new media center_kuda.org

Nova Gallery, Teslina 7, Zagreb
The WHW collective represents an event

CONTINENTAL DRIFTS

Monday, Dec 17, 7:00 p.m.
presentation and screening: Rene Gabri and Ayreen Anastas, 16Beaver

Tuesday, Dec 18, 7:00 p.m.
lecture by Brian Holmes and Claire Pentecost

"Continental drifts" is a modular and experimental seminar aimed at embarking on the 'impossible' task of articulating the huge geopolitical and economic shifts that occurred between 1989 and 2001, the effects of these changes on emerging governments (i.e., on the formation of economic blocs). such as the European Union or NAFTA), and the consequent effects on subjectivity.

After experiencing the incredible liveliness of social movements that occurred during that period, the seminar recognizes that new ways of monitoring and channeling have conditioned a shift in tactics and strategies.

The question "What now?" is the center of interest. Accordingly, the goal is to map the majority models of subjectivity and groups in emerging continental systems, see how they function within mega-machines of production and conquest, and at the same time transcend the normative boundaries they drive to establish micro-cartographies of difference, disagreement, deviation, and rejection.

So far, three “Continental drifts” seminars have been self-organized in New York City at the 16Beaver space. The fourth edition of the seminar will take place in Zagreb in cooperation with WHW in the spring of 2008. The seminar includes discussions, readings, presentations, projections, and other activities. The aim is not only to share ideas and research but also to give space to a sustainable way of collective/cooperative research and knowledge production near or outside the dominant institutions. Previous editions of the seminar brought together activists, artists, researchers, and other individuals seeking to resist and redirect dominant modes of subjectivity (including, but not limited to, individualization, professionalization, and self-awareness).

On Monday 17.12. artists Rene Gabri and Ayreen Anastas will present 16Beaver. 16 Beaver is the address of a space initiated and run by artists with the aim of creating and maintaining a long-term platform for the presentation, production, and discussion of various artistic, cultural, economic, and political projects. 16Beaver is the point of many departures and arrivals.

On Tuesday 18.12. Brian Holmes and Claire Pentecost will present the previous editions of the seminar "Continental drifts" and their theoretical framework.

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Ayreen Anastas writes in fragments and makes movies and videos. Her work has been screened at many international festivals and exhibitions but has not yet been broadcast on television. Her primary interests are philosophy, literature, politics, and everyday life. She is one of the organizers of the 16Beaver group (16beavergroup.org) and often collaborates with Rene Gabri. The last thing they worked on together was a trip to the United States as part of their Camp Campaign project (campcampaign.info), which aims to connect Guantanamo Bay with everyday American life and history.

Rene Gabri deals with the complex mechanisms that constitute the world. He often works alone or in collaboration with others on projects that touch on cultural practices, social thought, and politics. As part of his work in the 16Beaver group, he organized many public readings, discussions, and social activities. Collaborative projects with Ayreen Anastas are most often created within the 16Beaver group. Their more recent work deals with legal and discursive shifts related to the notions of security and the consequences of these changes on everyday life. He works with Erin McGonigle and Heim Lattner on e-Xplo (e-Xplo.org). Their collaboration has resulted in many art projects in public space and research dealing with cities and the social, economic, and political forces that shape the organization of space.

Brian Holmes is a writer, activist, and translator. Born in San Francisco, he received his doctorate in Romance languages ​​from UC Berkeley. He lives in Paris and is tirelessly curious about the world. He has worked with activist art groups such as Ne Pas Plier and the Bureau d’Etudes, participated in anti-globalization movements. He writes on aesthetics and politics, the theory of contemporary capitalism, and artistic/activist cartography. He has published the books Hieroglyphs of the Future (Zagreb: Arkzin / WHW, 2002) and 'Unleashing the Collective Phantoms' (New York: Autonomedia, 2007), and publishes in Multitudes, Springerin, Brumaria, Nettime, and many others. magazines, websites, exhibition catalogs, etc. He is currently working on a new book entitled ‘Escape the Overcode: Artistic Interventions in an Unstable World’, whose raw material is available at www.brianholmes.wordpress.com.

Claire Pentecost is an artist and writer, working in a variety of media to study the imaginative and institutional structures that organize knowledge sharing. After years of working in the conceptual laboratory of the idea of ​​the natural and the artificial, her recent projects have focused on the industry.