Freedom in Practice

This PhD workshop centres on the multifaceted concept of freedom in art and research. Rather than merely revisiting philosophical and historical notions of freedom, the workshop aims to explore the practical manifestations, negotiations, and implementations of freedom in artistic and practice-based research. Over two days, we will discuss key ways in which freedom has been, and continues to be, exercised and understood through creative and research practices.

The workshop recognizes that it is nearly impossible— and perhaps even futile—to define freedom in a way that encompasses a wide range of interpretations, from the neoliberal idea of free markets to the notion of unlimited individual autonomy, the fight for freedom of expression, practices of fugitivity or versions of the romantic ideal of artistic freedom. Instead, we propose to view freedom as something never fully realized, but rather as a process involving work, participation, and negations formed in the relationship with others—both human and more-thanhuman agents. This approach allows us to approach freedom as it is practised, beyond both clichés and utopian definitions.

Of particular interest in this workshop will be the administration and experience of freedom in the context of art and research, especially within practice-based research. As practice-based art studies gain traction and challenge traditional academic knowledge paradigms, they provoke critical reflections on what constitutes academic knowledge production and creation, both in historical and contemporary contexts. We will engage with the implications of these shifts for freedom in artistic, curatorial, and academic practices. What do these changes mean for our understanding of freedom in the production of knowledge? How can we articulate, document, and critically engage with these developments, acknowledging their profound impact on our artistic and academic landscape?

The workshop will include practice-based exercises, institutional visits and theoretical reflection drawing on the set texts. Participants will have the opportunity to present their work, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and practices

Target group

PhD students at all stages of their research project dealing with interdisciplinary approaches to art studies.

Academic aim

• Provide a theoretical framework for working with `Freedom´ as something that is formed in relationship to and with others
• To discuss and evaluate ideas and practices of artistic and academic freedom, drawing on both recent and historical research and artistic practices that operate at the intersection of art and academia. Providing a broad range of modes of understanding and critically engaging with artistic and academic freedom, where they originate from and what we can learn from them.
• We will derive diverse ideological, political, and methodological approaches from the different conditions and contexts in which these ideas and practices of freedom are situated to introduce new methodologies in academic, curatorial, and artistic studies.

Literature

Boym Svetlana. 2010. Another Freedom: The Alternative History of an Idea. Chicago; The University of Chicago Press: 1-35

Jones, Amelia. 2012. ‘Art as a Binary Proposition; Identity as Binary Proposition’. In Seeing Differently. New York; Routledge: 17- 62.

Jorn, Asger. 1956. ‘Opening Speech to the First World Congress of Free Artists in Alba, Italy’. Situationist International Online. 1956. 

Jorn, Asger. 1957. ‘Notes on the Formation of an Imaginist Bauhaus’. Bureau of Public Secrets. 1957.

Manning, Erin, and Brian Massumi. 2014. Thought in the Act: Passages in the Ecology of Experience. Minneapolis; University of Minnesota Press: 83-151.

Nelson, Maggie. 2022. On Freedom. Vol. 2022. New York; Vintage Publishing: 19-72.

Stengers, Isabelle. 2005. ‘An Ecology of Practices’. Cultural Studies Review 11 (1): 183-196.

Stewart, Susan. 2011. The Poet’s Freedom a Notebook on Making. Chicago; University of Chicago Press: 3-28 + 186-205

Course organisers and lecturers

• Anne Julie Arnfred, Postdoc at PASS, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen
• Mikkel Bogh, Professor and Head of Centre at PASS, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

Registration

Please register via email to pass@hum.ku.dk no later than 17 October 2024.

Deadline for submission of abstracts

For a written or oral presentation with a focus on case studies and dilemmas relating to freedom with a focus on case studies and keywords is 2 November 2024.
Max. number of participants: 15

ECTS-credits

• 1.5 ECTS (workshop)
• 3 ECTS (workshop + presentation)

Workload

Presence total 14 hours + preparation total 42 (84 with presentation) hours.