A panel discussion organized by the Legislative Assembly of the Emilia Romagna Region, Italy

Do you still ask the big question? Do you still explore life, reality, dreams, form in the practice of art ? Will the extra spectator actually ruins the path of converging life and art? Should art stay as a personal and internal dialogue ? Or a dialogue with other artists?

During Arte Fiera Art First, Bologna
In collaboration with LaRete Art Projects

For some decades, the traditional relationship between spectator and artwork is no longer the only one an artist establishes with his audience.

Since the beginning of the second half of the 20th century artists have cancelled the boundries between themselves, their work and the audience. After Fluxus, Happening and the so-called 'Relational Aesthetics' of the Nineties, art and everyday life have become so closely intertwined, that it is sometimes hard to distinguish one from the other. Numerous scholarly publications have been written on this kind of crossover. During his lifetime, Joseph Beuys expanded the definition of "being an artist" almost universally. The involvement of persons who don't consider themselves artists, or at least not in the first place, for many artists remains a challenge which presents itself continuously in new forms. The intention is to include larger groups of people, not only in the reception of art, but also in artistic production, which leads to the creation of new creative communities.

The Legislative Assembly of the Emilia Romagna Region in Bologna, Italy, has decided to support this kind of artistic endeavor with a biannual art award. The intention is not only to support an artistic production beyond market strategies, but also to stimulate a source of inspiration for participatory techniques which help create involvement, useful for citizens and politicians.

At Arte Fiera Rudolf Frieling, Alfredo Jaar and Bert Theis, moderated by Julia Draganovic, the curator in charge to develop this art award, will discuss with Monica Donini, President of the Legislative Assembly of the Emilia Romagna Region, the opportunities, limits and challenges of participatory art practices and ways in which they can help create and develop a new, shared sense of belonging to a community.


Rudolf Frieling is curator of media arts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Adjunct Professor at the California College of Art and the San Francisco Art Institute. From 1994 to 2006 he was a curator and researcher at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany. His curatorial and editorial projects include "Media Art Net" and "40yearsvideoart.de" both at ZKM and at SFMOMA most recently "In Collaboration" and "The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now", a survey of historic and contemporary participatory concepts.

Alfredo Jaar is an artist, architect, and filmmaker who lives and works in New York. His work has been shown extensively around the world. He has created more than fifty Public Interventions around the world. He has participated in the Biennales of Venice (1986, 2007), São Paulo (1987, 1989), Sydney (1990), Istanbul (1995), Kwangju (1995, 2000), Johannesburg (1997), and Seville (2006), as well as Documenta (1987, 2002) in Kassel. Important individual exhibitions include the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1992); Whitechapel, London (1992); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1992); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1994); Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (2005); Fundación Telefónica, Santiago (2006); Musée des Beaux Arts, Lausanne (2007); Hangar Bicocca and Spazio Oberdan, Milan (2008).

Bert Theis, artist and curator, born in Luxembourg 1952, based in Milan since 1992. Co-founder of the long-term collective projects out-Office for Urban Transformation and Isola Art Center in Milan. Bert Theis is a creator of platforms that are open to participation and self-managed activities. He has had exhibitions in several museums, build installations in public space and taken part in international art events like the Venice Biennale 1995, Sculpture Projects Münster 1997, Arte all'Arte 1998, Manifesta 1998 and numerous other biennials in Europe and Asia. In 2009 he curated Territoria 4, a project of the Province of Prato, Italy.

Information:
http://assemblealegislativa.regione.emilia-romagna.it/
http://www.larete-artprojects.net

email:
alrelistituzionali@regione.emilia-romagna.it
info@larete-artprojects.net

During Arte Fiera and in collaboration with LaRete