Which way to Utopia?
06-20.06.2008Municipal Market of Kypseli
Fokionos Negri 42
Opening
Wednesday, 06.06.2008
20:30
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Each spiritual state that is unconventional or exceeds the direct elements of reality is not necessarily a utopian one, since in this case “utopia” could deteriorate to the level of a mere intellectual exercise or a way to escape reality without nonetheless generating any substantial results.
The utopian spirit is not always the opposite of realism neither a synonym of the unreal and the unattainable per se. On the contrary, it is exactly the element that often makes the real world a bearable place. Hence, utopia is in a dialectic relationship with reality since it incorporates both the tendency to clash or subvert the existing status quo and the possibility to fulfill what we desire to become, above and against experiential reality. This fundamentally subversive core of utopia is exactly what differentiates it from ideology.
According to Ernst Bloch, man is a utopian being who encompasses all his unrealised yet capacities but also the possibility -hidden within- to surpass and subvert experiential reality. Though possibility is what “protects the world from morbid rigidness and allows a better world to be born” it cannot materialize by itself. The emergence of man’s utopian action and the concept of the latent potentialities of what hasn’t been can be realized only through human activity.
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The more people react to their environment and modify it based on a human plan, the more they live in a utopia. According to Bloch the “what hasn’t been” is also the “here and now”. The utopian spirit raptures the present, the every day life of the individual translating probably to what the Zapatistas say: ”we are ordinary people thus revolutionaries”.
How can we still dream after experiencing the 20th century in which utopias failed, potentialities proved appalling and peoples’ dreams and hopes ended up in destitution and disaster? What’s the relation of utopia with reality, of revolution with everyday life? How can utopian experiences (utopian concepts, experimentation, attempts to implement action plans) converse with the political and social stakes of the 21st century?
Relevant concerns and questions will be the pivotal points of the action “Which way to utopia?” taking place in the Municipal Market of Kypseli in June, 6-20. It will include an art exhibition, a 3 day special event on the Situationists (with round tables, film screenings) film festival, talking and group meetings that will participate in discussions and will draft a declaration of positions about the city, the public space and the Municipal Market of Kypseli.
Action organized (with the support of participants) by
Dimitris Halatsis, Katerina Nasioka
contact: halatsisd@yahoo.gr, pobiti@otenet.gr
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Programme
06 - 20.06.2008
participants:
Ulli Emert, David Hahlbrock, Andrea Hartinger, Akiro Hellgardt, Markus Paetz, Giorgos Agelakis, Giannis Alexakis, Andreas Vousouras, Giorgos Georgakopoulos, Dimitris Georgakopoulos, Babis Dermatis, Nomadic Architecture Network, Jimmy Efthimiou, Nikos Kazeros, Vassilis Kanellopoulos, Angie Karatza - Maria Boufi, Void Network, Reconstruction Community, Fotini Kriali, Margarita Lentza0-Siamani, Alexandros Maganiotis, Stavros Bonatsos, Christina Parakente - Niki Georgoulia, Natassa Poulantza, Christina Sgouromyti, Eleni Tzirtzilaki - Manos Kornelakis - Stefanos Handelis, Dimitris Halatsis.
08.06.2008 | Urban Void
Urban Void (http://voidnetwork.blogspot.com) presents: FILM FESTIVAL - ART | POLITICS | INFORMATION AND EXPANDING OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
Opening: 21:00
Part I.
“Get Rid of Yourself” by Bernadette Corporation. www.bernadettecorporation.com.
Part II.
50 short and medium size films. DOCUMENTARIES, EXPERIMENTAL AVANT-GUARDE FILMS, ACTIVISM FILMS, INDEPENDENT NEWS NETWORKS, ANIMATION FILMS, VOID ART MULTI MEDIA, FLASH-ART, DIGITAL ART FILMS, UTOPIA, UNDERGROUND PHILOSOPHY.
10-12.06.2008 | special event on the Situationists
Tuesday 10.06.2006
20:00 Open Discussion on the topic Formulas for a new spatial planning: from the modern to the global city. Presentations by Fotis Terzakis, Stavros Stavridis and Dimitra Siatista.
23:00 Film Screening: In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni, Guy Debord, 1978, 1:35:07.
Wednesday 11.06.2008
20:00 Open Discussion on the topic Utopia's future. Presentations by Michalis Paparounis, Dimosthenis Agrafiotis and Dimitris Moustakis.
23:00 Film Screening: Guy Debord, Son art et son temps, 1995, 0:59:45.
Thursday 12.06.2008
20:00 Open Discussion on the topic Towards a criticism on the ideas of Situationists International. Presentations by Giorgos-Ikaros Babasakis, Vanessa Theodoropoulou and Dikaios Psychakos.
23:00 Film Screening: La Societe du Spectacle, Guy Debord, 1973, 1:27:18.
17.06.2008 | Talking
20:00 Utopian Cities yesterday and today, Texts - Documents by the german magazine du, January 1972. Presentation: Dimitris Halatsis - Katerina Nasioka.
18.06.2008 | The Market's Utopia
20:00 Open Discussion and declaration of positions about the city, the public space and the Municipal Market of Kypseli.
photo
poster of the event