SOFT POWER PALACE — Festival about Independent Art Spaces in Europe is hosted by Akademie Schloss Solitude in collaboration with the other partners of the Kunstgebäude network. The project is funded by the Ministry of Research, Science and the Arts, Baden-Württemberg. Soft Power Palace invites European projects to a cultural exchange program.
laboratory
Open Calls/workshops for the laboratory:
"Becoming The Other"
– Workshops by Aether.
"Creative Storm"
– Peer-Review Session by Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects is a curatorial project dedicated to contemporary photography, stimulating critical debate around photography through exhibition, workshops, residencies, and more. Ardesia aims to create opportunities for the photographic community with the intent of unburdening artists from production costs and to stimulate in-depth debate through essays, reviews, talks, and workshops. Ardesia is a bilingual initiative (Italian/English) which hopes to create a bridge between the Italian and the European photographic landscape. In order to reflect on the future of cultural exchange and the possibility of transregional connections beyond political relations we must begin by recognizing and acknowledging a common ground which can be sought within the folds of our visual history. Art has always had the duty of giving voice to the intricacies of the human experience, sublimating it through sacred and profane objects in order to aid the human soul in understanding its own complexity. Therefore, our visual history provides an atlas of formulas which respond to a variety of cross-cultural human experiences; death, sexuality, power, procreation, nature, and so on.http://www.ardesiaprojects.com
"Atlas of Forms"
– Interactive Exhibition by Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects is a curatorial project dedicated to contemporary photography, stimulating critical debate around photography through exhibition, workshops, residencies, and more. Ardesia aims to create opportunities for the photographic community with the intent of unburdening artists from production costs and to stimulate in-depth debate through essays, reviews, talks, and workshops. Ardesia is a bilingual initiative (Italian/English) which hopes to create a bridge between the Italian and the European photographic landscape. In order to reflect on the future of cultural exchange and the possibility of transregional connections beyond political relations we must begin by recognizing and acknowledging a common ground which can be sought within the folds of our visual history. Art has always had the duty of giving voice to the intricacies of the human experience, sublimating it through sacred and profane objects in order to aid the human soul in understanding its own complexity. Therefore, our visual history provides an atlas of formulas which respond to a variety of cross-cultural human experiences; death, sexuality, power, procreation, nature, and so on.http://www.ardesiaprojects.com
"Braiding Workshop"
by ZZ Studio
ZZ Studio
Is directed by Simon Feydieu and Frédéric Houvert, located in the suburb of Lyon, France. It is part of a larger project called LaMezz (ZZ is extracted from the name of the main organization), which is a coworking factory including 16 people, including artists, ceramicists, carpenters, furniture designers and more. ZZ studio organizes nearly one show per month where they share their skills and interests with coworkers from other fields. Each show is an opportunity to welcome the neighborhood, to host people from the city center.http://www.instagram.com/zzstudio69310
"Dirty Hands Walk"
– Workshops by Fireplace
Fireplace
Fireplace emphasizes on the importance of cultural and artistic production as a catalyzer for the exchange of ideas and critical thinking and as a tool for generating successful ties between different worlds of knowledge and experience. The initiative is coordinated by Ángela Palacios and Quim Packard, both artists, parents, cultural producers, curators, and Barcelona residents. Their shared interest is to approach a more systemic vision and experience of the art ecosystem; to explore the relations between our art spaces, the artistic practices, structures and codes with its cultural context as well as its community, environmental, historical and architectural environments.http://www.instagram.com/fireplace.project
Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects is a curatorial project dedicated to contemporary photography, stimulating critical debate around photography through exhibition, workshops, residencies, and more. Ardesia aims to create opportunities for the photographic community with the intent of unburdening artists from production costs and to stimulate in-depth debate through essays, reviews, talks, and workshops. Ardesia is a bilingual initiative (Italian/English) which hopes to create a bridge between the Italian and the European photographic landscape. In order to reflect on the future of cultural exchange and the possibility of transregional connections beyond political relations we must begin by recognizing and acknowledging a common ground which can be sought within the folds of our visual history. Art has always had the duty of giving voice to the intricacies of the human experience, sublimating it through sacred and profane objects in order to aid the human soul in understanding its own complexity. Therefore, our visual history provides an atlas of formulas which respond to a variety of cross-cultural human experiences; death, sexuality, power, procreation, nature, and so on.http://www.ardesiaprojects.com
Æther
Æther is an independent art space in the heart of Sofia. It started its activities in spring 2016. It seeks to offer a possibility for experimentation and generate critical feedback on the contemporary obscurities of living through art, science, politics, and activism. It wishes to engage and bridge the local and international art scene in different propositions and activation of collective rituals and thinking. It asks to strengthen the dialogue between artists and its audience.https://aethersofia.wixsite.com/artspace
Fireplace
Fireplace emphasizes on the importance of cultural and artistic production as a catalyzer for the exchange of ideas and critical thinking and as a tool for generating successful ties between different worlds of knowledge and experience. The initiative is coordinated by Ángela Palacios and Quim Packard, both artists, parents, cultural producers, curators, and Barcelona residents. Their shared interest is to approach a more systemic vision and experience of the art ecosystem; to explore the relations between our art spaces, the artistic practices, structures and codes with its cultural context as well as its community, environmental, historical and architectural environments.http://www.instagram.com/fireplace.project
laboratory
Open Calls/workshops for the laboratory:
"Becoming The Other"
– Workshops by Aether.
"Creative Storm"
– Peer-Review Session by Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects is a curatorial project dedicated to contemporary photography, stimulating critical debate around photography through exhibition, workshops, residencies, and more. Ardesia aims to create opportunities for the photographic community with the intent of unburdening artists from production costs and to stimulate in-depth debate through essays, reviews, talks, and workshops. Ardesia is a bilingual initiative (Italian/English) which hopes to create a bridge between the Italian and the European photographic landscape. In order to reflect on the future of cultural exchange and the possibility of transregional connections beyond political relations we must begin by recognizing and acknowledging a common ground which can be sought within the folds of our visual history. Art has always had the duty of giving voice to the intricacies of the human experience, sublimating it through sacred and profane objects in order to aid the human soul in understanding its own complexity. Therefore, our visual history provides an atlas of formulas which respond to a variety of cross-cultural human experiences; death, sexuality, power, procreation, nature, and so on.http://www.ardesiaprojects.com
"Atlas of Forms"
– Interactive Exhibition by Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects
Ardesia Projects is a curatorial project dedicated to contemporary photography, stimulating critical debate around photography through exhibition, workshops, residencies, and more. Ardesia aims to create opportunities for the photographic community with the intent of unburdening artists from production costs and to stimulate in-depth debate through essays, reviews, talks, and workshops. Ardesia is a bilingual initiative (Italian/English) which hopes to create a bridge between the Italian and the European photographic landscape. In order to reflect on the future of cultural exchange and the possibility of transregional connections beyond political relations we must begin by recognizing and acknowledging a common ground which can be sought within the folds of our visual history. Art has always had the duty of giving voice to the intricacies of the human experience, sublimating it through sacred and profane objects in order to aid the human soul in understanding its own complexity. Therefore, our visual history provides an atlas of formulas which respond to a variety of cross-cultural human experiences; death, sexuality, power, procreation, nature, and so on.http://www.ardesiaprojects.com
"Braiding Workshop"
by ZZ Studio
ZZ Studio
Is directed by Simon Feydieu and Frédéric Houvert, located in the suburb of Lyon, France. It is part of a larger project called LaMezz (ZZ is extracted from the name of the main organization), which is a coworking factory including 16 people, including artists, ceramicists, carpenters, furniture designers and more. ZZ studio organizes nearly one show per month where they share their skills and interests with coworkers from other fields. Each show is an opportunity to welcome the neighborhood, to host people from the city center.http://www.instagram.com/zzstudio69310
"Dirty Hands Walk"
– Workshops by Fireplace
Fireplace
Fireplace emphasizes on the importance of cultural and artistic production as a catalyzer for the exchange of ideas and critical thinking and as a tool for generating successful ties between different worlds of knowledge and experience. The initiative is coordinated by Ángela Palacios and Quim Packard, both artists, parents, cultural producers, curators, and Barcelona residents. Their shared interest is to approach a more systemic vision and experience of the art ecosystem; to explore the relations between our art spaces, the artistic practices, structures and codes with its cultural context as well as its community, environmental, historical and architectural environments.http://www.instagram.com/fireplace.project
ZZ Studio
Is directed by Simon Feydieu and Frédéric Houvert, located in the suburb of Lyon, France. It is part of a larger project called LaMezz (ZZ is extracted from the name of the main organization), which is a coworking factory including 16 people, including artists, ceramicists, carpenters, furniture designers and more. ZZ studio organizes nearly one show per month where they share their skills and interests with coworkers from other fields. Each show is an opportunity to welcome the neighborhood, to host people from the city center.http://www.instagram.com/zzstudio69310
GmbH
GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung/limited liability company) is a temporary joint venture run by Weiny Fitui and Marco Trotta – both former organizers of Ateliergemeinschaft Bauzug 3YG in Stuttgart, better known as Waggons. Both played vital roles in developing Waggon offspring projects like Jacob17 (Weiny Fitui) and contain’t (Marco Trotta) – transitory venues for arts and music events, performances, trash architecture, and mobile structures, as well as platforms for connecting people and ideas. During Soft Power Palace, GmbH relocates to the rooms of the Kunstgebäude
Kunstgebäude
Located on the former site of the Neues Lusthaus, the Kunstgebäude was built between 1910 and 1913 according to Theodor Fischer’s plans as a place of culture and encounter. Since that time it has been the home of the Württembergischer Kunstverein, which buys, exhibits, and mediates contemporary local art. After extensive destruction during World War II, reconstruction by the architects Günther Wilhelm and Paul Bonatz took place from 1956 to 1961, who also added modern exhibition space to the Kunstgebäude. Since then, not only art but also politics took place within it: in addition to the Württembergischer Kunstverein, other cultural institutions use the new portion of the building for exhibitions and events. The historical elements hosted the municipal collection until the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart was finished in 2005. During rehabilitation measures of the parliament building, the Kunstgebäude accommodated the Parliament of Baden-Württemberg. In autumn 2019, the Kunstgebäude’s old building will be retrofitted. Six local institutions – Akademie Schloss Solitude, ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Schauspiel Stuttgart, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Theater Rampe, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart – are developing a concept for interim use. While the federal state of Baden-Württemberg is discussing options of utilization for the time after retrofit, this working committee appropriates the Kunstgebäude for a transdisciplinary program. At the focal point of all considerations is experimentation with innovative formats settled between exhibition and performative projects, arts, and theory, participation and debate, local as well as global perspectives. The projects are developed by different constellations of the six institutions and financially supported by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg.http://www.instagram.com/gesellschaft.m.b.h
Paula Kohlmann
Paula Kohlmann works as a producer and curator for various art and theater formats. Since her fellowship for art coordination in 2016 at Akademie Schloss Solitude she is continuously involved in freelance projects for the Institution. Since 2018 she dedicates half of her time as dramaturge at Theater Rampe in Stuttgart. Back in 2012 Paula Kohlmann co-founded the interdisciplinary project space projektraum-lotte.de where she organized a five year program with the LOTTE Team.
Mareen Wrobel
Mareen Wrobel works as a freelance graphic designer and project coordinator. She was a fellow for art coordination in 2017 at Akademie Schloss Solitude and realized numerous projects in Stuttgart while the latest one was the Container Open at the interim quarter of the Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V., organized with Paula KohlmannPaula Kohlmann
Paula Kohlmann works as a producer and curator for various art and theater formats. Since her fellowship for art coordination in 2016 at Akademie Schloss Solitude she is continuously involved in freelance projects for the Institution. Since 2018 she dedicates half of her time as dramaturge at Theater Rampe in Stuttgart. Back in 2012 Paula Kohlmann co-founded the interdisciplinary project space projektraum-lotte.de where she organized a five year program with the LOTTE Team.Thu, November 8, 2018
Soft Power World Cafés
Introducing subject, content and backgrounds: Get to know artists and organizers
SOFT POWER PALACE
Welcome speeches by Petra Olschowski, State Secretary Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg, and Elke aus dem Moore, Director Akademie Schloss Solitude. Introduction to the project by Paula Kohlmann. In German.
Soft Power Manifesto: The future is self organized
Public talk: Requirements to the politics with Benedetta Casagrande (Ardesia Projects Milano), Voin de Voin (Aether artspace, Sofia), Marco Trotta (GmbH, Stuttgart), Simon Feydieu (ZZ Studio, Lyon), Ángela Palacios (Fireplace, Barcelona)
Drinks and Music
Treibender Teppich DJ Set (Exotic Grooves, Post Disco & Electronica)
Oracle - What is the future for the independent art spaces in Europe?
Performance by Voin de Voin and Marie Civikov
Fri, November 9, 2018
Dirty Hands-Walk
With Fireplace // Inspect for mosquitoes and other insects. See if we find any productive tree between all the ornamental. Finally got to the community garden. It's time to get our hands dirty! Cross-generational activity.
Memorabilia
Dance performance by Elena Morena Weber // Playing with sound and image, Memorabilia takes the audience on a physical and emotional journey, triggering the memory archive of each individual and creating space for endless associations. Please bring your own headphones! Weber is a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude.
Unsubscribe
Fanzine Release & Talk about collaborative struggles with three members of the K Hybrid Core Team (Isabel Bredenbröker, Sarah Lehnerer, Angela Stiegler). K is an open initiative that experiments with adisciplinary forms of exchange in the fields of artistic practices and research. In German and English.
Transgression and what if we are no longer shocked?
Talk by Despina Panagiotopoulou // Based on an encounter between Franco Bifo Berardi and Despina Panagiotopoulou on online cultural wars, hip fascism, and the effects in real life. In English.
Prime Time Talk Show
A series of talk shows with invited guests aimed at stirring up discussions about controversial topics in strategies of self organization. Bureaucratic struggles with the city administration, available spaces, and competing viewpoints regarding the institutionalization of the project's themselves are some examples of the disconcerting issues that will be discussed. In German and English.
Don’t fall apart
Concert – Akademische Betriebskapelle The ABK Stuttgart consists of workshop teachers and students of the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and sees itself as a bridge builder between seemingly unbridgeable banks of different milieus. In cooperation with Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart.
Drinks and Music
Melary Stardust DJ Set (Brazil Music)
Sat, November 10, 2018
Creative Storm
Peer-review session with Ardesia Projects // A constructive space for dialog, feedback, and critique; a space in which to celebrate error, experimentation, and dialogue on artistic work. In English. Please reserve at: info@softpowerpalace.de
Travel & Trouble – dance workshop
Dance Workshop by Savyon // Travel & Trouble is a practice developed by performance artist, dancer and poet Savyon. It’s a guided physical mental session, a journey in which you are the view and you are the viewer, a space to experience otherness, a structure of becoming. No need for any special sporty athletic wear. Savyon is a current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude.
Past, in Each of its Moments be Citable
An exhibition project on Walter Benjamin’s concept of history in the city of Istanbul. Presentation by Patrizia Bach (current fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude). In German and English.
Vorwärts – performance on art fundings
Performance on art fundings by Lisa Thomas, inspired by an installation of Helga Kellerer. In cooperation with Produktionszentrum Tanz- und Performance Stuttgart
Voyage, Voyage!
Artistic Production in the context of artist-in-residence programs Panel discussion with Anike Joyce-Sadiq (Artist, Berlin/Stuttgart), Elke aus dem Moore (Director Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart), Angelika Stepken (Director Villa Romana, Florenz), Anna Romanenko and Björn Kühn (Artists, Stuttgart). Moderation: Silva Brand and Antonia Marten (Kunstbüro der Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg) As globally connected platforms for artist production and presentation, artist-in-residence-programs are a substantial element within the art world today. But how do the conditions of those programs with different outlines look like? And in what way does constant traveling affect the artist’s work? In German. In cooperation with Kunstbüro der Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg
un_ re_ dis_ COVER EUROPA
is a game created to be played with the visitors of the festival. It uses facts of history, economy, art, tradition and others in order to configure an example of New European Identity. Happening with Voin de Voin and Marie Civicov.
SOFTPOWERPICNIC
Neighborhood picnic at the Kuppelsaal. Bring your own food but share it with others, as well as your stories on Europe.
Bzzzbzzbzzz
Open mic session with Fireplace // Share and speak loud your folk tales, rap songs, science episodes, poems, YouTube tutorials, own visions, automatic readings on mosquitoes, insects, the power of self-organization and self-reliance, natural colonization and urban ecology. A wide and open invitation to every-bodies in the city and nearby to come to share words and sounds about these topics and see what we can learn from the oral knowledge. Cross-generational activity. In English, German, French, Spanish, Italian...
SOFTPOWERPARTY
Technobeton (Iassen Markov) DJ Set
ONGOING Installations
during SOFT POWER PALACE by
Andrew Fremont-Smith
Lisa Mühleisen
Lucas Rudolf
Sylvia Winkler
Braiding Workshop
Invitation to contribute to weave contemporary material for a bas-relief body of works, assisted by the artist Simon Feydieu and exhibited from November 8 to 11. In English and French.
This Poem is a Nomad
Goodnight Reading by Regina Dürig and Savyon (fellows at Akademie Schloss Solitude) German author and performer Regina Dürig translated Savyon's poems from Hebrew to German, without any knowledge of Hebrew. The transition of meaning, sound, and rhythm from one language into the other was a journey through silence, echoes, and encounters in English. Savyon is a Tel Aviv-based poet, performance artist, and dancer. Her texts are presented in German for the first time.
Babel-LeLab
Lecture on International Art Festival about Transport & Language Babel-LeLab by Lola Göller and Arthur Debet // How do concepts and objects change their meaning as soon as they move from one place to another? The international, interdisciplinary, collaborative art festival Babel – LeLab took place in February 2018 in Hangzhou, China. We created an open platform and laboratory for communication and art production by bringing together artists of all medias from China, Germany, and France. In German. In cooperation with ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen).
Braiding Workshop
Invitation to contribute to wave contemporary material for a bas-relief body of works, assisted by the artist Simon Feydieu and exhibited from November 8 to 11. In English and French.
Clip Clique
Music video compilation of filmmakers from the subcultural cosmos of the Stuttgart music scene. With an introduction, followed by a DJ set by Kristina Arlekinova. In German and English.
Talk Show
A series of talk shows with invited guests aimed at stirring up discussions about controversial topics in strategies of self organization. Bureaucratic struggles with the city administration, available spaces, and competing viewpoints regarding the institutionalization of the projects themselves. In German and English.
Braiding Workshop
Invitation to contribute to weave contemporary material for a bas-relief body of works, assisted by the artist Simon Feydieu and exhibited from November 8 to 11. In German and French.
Let’s Talk About…
Cultural, touristic and economical benefits on a city or region coming from artist studios and artist-run spaces Open discussion with Simon Feydieu. In English and French.
Actopolis – The Art of Action
Lecture/Project presentation by Martin Fritz, director Merz Akademie Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Stuttgart. In German. In cooperation with Merz Akademie Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Stuttgart. Organized by Goethe Institut Athen
Soft Power Lecture
Brussels>Stuttgart; Stuttgart>Athens; Lecture by Ioannis Papadopoulos for PAT (curator: Elpida Karaba)/Athens // The Soft Power Lectures are a quasi art, academic, diplomatic, institutional apparatus, curated by Elpida Karaba. Artist Ioannis Papadopoulos often uses the elusive nature of language and translation to maneuver around meanings. His talk "polis-police-police de caractère" will be about consonance and soft metal types. In English. In cooperation with Goethe-Institut Athen & Merz Akademie Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Stuttgart.
Opening Double Exhibition
Opening double exhibition in ZZ Studio: Stuttgart painters on Black Houvert (by Frédéric Houvert/ZZ Studio, Lyon) and Faraday’s, a textile design exhibition, implying braided contemporary industrial material and copysharing works (by Simon Feydieu/ZZ Studio, Lyon).
Archive Diving
In a visualized lecture, GmbH takes us on a wild ride through pivotal incidents in the seven-year history of the Waggons, Jacob17, and contain't. In English and German.
What the EU Can and Cannot Do
Cultural policy and support to cultural and creative sectors // Open workshop by Maciej Hofman, Policy Officer/Cultural Policy Unit, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission. In cooperation with Europe Direct Informationszentrum Stuttgart
Keynote
Independent Scene/Interdependent Actors. A collaborative context in the Balkans // Marijana Cvetković (Station – Service for Contemporary Dance, Belgrade/Serbia) In English.
Panel Discussion
Eastern European Networks Host: Elke aus dem Moore (Director Akademie Schloss Solitude) With: Marijana Cvetković (Station – Service for Contemporary Dance, Belgrade/Serbia); Sonja Soldo (POGON – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth, Zagreb/Croatia); Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka (Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Poland); Kinga Tóth (József Attila Circle, Budapest, Hungary) In English. In cooperation with Solitudes Eastern European Partner Network