[spectre] Symposium: Art Programs at Universities (Lueneburg, 16-18 Nov 2011)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

Leuphana Arts Program -Symposium

Degrees of Freedom. Art Programs at Universities

Leuphana University Lüneburg/Germany
16 - 18 November 2011

Universities are sites of research and of 
teaching. They are sometimes also home to 
artistic practice. The symposium "Degrees of 
Freedom. Art Programs at Universities" explores 
the roles and potentials of art programs at 
universities, both for artists and for the 
universities themselves.

Experts from different fields and institutional 
contexts discuss historical examples of specific 
programs, experiences and incidents from 
different countries. A particular focus will be 
placed on the different ways in which the 
artistic practice is integrated into university 
structures. The symposium asks, firstly, how 
universities can foster and support artistic work 
and how artists can best benefit from the 
university setting. Secondly, we will discuss the 
role of artistic practice in the university and 
explore the potential of art practice for a 
research and teaching institution. Thirdly, we 
will be looking at concepts like agency, 
knowledge, creativity, etc., and debate how their 
different connotations in art, science, research 
and teaching can be brought into a fruitful 
dialogue.

The symposium "Degrees of Freedom" will prepare 
and inaugurate the new "Leuphana Arts Program" 
through which Leuphana University will, in the 
coming years, bring artists into the university. 
The work of artists is based on forms of 
querying, of searching and exploring, which are 
comparable to scientific research, even if they 
don't subscribe to the same expectations about 
objectivity and truth. Artistic research is aimed 
at strategically broadening and deepening 
knowledge that is not ancillary to an individual 
project, but that forms an integral part of an 
artistic practice. In dialogue with scientific 
partners, artistic research can spark important 
innovative impulses for the sciences by 
systematically questioning their thematic, 
methodological and epistemological preconceptions.
The relationship between art, science and the 
humanities is not new but has been evolving, in 
its modern Western form, ever since the 
Renaissance. However, the conditions under which 
the dialogue between these different fields takes 
place have changed dramatically over the past 
century. It is therefore timely to investigate 
how new feedback mechanisms might be constructed 
through which emerging forms of knowledge and 
creativity in the arts or in the sciences can be 
brought to bear on each other. At the same time, 
the changes that we can observe may make it 
necessary for institutions - like universities 
and art schools - to transform and reinvent 
themselves.
The Leuphana Arts Program serves to integrate art 
into the university as a practice, as a form of 
knowledge and a form of discourse. The Leuphana 
Arts Program focuses on the development of 
artistic projects. It supports them in the 
interdisciplinary environment of the university. 
The impulses for the evolving interdisciplinary 
dialogues come from the artists who are regarded 
not as mere 'innovative disruptors', but as 
researchers and developers in their own right.
LAP seeks to create friction and energy between 
the different areas of artistic, scientific and 
social practice. It is a laboratory, a site for 
people working in the crossover zones of artistic 
production. Its work is oriented towards open 
processes rather than towards finished products. 
The symposium will address the university as a 
context for artistic exploration.

Symposium participants include: Jens Hauser (Ruhr 
Universität Bochum), Irène Hediger (Swiss 
Artists-in-Labs, ZhdK Zurich), Sarat Maharaj 
(Lund University), Pierre Guillet de Monthoux 
(Copenhagen Business School), Sally-Jane Norman 
(Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, 
University of Sussex), Susanne Märtens (HBK 
Braunschweig), Claus Pias, Beate Soentgen, Martin 
Warnke, Ulf Wuggenig (all Leuphana University 
Lüneburg), a.o. Moderation: Andreas Broeckmann 
(Leuphana Arts Program)

Schedule:
Wed 16 Nov, 17:00-21:00 Get Together, Introduction, Opening Reception
Thu 17 Nov, 09:00-18:00 Symposium, 19:00-21:00 
Panel discussion, LAP inaugural Reception
Fri 18 Nov, 09:00-13:00 Symposium, Closing Lunch

Participation is free, reservation requested at: <lap at leuphana.de>
(also for general and accommodation inquiries)

Supported by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony.


Contact
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
Leuphana Ars Program
Scharnhorststr. 1, Raum C5.225
21335 Lüneburg
Tel. +49 4131 677 2204
E-Mail lap at leuphana.de