Over the past few decades the notion of ‘affinity’ has become exemplary for contemporary movements that take on nonhierarchical or democratic structures of organisation and grassroots political activism. While most examples that conceptualise affinity remain grounded in traditional anarchist thinking that opposes the logic of hegemony, Group Affinity finds greater resonance in working against the grain of today’s cultural politics: the rise of populist Europe, its impenetrable definitions of audience and public value and its aim to instrumentalise the fields of culture and education.
Group Affinity is premised on the understanding that self-organising practices of production and research do not serve an administered and neo-liberalist understanding of the public and the network: they, instead, constitute a culture of mutual recognition in affinity. Therefore, central to the investigation of Group Affinity is an exploration of how a critical and collective agency is formed and enacted.
Five participatory faculties–each run by international groups–will compose a diverse curriculum of working process around their ongoing research topics. Appropriating a general art school structure, these faculties will create atypical and imaginary departments for participants that are already familiar with the process of self organisation, or who would like to familiarise themselves with it. It is preferred that each participant brings his or her own goals, experiences and working processes to the group.
Send your application for one of the faculties to the below contact address. There’s no fee for enrolment and participation. Housing and hospitality will be offered to 30 applicants.
Application procedure:
- All applications should be in before 30 May 2011
- Send your motivation letter (not more the on A4 page), biography and any supporting documents to: groupaffinity@kunstverein-muenchen.de
- Applicants are encouraged to make suggestions, how they can contribute to the faculty of their choice. This will be considered during the selection process.
- The applicant will be officially invited to join Group Affinity in June 2011.
Contact person:
Julia Maier
roupaffinity@kunstverein-muenchen.de
Kunstverein München
Galeriestraße 4
80539 München
Germany