In cooperation with the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and artist Melanie Bonajo Paradiso organises a symposium about mixing music and contemporary art. Symposium speakers: Bianca Casady (CocoRosie) (US) - via skype -, Kim Hiorthøy (N), Craig Shuftan (AUS), Jonas Ohlsson (S) and Melanie Bonajo/MC MB (NL), and an exhibition by Femke Dekker (NL).
Ever since the rise of pop culture in the sixties, the arts and innovations in pop music have been closely linked, take by example John Lennon, The Velvet Underground, The Sex Pistols, CocoRosie, The Kills and The Knife. Even Lady Gaga and Jay-Z are inspired by performance artist Marina Abramovic. Craig Shuftan, one of the speakers, states in his book The Culture Club that all innovations in pop music come from the ideas and experiments of intellectual art.
'IF I WAS A SCULPTOR, BUT THEN AGAIN, NO' researches the present state of affairs. What is the present relationship between pop culture and contemporary art? Is there a new revival of performance art in music as The Guardian recently stated? Or are the individual disciplines still very much separated?
Music and contemporary art seem to specialize increasingly: new bands are marketed within a certain genre (indie, dance, electronic music), and the same is happening within the arts, where artists are more or less forced by galleries to focus on one style, theme or discipline.
At the same time, musical and artistic landscapes have changed drastically through the rise of internet and social media; even small scale initiatives can now have a huge reach without spending a lot of money.
'IF I WAS A SCULPTOR, BUT THEN AGAIN, NO' shines a light on these new developments and talks to multidisciplinary artists and musicians about their approach and process. How do they relate to the present discourse, and is there a real difference between their practice and that of other artists?
Friday 17 January 2014
Time 19.00 – 22.00 hrs
Location: Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Frederik Roeskestraat 96, Amsterdam
Entrance: 5,- | free for Rietveld students
Reservations and applications for the ONE SONG COMPETITION (open call): buro@rietveldacademie.nl
Language: English
More information: www.queparadiso.nl/symposium