As part of a programme dedicated to the development of reparative cultural practices, Kurziv – Platform for Matters of Culture, Media and Society is announcing an open call for participation in a five-person interdisciplinary international team for the exploration of anomalies through experiments. The call is open for artists, theoreticians, researchers, activists, curators and producers, critics and journalists, as well as practitioners across all disciplines and media interested in advancing their practices through exchange and collective research, experimentation and testing. Applications will be accepted from individuals across Europe. The thematic foundation on which the collective process will be built is the anomaly, observed through the lens of failure, collective dissatisfaction and (affective) resistance.
This cooperative anomalous process will be headed by the Zagreb-based curator and critic Barbara Gregov. All those who can identify with the thematic junctures of this open call (additional details below) and are interested in working in an interdisciplinary collaborative environment may apply. The selected candidates will gain an opportunity to develop new works or existing practices, projects or interests within a team. The work process of the experimental team will begin in September of 2023 and finish in spring of 2024, when members of the team will publicly present the results of their work in Zagreb. The collaborative process will take place online, with a final shared micro-residency in Zagreb. The work process will take place in English.
On Thematic Junctures:
The current socio-economic crisis, following a decade of growing economic and political uncertainty, has reactualized the need for security and stability, or more specifically an idea which was described as “the good life” by the theoretician Lauren Berlant in her 2011 publication Cruel Optimism. The conventions of “the good life” – job security, promises of upward mobility, resolved housing issues, a heterosexual marriage, a family, etc. – were a benchmark of success even in post-war America, which is where Berlant places its origins, even though they were unattainable to most people as they depended on belonging to a class/race/gender/sexual or other majority. Any deviation, whether a deliberate rejection of the normative “good life” or simply a show of inability to adjust to the established norms for one reason or another, was interpreted and felt as failure. Fantasies of “the good life” have partially changed, in accordance with the times, but they still persist. Adherence to such obviously unrealisable and unattainable ideals is what Berlant calls “cruel optimism”. Thus, fantasies of “the good life” give meaning, perspective and hope in the future, but just as the inability to realise them brings about a feeling of failure, and consequently of unhappiness, their realization does not guarantee satisfaction and happiness.
Along these lines, in an attempt to oppose the prevailing liberal and capitalist definitions of success, the theoretician Jack Halberstam advocates failure as a form of resistance to oppressive social frameworks in which we reside and within which we operate. In comparison with the individualization of failure, such a perspective directs us to observe our own failures as radical acts of rejection and exemption from the problematic logic of power. The theoretician Sara Ahmed regards affective resistance in a similar vein, by affirming “dissatisfied” figures like the “feminist killjoy”, “unhappy queer” or the “melancholic migrant”. In her opinion, an unambiguous definition of success and satisfaction, or in other words their interconnectedness through certain social structures and modes of living, is an act of standardizing happiness. Happiness thus becomes a justification for social oppression, that is to say, an excuse to interpret any kind of resistance or deviation from the norm as the cause of (collective) dissatisfaction.
This open call is a search for collaborators who will cooperatively develop their practices based on ideas of failure, (collective) dissatisfaction and affective resistance. What are we interested in exploring through this cooperative process?:
• we are interested in distinct critical and artistic reparative practices, tactics or methods that are usually considered failures or types of anomalies in specific historical contexts;
• we are interested in negotiation as well; specifically, we are interested in exploring how distinct critical and artistic reparative practices/tactics/methods correlate, borrow, rearrange and reconceptualize, that is to say, how they either intentionally or unintentionally (do not) succeed in incorporating themselves into superordinate frameworks, from their immediate artistic contexts to broader socio-political ones;
• we are interested in critical and artistic reparative practices/tactics/methods which are developed within institutional or other authoritarian frameworks, or in league with dominant epistemologies, and succeed in articulating meanings which are alternative and potentially disruptive to a specific framework;
• we are interested in those critical and artistic practices which are developed outside of institutional or other authoritarian frameworks; practices which arise from the inability to fit in with said frameworks and which set out from their own “failures”, thereby successfully articulating an alternative; practices created on the margins which speak in marginalized voices;
• we are interested in the range and duration of the former and the latter; to which extent they are focused on themselves, that is to say, whether they facilitate changes in their immediate environments or reach a broader socio-political context; whether they are short lived or have put down roots.
What Are We Offering?
Kurziv will provide a fee in the total amount of 2000 Euro (gross) to the selected candidates, cover the material expenses of producing the results of the research process, as well as travel and accommodation expenses in Zagreb.
Applications are to be sent via e-mail, to the following address apply.kurziv@gmail.com. The application must consist of a CV, a portfolio or a document presenting the applicant’s previous work, and a motivational letter (up to 600 words).
The application deadline is July 31, 23:59 CET.
Kurziv will inform the applicants of the selection results no later than August 24. Kurziv’s team will select the candidates for an online interview which is to be held between August 30 and September 6.
Barbara Gregov is a writer and editor focused on feminist, queer and affect theory and popular culture, and a curator in the field of contemporary art and photography. She holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and has substantial experience in writing and editing, as well as in coordinating, curating, and producing exhibitions, festivals, and other cultural programs. Since 2018 she has been a member of the curatorial collective that runs the Organ Vida Photography Festival in Zagreb, Croatia and an editor of Krilo – a feminist space for experimental writing. Currently, she also works as a program director at the LGBTIQ organization Zagreb Pride.
Kurziv is an independent cultural organization from Croatia, active in fields of publishing, media production, research and education. This open call is a part of our project Testing Ground: Reparative Practices for New Cultural Ecosystem supported by European Union, developed and conducted by Kurziv – Platform for Matters of Culture, Media and Society, Stowarzyszenie Im. Stanislawa Brzozowskiego/Krytyka Polityczna and Maska Ljubljana.
The program is also supported by City Office for Culture, International Relations and Civil Society, Zagreb, Kultura Nova Foundation and Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.