Without Reality There Is No Utopia
(Text from e-flux: http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/without-reality-there-is-no-utopia/ )

February 15–June 2, 2013

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94103

www.ybca.org

Behind the phrase that lends this exhibition its title there are two thinkers: Jean Baudrillard and Andreas Huyssen. The former defined simulation as the creation of something that “has no relationship to any reality whatsoever,” and therefore predicted the replacement of “the real” by “the virtual.” Huyssen picks up where Baudrillard left off, positing that, since reality has been lost and replaced by its simulacrum, utopia cannot exist. Hence the title, “if there is no reality, there can be no utopia.” In other words, in the age of simulacra and virtual reality, the disappearance of the real also entails the end of the utopian.

In the age of information, actual reality has been supplanted by virtual reality, computer simulation and false narratives. Since the concept of utopia is based on the improvement of reality, the disappearance of the real also signals the end of utopia. Without Reality There Is No Utopia illustrates this premise by examining false narratives that masquerade as truth; the collapse of Communism in the 1980s; the recent financial crisis, which heralds the demise of capitalism; the contradictions inherent in geopolitics; and the explosion of democratic uprisings that rebounded around the world. The exhibition, organized into two asymmetrical sections, includes work by twenty-two international artists in photography, video, drawing, painting, collage and more.

The first is The Description of the Lie, a skeptical introduction to the systems, which fabricate the simulacra of the real. In this section, the artists focus on how truth has been replaced by media-constructed false narratives. Judi Werthein‘s work portrays life in a settlement in a region of Chile peopled entirely by Germans exiled from their country after World War II; and Dora García fictionalizes the paranoid state of surveillance generated by the Stasi in the former East Germany. Other artists in this section are Rirkrit Tiravanija and Lene Berg.

The second section bears the title Collapses and is divided into four sub-sections: communism, capitalism, geopolitics and democracy. As Huyssen aptly put it, “Utopia never dies alone. It takes its counter-utopia down with it.” Therefore, when communism falls it takes capitalism down, and as capitalism collapses it drags democracy along with it, since the latter decided to cast its lot in with the former. At the same time, the expansive system that characterizes capitalism also implies its geopolitical implosion. It therefore seems that we should seriously consider the demise of utopia as the great problem of our time.

Artists in The Collapse of Communism examine the conditions leading up to, and the aftermath of, the fall of Communism. The Russian collective Chto Delat? (What is To Be Done?) encourages the viewer to critically engage with the events that lead to the demise of the Soviet system; paintings by Manolo Quejido were inspired by a trip to Cuba, where he asks, “What can we do right now with our desire for revolution?” and Ciprian Mureşan considers the paradoxes of history and memory from a post-Communist perspective.

The Collapse of Capitalism focuses on the effects of the 2008 world financial crisis, with the premise that this was the inevitable result of a system based on consumerism, waste and the depletion of the planet’s resources. SUPERFLEX Collective‘s humorous parody The Financial Crisis ironically suggests that the crisis is an illness that can be cured through hypnosis; and El Roto‘s cartoons, which mix irony, dark humor and sarcasm, create a stark portrait of the current situation in Spain. Other artists in this section are Daniel García Andujar, Jan Peter Hammer and Katya Sander.

The artists in The Geopolitical section examine the influences of colonialism and the West on recent geopolitical uprisings. Through a collection of posters, Zeina Maasri documents the civil war in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990; and in his drawings Fernando Bryce depicts colonial practices and their “civilizing” discourses. Other artists in this section are Ignasi Aballí, Zhou Xiaohu and Federico Guzmán.

The Democracy section traces the effects of technology on communications, privacy and public assembly and their impact on democracy. Ed Hall‘s banners depict the micro-history of recent social struggles in England; Artur Żmijewski‘s videos of intentional public gatherings in various cities—Belfast, Berlin, Strasbourg, the West Bank, and Warsaw—feature playful and celebratory events; Oliver Resslerinterviews philosophers, politicians, activists and concerned citizens, asking What is Democracy?; andCarlos Motta‘s photographs feature political graffiti on the walls of various Latin American cities.

Without Reality There Is No Utopia is organized by the Centro Andaluz de Arte Conteporaneo in Seville, Spain, where it was originally presented in 2011. Curators are Alicia Murría, Mariano Navarro and Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes.

For more information on Without Reality There Is No Utopia, artist bios, and visitor information, click here.

A symposium on the future of the city
SUPERSTADT! Utopia, Utopia!

Thursday, October 18th, 2012 | 10:00-19:00
University of Art and Design Linz, 4010 Linz, Kollegiumgasse 2, 1st floor, Audimax

http://www.superstadt.at

ADMISSION FREE!

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PROGRAMME

10:00 Opening
10:15 SABINE POLLAK | Vienna/Linz
11:00 MAGNUS LARSSON | Stockholm
11:45 AMID.cero9 | Madrid
14:00 SIBYLLE HAMANN | Vienna
14:45 LIAM YOUNG : Tomorrow's Thoughts Today | London
16:00 LARS SCHMID : red park | Vienna
16:45 JAN TABOR | Vienna
17:30 MELISSA LOGAN & ALEX MURRAY-LESLIE : Chicks on Speed | Hamburg
19:00 Buffet & Drinks, SUPERPARTY!

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Utopia, Utopia!

Floating cities, artificial mountains, vertical farms and flying houses: Today, utopias are in fashion again. Like the early utopias, they respond to collapsing systems, are built on inhospitable territories and conceive structures freed from social constraints and gravity. Utopias have always fulfilled a multi-functional role. They transcend reality and permit its vehement criticism at the same time. In 1930, Buckminster Fuller predicted cosmic bankruptcy and offered houses using space technology in reply. The 1960s exhibited an ironic remodelling of technological progress, and the 1970s, in response to any economies whatsoever, an architecture of maximum pleasure gain. Towards the end of the 20th century, architectonic utopias increasingly disappeared, making room for a construction boom and a new pragmatism. Even without utopias, new cities grew, demanding fast concepts in global architecture. Utopic thinking was posited to be obsolete.

Today's utopias may have lost the criticism of the system, then again they are still meaningful. Climate change, disasters and social inequalities cannot be solved in the now, making a drifting-off into possibilities plausible. How to deal with drought, floodings and mountains of garbage? What to do in the future, with the cities, the landscape, the deserts and the sea?

Utopia, Utopia! congregates radical and questioning counterworlds of the yet impossible to build for tomorrow's supercity. Architects show insane buildings, urbanists the city in a hundred years from now, artists present subversive counter models, men and women of letters enter fictional spaces and philosophers talk about the sense or nonsense of utopias.

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CURATOR: Sabine Pollak, Architecture | Urbanism, University of Art and Design Linz
MODERATION: Angelika Fitz
ORGANISATION: Anja Aichinger

There you go. That wasn't so hard now was it?

I'm off then. See you.

Gefunden!

A friend just sent this to me. The Nehru hats are to prevent hair from falling onto the electrons.

The Fibreculture Journal calls for proposals for a special issue:
"Networked Utopias and Speculative Futures"
Editors: Susan Ballard, Zita Joyce and Lizzie Muller
Call for Proposals — Deadline: February 20, 2011

detailed information at Turbulance: http://turbulence.org/blog/2010/11/20/networked-utopias-and-speculative-...
or
at Fibreculture Journal: http://fibreculturejournal.org/

The MIT Visual Arts Program hosts a cross-disciplinary lecture series that includes speakers from art, architecture, urbanism and technology from around the world. These speakers will start a discourse to imagine tomorrow's urban living conditions.

THIS IS TOMORROW?
URBAN UTOPIA DYSTOPIA HETEROTOPIA

Flyer: Buchpräsentation "Verschwinden Perspektive Utopie"

Do pass by and have drink.

Boxed: Verschwinden Perspektive Utopie: limited edition of 100!

base records is proud to present "Verschwinden Perspektive Utopie" in a pleasure box. Included is a CD, DVD and book in a limited edition of 100.

You can buy this very nice package online via base shop, at my favorite book store Buchhandlung Alex (Hauptplatz 17, Linz Austria) or at the Linz09 Infocenter (Hauptplatz5).

Dorninger started his trilogy 2001 with "Hisatsinom, über das Verschwinden" (CD). 2005 "Nasca, on perspective" was released as a DVD and finally "Shangri-La, Projektionen von Utopia" was released as book.

Performances of all three pieces took place at festivals like Festival 4020, T-U-B-E München, OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, La Casa Encendida (Arco Madrid), FILE Rio, Linz09 Kulturhauptstadt Europas.

7th scene Utopia around the corner ;
Loten Namling sings a 1000 years old song about Utopia
We-I
Again Phil and Yuki
Georg Edlinger
Scene 6 - My private Utopia
Loten sings a very old rap from Tibet
Scene 2 - Bells of Mustang
Scene 4-3 - Utopia Roads, Googleview
Scene 7 - Utopia around the corner

Georg Edlinger in action
Loten Namling sings a very old song
Yuki & Phil in the center of the audience
Georg Edlinger is sailing the Circus to the island Utopia

We've got our get in tonight - starting at half nine, after the show that was in the space before us had left. Nobody's exepecting to go home before 3 in the morning... but things are going ok.

Two days to go until we will reveal the Way to Shambhala to you. We are very excited. Fadi is just adding some finishing touches to the masterpiece, while I fuff around with the website and tidy up some loose ends.

This is your last chance to tell us your way to Shambhala - so register now and upload yours!

Oh, and don't forget to book your ticket. No ticket, no utopia. It's that simple.

Flyer: Beyond The Clouds

Loten Namling will perform on the 5 th of Augst 2009 in Laussane Switzerland, when His Holiness will give teachings. Sujay Bobade, a wonderful musician and friend from India will appear as special guest in the concert. He is a very well known Indian Bansuri flute player and he will perform Indian meditative Ragas on the flute.

Feel free to spread this information to friends.

PS: Loten Namling will sing on August 13th and 14th 2009 in Linz, Austria within the multi-media-oerformance "Shangri-La, projections of utopia".

Loten Namling sings for His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Amsterdam, May 5th 2009.
Loten Namling sings a song for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.