A Summer Seminar curated by Aneta Rostkowska, Nada Rosa Schroer and Julia Haarmann.

In recent years there has been a proliferation of art exhibitions on plants and ecology accompanied by a fascination with indigenous thinking and various forms of collective work in art institutions. At the same time, there has been a growing disillusionment with the art world itself: For example, in its lack of solidarity, exploitative working conditions, short-term funding paired with shrinking structural support, a superficial understanding of diversity, strong hierarchical structures at art institutions, compulsive self-branding or the cult of mobility and flexibility. The art system perfectly mimics the neoliberal economy that we all live in. Our disappointment, however, often does not translate into concrete actions – “neoliberal art realism” (a term inspired by Mark Fisher’s “capitalist realism”) permeates everything as the sense that the status quo of the art world is the only viable one and it is impossible to imagine an alternative to it.

On the other hand, the intensifying climate change makes it clear that the economy and society cannot continue in the same way as they used to. The ecological catastrophe that we are now facing triggers a strong impulse and need for change. In response, this seminar will use ecological thinking to reflect differently about the workings of the art world, and especially in different types of art institutions. We will bring in the teachings of plants and permaculture that has mostly functioned as exhibition content into the structures of our work, in order to inform our curatorial practices. How can the ethics of permaculture (earthcare, peoplecare and fairshare) inspire a lasting transformation of art institutions beyond the superficial application of ecological guidelines? Can the regenerative aspect of permacultural thinking be transformed into a regenerative philosophy of an art institution? Could this thinking translate to sustainable community-based practices focused on emancipatory forms of working together and collective care for ecological and social commons?

The seminar involved discussions in a closed group of practitioners, artists and curators, as well as public events accessible online throughout the week as well as in the form of a public day (Saturday, July 16) on site.

Lectures / Workshops / Seminars:

Community Brunch

July 17, 12 – 4 pm CET

Michael Marder:
Toward Material Sustainabilities. Perspectival Meditations

 
July 13, 2 – 3:30 pm CET
 

In this talk, I consider how the world of vegetation undergirds, makes possible, and, indeed, sustains the thinking and the practices of sustainability. I argue that plants possess intrinsic value, irreducible to the instrumental rationality that often dovetails with discourses of sustainability. The meaning of the intrinsic value of plants lies not so much in what they are in themselves as in what they are for themselves, at the limits of human understanding. I then suggest that this vegetal perspective on the world, which puts into question the anthropocentric idea of truth, may join a cross-species and cross-kingdoms „community of values“ with human environmental practices that would treat other living beings not as objects of concern but as partners in sustainable living.

T.J. Demos:
Climate Aesthetics as Class War

 
July 16, 5 – 6:30 pm CET
 

As we struggle for a livable world amidst capitalist ruination, it’s impossible to ignore that climate change is class war. While the ruling class profits from fossil capital, working people worldwide suffer the military violence, rising heat, and associated life-destroying socio-environmental impacts. How can we rethink aesthetics and politics on this basis, including artistic institutions and collective practice? To build ecosocialism on a warming planet—as the necessary resolve to racial and colonial capitalism—requires organizing: what does that look like today within a thoroughly neoliberal art system?

recording from „Eco-operations workshop“, July 22, 2022, documenta Institut in collaboration with Universität Kassel and Universität Zürich

As a result of chemical fertilizers and pesticides industrial agriculture under Capitalism has created the ideal conditions for the domination of pathogenic bacteria in agriculture soils, which require more sanitization with pesticides in a downwards spiral of treating one evil with another.
It’s a small step from the transformation of soil under capitalism, to thinking about ourselves and our microbiome which operates according to the same principles. What does regeneration means if we apply the principle of soil to ourselves? How can we regenerate the soil and equally create healthy environments for ourselves and our environment?
In the workshop we will first examine and analyze different soil conditions. The next step is to learn how to use free available materials and improvised technologies to cook a nourishing meal for bacteria that regenerate the soil. Together we’ll build, brew and mix ingredients that create conditions for balanced and biodiverse soil ecosystems.

The seminar was developed in collaboration with the CCA Temporary Gallery / Cologne (temporarygallery.org). It is part of the CAP (Curating for Advanced Practices) program of the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen. CAP aims to develop new strategies and structures in the arts and for artistic practices and negotiate their implementation and production conditions.

With kind support by the Kunststiftung NRW, the Friends of the Künstlerdorf Schöppingen Association and the International Visitors Programme of the NRW KULTURsekretariat (Wuppertal).