International conference “Cultural policies in cities”, 2 April 2014

Dear friends of EDUCULT,

We warmly invite you to the conference “Cultural Policies and the Cities” that will be held at the University of Applied Arts Vienna on 2 April.

The conceptualisation of the conference was made by Michael Wimmer, director of EDUCULT and is linked to the key findings of the last year conference “Reinventing Cultural Policy“.

One of the key findings of last year’s symposium “Reinventing Cultural Policy” at the University of Applied Arts Vienna was the identification of the increasing cultural-political significance of cities. Although this development results to some degree from targeted measures like regionalization and decentralization, its causes are to be found first and foremost in the intensification of global economic competition.

More and more people live in cities. Simultaneously, the diversity of local populations is increasing. This gives rise to new lines of conflict and alters the cultural consciousness of city dwellers. Artists react to these developments. They see urban space as a crucial site of artistic intervention, and they seek to influence political, social and cultural development in the city. In the process they demonstrate that they themselves are cultural-political agents within the field of tension between political and civil activism.

What influence do politicians, citizens and artists have on the formation of urban cultural policy? Can differences in their approach be identified in a comparison of specific cities internationally? And how can one interpret the continuing development of the city as a cultural-political laboratory, in particular with regard to Vienna, a cultural center rich in tradition? With these and many other questions, the conference addresses persons involved in cultural-political practice and research, both students and participants in artistic and cultural scenes, but also business interests and activists in civil society.

The symposium is held in coordination with the exhibition “Fragile Hands”.

Program

9:00 Opening

Gerald Bast / Rector of the University of Applied Arts, Vienna

Barbara Putz-Plecko / Artist and Professor at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna

Andreas Mailath-Pokorny / Executive City Councillor for Cultural Affairs and Science, Vienna

Introduction to the themes of the exhibition

Shaheen Merali / Curator and writer, London

Introduction to the conference

Michael Wimmer / Director of EDUCULT, Vienna

10:00 Panel: The influence of politics/politicians on cultural policy

Key note: John Holden / Freelance writer, speaker and cultural commentator, London

Deniz Inceday? / Professor and Vice Rector of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, ?stanbul

Dina Kafafi / Program coordinator at Townhouse Gallery, Cairo

Hanan Wakeem / Culture manager, Ramallah Jerusalem

András Bozóki / Professor at the Department of Political Science, Central European University (CEU), Budapest

11:30 Panel: The Influence of citizens on cultural policy

Key note: Franco Bianchini / Professor at Metropolitan University, Leeds

Teodor Celakoski / Cultural worker and activist, Zagreb

Gerda Forstner / Head of the Department for Urban Culture Development, Linz

Presenter:  Anke Schad / Researcher at EDUCULT, Vienna

13:00 – 14:00 Break

14:00 Lecture: Cultural institutions between political claims and social reality

Veronica Kaup-Hasler / Director of “steirischer herbst”, festival of contemporary arts, Graz

15:00 Panel: The influence of artists on cultural policy

Key note: Heinz Schütz / Art critic, lecturer and curator, Munich

Martin Fritz / Freelance curator, consultant and writer, Vienna

Barbara Holub / Artist and artistic researcher, Vienna

Martina Taig / Director of KÖR (arts in public space), Vienna

Elham Puriamehr / Independent curator for contemporary art of Iran, Teheran

16:30 – 17:30

 “Fragile Hands (after Chris Marker), A Curatorial Essay on Stated Subjectivities”

Shaheen Merali / Curator and writer, London

17:30 – 18:00 Break

18:00 Closing Panel: The future of cultural policies in cities

(co-organised by the Newspaper Der Standard)

Gerald Bast / Rector of the University of Applied Arts Vienna

Teodor Celakoski / Cultural worker and activist, Zagreb

Monika Mokre / Political scientist and Senior researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Elham Puriyamehr / Artist, curator and writer, Teheran

Michael Wimmer / Director of EDUCULT, Vienna

Presenter: Gerfried Sperl / Journalist, Vienna

Information and Registration: pr@uni-ak.ac.at