions and online project work over the course of the programme. There will also be a number of electives including reading groups, curator talks and workshops scheduled between 19 – 29 June.

The seminars and keynote event will be open to members of the public and they will be recorded.

Advance reading:

Participants will also be required to undertake reading in advance. Three online reading/discussion sessions will be held in advance on the 11 and 25 May and the 8 June.

Reliable internet access is essential.

Participation is based on a statement of intention outlining why you wish to take part in the summer school (400 words max). Please include your name and contact details.

Note: This is a provisional schedule, some dates/times may be subject to minor adjustment or cancellation.

 


Additional Resources 

 

Additional Resources

Details of the summer school events that are open to the public.