[spectre] Art & Politics: Dutch research investigates former Ceausescu Palace

[Geert Lovink]

> From: Meta Haven <office at metahaven.net>
> Date: 21 December 2006 10:38:59 PM
> To: geert at xs4all.nl
> Subject: Art & Politics: Dutch research investigates former Ceausescu 
> Palace
>
> Dutch design research investigates former Ceausescu Palace
> Public conference to take place on January 11 in Bucharest, Romania
>
> Amsterdam-based design research studio Meta Haven is investigating the 
> implications and role of the former House of People in Bucharest as an 
> icon of national identity, culture, and political rule. The project, 
> carried out since 2005, has resulted in texts and visual proposals, 
> and two conferences.
> The project’s second and main conference, Regimes of Representation: 
> Art & Politics Beyond the House of People, will take place on January 
> 11, 2007, in MNAC, the Romanian national museum of contemporary art, 
> located in the former House of People.
> A keynote lecture will be held by leading political theorist Chantal 
> Mouffe, who will address ‘agonistic politics and artistic practices’. 
> Other speakers are Nicolas Bourriaud (curator and art historian), 
> Jonathan Lahey Dronsfield (philosopher), Marcus Steinweg 
> (philosopher), Augustin Ioan and Ciprian Mihali 
> (architects/philosophers). An opening speech will be given by Ruxandra 
> Balaci, artistic director of MNAC, and introduction and moderation are 
> provided by Vinca Kruk and Daniel van der Velden, (Meta Haven), who 
> are in charge of the research into the building.
>  
> The House of People
> The former Casa Poporului, now Palatul Parlamentului, and its current 
> co-function as a museum of contemporary art, will be the point of 
> departure for a discussion of the relation between politics, 
> imagination and representation, both in and beyond the post-communist 
> condition. MNAC is one of various attempts to use contemporary art and 
> creative forces to transform a former ‘totalitarian’  symbol into one 
> for democracy, but it is unique in simultaneously being housed in the 
> same building as the government. The central question for the 
> conference is: can art ever ‘take over the central location of power, 
> being a symbol of openness and democracy’? Can, consequently, 
> imagination influence or take over the meaning of a building that is 
> an essential logo of totalitarian rule?
>  
> Meta Haven: Design Research is an Amsterdam-based think tank that 
> pro-actively engages into issues of political and territorial 
> representation, producing both analysis and visual work. See 
> http://www.metahaven.net and http://www.museumofconflict.eu
> Regimes of Representation: Art & Politics Beyond the House of People 
> is organized by the Jan van Eyck Academie and Meta Haven: Design 
> Research, generously supported by the Royal Dutch Embassy in 
> Bucharest, and kindly hosted by MNAC.
>  
> ---
> More information on research and conference
> For more information please call Meta Haven: Design Research by phone:
> +31 (0)64 831 65 43 and/or +31 (0)62 427 67 97,
> or send an e-mail to: office at metahaven.net
> High resolution visual material is available on line, by request, 
> please e-mail: office at metahaven.net
>
> Reservations
> Reservations for the symposium Regimes of Representation: Art & 
> Politics Beyond the House of People can be made online via 
> http://www.museumofconflict.eu