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Prof. Dr. Verena Kuni  M. A.

Kunst·Medien·Kultur - Theorie·Praxis·Vermittlung

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Art·Media·Culture - Theory·Practice·Transfer

verena@kuni.org

 

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Nothing happened (And I was not there to attend it)

Beitrag zur Konferenz | Contribution to the Conference
"Events and Event-Structures", Center for Design Research, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Kopenhagen, 24.- 27.05.2007 | May 24-27, 2007

Inaction / inactivity instead of action, activity and interaction. Doing nothing. Showing nothing. Hands off. This was no invitation to participate. Do not even look at it. No, I prefer not to: Refusal as resistance within a society of spectacle and hyperactive event culture, featuring vita activa as theme park format for happy prosumers, a neighborhood of workaholics (most of them specialized in self-promo, the others continuously asking you to participate in their next project/platform/whatever), not to forget the creative imperative?

What happens if it happens that nothing happens?
In natural sciences – as well as some branches of philosophy – "events" are precisely defined: An event – occurring arbitrarily or being purposefully installed – is a definite point in time (and space) that can be distinguished from others. Because something is happening, something takes places – something changes. "The state of the world", in case you prefer the sometimes strange prose of physics – but maybe it is just that you had an idea or changed your mind.

From this background, it seems quite difficult if not impossible to avoid events in the framework of an artistic practice. Especially as artistic gestures of negation have been practiced from early modernity onwards, they seem to be integrated if not integrally implemented into the canon of avant-garde art history meanwhile. From which follows they are usually are perceived as an event – and strictly speaking they indeed are exactly that.

But what about non-events? Following common definitions,
"a non-event is an anticipated or highly publicized event that either does not occur, or simply turns out to be very anticlimactic, boring or is a hoax. Non-events are disappointing, as they are often much hyped prior to their occurrence."
Again – apart from the mere fact that according to this we would have to conclude that non-events obviously remain a subspecies of events (just unexpected, disappointing and unsatisfactory ones) – this sounds all too familiar: Non-events are a common feature within a society of spectacle, of course. However, if we leave the "scene-and-herd"-section of art biz/buzz aside ( where indeed the creation of non-events is daily business) – could we imagine the purposeful installation of non-events as an artistic practice not limited to either strategic self-promotion within an event culture or simple failure? Or should we better ask: What are the potentials of an event masked as non-event?

However, rather than entering an ongoing philosophical debate, to further discuss the possibility and potentials of non-event the lecture will not so much drive into a philosophical debate, but rather take a closer look on selected examples from the area of artistic practice(s), ranging from art history to contemporary art, that purposefully enter this field.
Special attention will be devoted to pieces that generate due to their specific framework (i.e. 'interactive media environments', 'networks', 'platforms') the expectation not only to create 'events' ("to make things happen"), but also situations of interaction and/or participation – but, be it purposefully or not, do not fulfill this promise.

Hintergrundinformationen | Background Information:

Forschungsschwerpunkt "(UN)SICHTBARE ARCHIVE" auf www.under-construction.cc | research focus "(IN)VISIBLE ARCHIVES" at www.under-construction.cc

Forschungsschwerpunkt [IN]VISIBILIA auf www.under-construction.cc | research focus [IN]VISIBILIA at www.under-construction.cc

tags: alltagskultur, alltagstechnologien, archive, archives, art & media, art & public, art & society, art criticism, art history, artists' myths, communication, cultural history, displays, economy, erzählen, everyday culture, everyday technologies, geschichten & geschichte, invisibility, kommunikation, kulturgeschichte, kunst & gesellschaft, kunst & medien, kunst & öffentlichkeit, kunstgeschichte, kunstkritik, künstlermythen, ökonomie, perception, performance, popular culture, populärkultur, protest cultures, protestkulturen, public relation, repräsentation, representation, sichtbarkeit, stories & histories, storytelling, subject & authorship, subjekt & autorschaft, time, unsichtbarkeit, vermittlung, visibility, wahrnehmung, zeit

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