27 April 2016

Factory of Thought “Public Space: Fights and Fictions”
19 – 21 May 2016, Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

Public space is not an issue of luxury. As a platform of social debate and dispute, public space is a mainstay of the democratic way of life. From 19 – 21 May, “Public Space: Fights and Fictions”, organised by the Goethe-Institut and the Akademie der Künste, offers a 36-hour Factory of Thought on this crucial issue. In lectures, panel discussions, interviews, screenings, performances and artistic interventions, leading international figures in the current discourse join artists in exploring the challenges and potentials in public space.

Civil society participation in public space is under threat from strategies of global capital just as much as from authoritarian power structures and security issues. The “Public Space: Fights and Fictions” conference presents a forum where, together with international guests, the often conflicting claims to public space can be analysed and negotiated. During this 36-hour programme, the Akademie der Künste is transformed into a public stage and a platform for exchange. This conference is part of DEMO:POLIS – The Right to Public Space.

Programme:

Prologue: Thursday 19 May 2016, 7 pm
with Joachim Bernauer (Head of the Culture Department, Goethe-Institut), Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (President of the Goethe-Institut), Omar Nagati (Architect and urban planner, Cairo), Johannes Odenthal (Director of Programming, Akademie der Künste), Wilfried Wang (Deputy Director Architecture Section, Akademie der Künste), Eyal Weizman (Architect and theoretician, London) and Sophie Wolfrum (Professor of  Urban Design, TU München)

36-Hour Factory of Thought Friday 20 May, noon – Saturday 21 May, midnight
Night Shift with DJ session on 20 May from 11 pm

Keynotes by Arno Brandlhuber (Berlin), Peter Cachola Schmal (Frankfurt), Eva Franch i Gilabert (New York), Léopold Lambert (Paris), Gabi Ngcobo (Johannesburg), Eyal Weizman (London)
 
Discussions with Doreen Heng Liu (Guangzhou), Anna Minton (London), Omar Nagati (Cairo), Kathrin Röggla (Berlin), Sophie Wolfrum (Munich) and others. Performances by Cooking Sections (London), Bryony Roberts (Oslo/Rome), Tentative Collective (Karachi). DJ session curated by Making Spaces c/o Niche Berlin.

Inputs
from Nana Adusei-Poku (Zurich/Rotterdam), Katja Aßmann (Berlin), Ethel Baraona Pohl (Barcelona), Jaakko Blomberg (Helsinki), Meriem Chabani (Paris), Renato Cymbalista (São Paulo), Ana Dana Beroš (Zagreb), Danijela Dugandžić (Sarajevo), John Edom (Copenhagen), Angelika Fitz (Vienna), Pedro Gadanho (Lisbon), Barbara Hoidn (Berlin), Elpida Karaba (Athens), Kooperative für Darstellungs-politik (Berlin), Marvi Mazhar (Karachi), Tiago Mota Saraiva (Lisbon), Raquel Rolnik (São Paulo), Maurice Specht (Rotterdam), Wilfried Wang (Berlin), Peter Zlonicky (Munich), Zuloark (Berlin/Madrid).

Organised jointly by the Goethe-Institut and the Akademie der Künste.
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin, Tel. 030 57-2000, free admission
Information, participants, programme, and registration for specific “Denkräume” (Round Tables): www.adk.de/fights-and-fictions

Press Contact on behalf of the Akademie der Künste:  Bureau N, Julia Albani, julia.albani@bureau-n.de, Gudrun Landl gudrun.landl@bureau-n.de, Tel.  030 627 36 104