A symposium on building and maintaining alternative infrastructures that support activist art action.

In a context of seemingly perpetual economic, social, environmental and political upheaval framed as the “permacrisis”, Counter-Infrastructures: Art and Activism is a symposium that aims to explore methods for supporting long term, meaningful and resilient activist art practices. Convened by Dr Tom O’Dea.

The symposium asks how artistic strategies can help us to develop and support social formations that are durable beyond the timescales of the immediate moment, project timeline or crisis, towards “counter-infrastructures” that underpin new ways of living and being together within and against the dominance of extractive and destructive capitalist intersectionally discriminatory systems. Through a combination of theoretical discussions and practical workshops, Counter-Infrastructures will model the creation of durable and meaningful infrastructures that support both communities and artists in tackling issues of urgent social concern.

Counter-Infrastructures will bring leading contemporary national and international practitioners and theorists of activist art together to develop an understanding of the necessary structures required to support art and activism before, during and after action. The symposium will look at three examples of infrastructures that frame art practice – the curriculum, the institution and the archive – and examine ways of re-imaging these as counter-infrastructures to support activist art practice.

Featuring contributions from
Nuraini Juliastuti
MA in Art & Social Action
Viviana Checchia
The Radical Institute
The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination
Action Archive
Ed Webb-Ingall
MARCH, a journal of art and strategy

PROGRAMME

Monday DECEMBER 4th, 2023
10:00 Nuraini Juliastuti & MA Art & Social Action: Counter-Curriculum Workshop (Closed Session)
18:00 Roundtable discussion with Viviana Checchia, Nuraini Juliastuti and Eve-Olney The Radical Institute) on Counter-Infrastructures. Including discussion session led by students from the Masters In Art and Social Action. (open to all – no booking required)

Tuesday DECEMBER 5th, 2023
10:00 The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination: Counter-Institution Workshop – Booking Required – LINK
14:00 Action Archive: Counter-Archive Workshop – Booking Required – LINK
18:30 Counter-Institution: Output and Closing (open to all – no booking required)
19:00 Ed-Webb Ingall:  Counter-Archive Talk and Screening (open to all – no booking required)

ONLINE
Online with MARCH, a journal of art and strategy
www.march.international

Any queries, please contact Tom O Dea