Opposing / Contrary: On the Adversarial Archive

As part of PUBLICS parahosting programme. We are thrilled to parahost
A participatory workshop with Amirali Ghasemi on 8th October.

عدوی تو نیستم، انکار تو ام

“I am not your enemy / I am your denial” Ahmad Shamlou

Participatory curatorial workshop

During the program, Amirali Ghasemi will lead a participatory workshop on curatorial practices between Iran and Europe, drawing from his long-term practices on counter-archives, Amirali co-founded and ran project spaces such as Parkingallery Projects and Room For Doubt, as well as educational platforms like New Media Society.

In the course of Workshop he with share various curatorial projects like Iran & Co(Belgium/Iran), The Elephant in the dark (India), Tracing Movement(s) in uncertain times(Germany), and the most recent one What the lands remembers(Belgium) selected projects and Archive Collectives he has worked with.

The workshop will be held in English  and does not require any qualifications / background, but an interest in cross-cultural curatorial practice.

Participants are invited to bring a topic of interest or a project which they share within the workshop.

PROGRAM:

10.00 –  Introduction
10.20 – 12.40 – Presentation of Projects and discussing their challenges
13.00 – 14.00 – Lunch Break (Please bring something to share)
14.00 – 18.00
Presentation by Workshop participants and conversations
Group Discussion & flash Assignments
18.00 –  Final remarks

Screening: Optional VHS Diaries by Niyaz Saghari – 72 min

More Info here

We work with questions around:

Strategies to work in the environments affected by hostile policies and indifference.  How curatorial narratives are constructed through hegemonical selection; what becomes visible or excluded when responding to the representational / actual crisis. What changes when operating within the country or from a diasporic distance to it, despite your whereabouts.
How archives can be activated rather than simply displayed; How institutional contexts affect the reading of politically situated work and how we can try to address those complexities.

Curatorial case study / public conversation

A connected public session will focus more closely on two projects from Amirali’s curatorial practice, Iran & Co and The Elephant in the Dark

Instead of functioning as a lecture or chronological presentation of his career, selected projects will become case studies through which broader questions are examined: working across borders, independent curatorial infrastructures, archive-building, displacement, political crisis, representation and the possibilities and limits of institutional spaces vs independent(!) spaces.

While exhibiting carefully selected pieces from Underwater Eruptions /Parking Video Library would provide one more important case through which the relationship between archive, crisis and curatorial activation is discussed.

Central curatorial concerns

Urgent Responses?: How can artistic and curatorial practices respond to an unfolding crisis without being governed entirely by the demand for immediate representation? Practicing Agency in the time of emergency: How do people continue to act, relate, remember and imagine within circumstances imposed upon them? Representation crisis & Pain: When does visibility become spectacle, and when does suffering become cultural currency? Micro-narratives as a remedy? What can small, personal and fragmented narratives reveal that dominant political narratives fail to address? Archives under pressure from repression to war: What happens to archives when the narratives through which events are understood are themselves being contested?

Displacement, belonging & healing
How are relationships to place, home and identity negotiated when living between countries, inside and outside political events at the same time? How one can survive emotionally and financially when they occur?  And finally a proposed Gathering around archive: Can an exhibition create a safer/braver space for disagreement, listening and debate without demanding consensus?

How to participate: The workshop is held in English and is open to anyone interested in these questions; no prior experience is required. Places are limited to 7 participants. Please bring a question, topic or project you would like to share and discuss with the group.
To apply, please send us an email to roomfordoubts@gmail.com including a few lines about yourself and your contact number until 5th of Oct, we will be responding to you shortly. Because of limited space in the workshop, the sooner you approach us, the more change we can have you on board.