[spectre] Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou

[Bassam el Baroni]

Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou

Book Launch Program: Talks & Live Interviews 



- Alexandria Launch at ACAF: Saturday 19 November, 2011, Time: 6 – 8.30 pm

- Cairo Launch at the Gezira Art Center: Wednesday 23 November, 2011,Time: 5
– 7 pm

- Free Arabic/English Publication Available on Attending Launch



ACAF cordially invites you to attend the launch program (in both Alexandria and
Cairo) for its new Arabic/English publication Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou. The
publication invites fifteen artists, based in Egypt and the Middle-East, to
interact with Alain Badiou’s Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art. Each artist
was asked to develop an artwork in response to one specific thesis that was
pre-selected based on conjectured relevance to the artist’s work. The resulting
publication brings to light the cross-struggles between hegemonic orders, art,
philosophy, and universality. 



Artists contributing to the publication are:

Mohamed Abdelkarim – Mohamed Allam – Doa Aly – Hamdi Attia – Hazem El Mestikawy
– Adel El Siwi – Iman Issa – Mahmoud Khaled - Hassan Khan – Basim Magdy – Mona
Marzouk - STANCE – Oraib Toukan – Akram Zaatari – Tarek Zaki



The publication also includes an essay by theorist and Goldsmiths lecturer
Suhail Malik in which he uses almost teacherly didactics, lucidly making us
come to terms with the pros and cons of Badiou’s theses on contemporary art.



Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou is a project that wishes to make a fresh and
interesting contribution to the current proliferation of discussions on the
order of contemporary art. Order, as the eloquently spoken Uruguayan artist and
writer Luis Camnitzer points out is "… codified in laws, decrees, and
protocols, or is simply expressed through abuse of power." Alain Badiou’s
Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art is the closest manifestation of ideas in
which a living philosopher attempts to outline the laws, decrees, and protocols
of contemporary artistic practice. From thesis one to thesis eight Badiou rolls
out a descriptive blueprint for contemporary art in which he clearly describes
its general characteristics and the codified protocols it usually abides by in
order to be merited with the tag of ‘contemporary’. From thesis nine to thesis
fifteen Badiou changes the blueprint and his mission shifts from that of
description and identification to that of the improvement and regulation of
contemporary art and the advancement of a new order within the current order of
things. This new order is what Badiou dubs "non-imperial art", contemporary
art which is not in the service of empire.



The publication attempts to create a junction where Badiou’s rendition of what
contemporary art is and what it can or should be meets with the various
positions, criticisms, and representations of contemporary art contributed by
the artists. Badiou has stated that "philosophy should always think as
closely as possible to antiphilosophy", we hope that this publication can
bring art closer to philosophy and philosophy closer to antiphilosophy, making
both philosophy and art more incisive and provoking along the way.



The 'Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou' publication is designed is by the St. Gallen
(Switzerland) based designer Jürg Waidelich with Arabic typesetting by Engy
Aly, the project is supported by Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland in
Cairo in collaboration with Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF).



Program



Alexandria: 19 November at ACAF 6 – 8 pm



• 6 pm: Brief Introduction on Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou by Bassam El Baroni,
Language: Arabic

• 6.15 – 7.15 pm: Talk by Suhail Malik Art and Universality Conflict: A
Didactic Exposition of Badiou’s ‘Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art’, Language:
English 

• Refreshment Break

• 7.30 – 8 pm: Contributing Artist Mohamed Allam interviewed by Bassam El
Baroni taking his contribution to the publication as a starting point,
Language: Arabic

• 8 pm: Open Q & A with Suhail Malik and Mohamed Allam



Cairo: 23 November at the Gezira Art Center 5 – 7 pm



• 5 pm: Brief Introduction on Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou by Bassam El Baroni,
Language: Arabic

• 5.10 – 6 pm: Talk by Suhail Malik Ape Says No: The Problem of Critical Virtue
in Contemporary Art, Language: English

• Brief Q & A

• 6.10 – 7 pm: Contributing Artist Hassan Khan interviewed by Bassam El Baroni taking
his contribution to the publication as a starting point, Language: Arabic

• Brief Q & A



Bios for Participants in the Book Launch Program



Suhail Malik is a writer and teaches in the Department of Art, Goldsmiths
University where he is Reader in Critical Studies and Co-Director of the MFA
Fine Art. Recent writings include: “The Politics of Neutrality: Constructing a
Global Civility” at “The Human Snapshot”, Luma
  Foundation, Arles
(2011); “Why Art? The Primacy of Audience”, Global Art Forum, Dubai, and Art
Tomorrow (2011), “The Wrong of Contemporary Art: Aesthetics and Political
Indeterminacy” (with Andrea Phillips) in “Reading Rancière” (2011); “Educations
Sentimental and Unsentimental: Repositioning the Politics of Art and Education”
for Taipei Biennial (2010);“Screw (Down) The Debt: Neoliberalism and the
Politics of Austerity” in Mute (2010); “You Are Here” for Manifesta 8 (2010);
“Civil Society Must Be, Like, Totally Destroyed” in “Sanity Assassin” (2010). 



Mohamed Allam (b.1984) in Assiut/Asyut, Egypt
lives and works in Cairo.
Allam studied at the Arts Education Faculty of Helwan University in Cairo. He uses different
mediums such as video, performance and sound in his work where usually the
surrounding environment – with its social and political constituents – provides
the context and framework from which he derives a decisive irony. He has
participated as an artist in numerous events and exhibitions since 2003. Allam
is also concerned with arts management and has participated in organizing several
art events in Cairo.
He established the young Cairo-based artist initiative “Medrar for Contemporary
Art” which aims to promote the contemporary artistic practices of young artists
in Egypt.



Hassan Khan (b. 1975) is an artist, musician and writer who lives and works in Cairo. He has had solo
shows at, amongst others, The Queens Museum (New York,
2011), Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris 2011), Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (2010),
Le Plateau (Paris, 2007), and Gasworks (London, 2006). Khan has
also participated in Manifesta 8 (Murcia, 2010), Yokohama Triennale (2008),
Gwangju Biennale (2008), Thessaloniki Biennale(2007), Sidney Biennale (2006),
Seville Biennale (2006), Torino Triennale (2005) and other international
exhibitions. His album “tabla dubb” is available on the 100copies label, and he
is also widely published in Arabic and English. His text “Nine Lessons Learned
from Sherif El-Azma” was published by the Contemporary Image Collective (2009),
and his artist book “17 and in AUC – the transcriptions” was published by Merz
and Crousel (2004).



Bassam El Baroni is a curator and art critic from Alexandria, Egypt.
He is the co-founder and director of Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF).




Addresses:



Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF)

10 Hussein Hassab Street, Flat 6, Azarita, Alexandria, Egypt www.acafspace.org



Gezira Art Center

1 Marsafi Street, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt 

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