Book selection by Library Manager Stephanie Moran.
In a society dominated by capital, we are used to measuring our health in relation to our productivity. What strategies can artists and activists use to oppose this?
The next Research Network will revolve around how artists attend to self-care in an economic climate of austerity and instability. It will address tactics for reclaiming control and responsibility as a way of rejecting institutional exploitation, when financial, mental and physical precarity is the accepted state of being for artists. How do artist and activist collectivities provide structures for support and self-care and protection against burnout?
What is the artistic obligation to social responsibility, engagement and ethically conscious practice? Who or what does the artist have a duty to? Does it benefit the artist? Is it ethical for precarious artists to fulfil societal roles that should be paid for by the state or other institutions?
The Stuart Hall Library is now looking for proposals for research network events to take place February – December 2018, as part of Iniva’s artistic programme, around the theme of self-care.
We are looking for artists, curators, activists, students and researchers to respond to ideas around art, activism and self-care. We welcome critical responses to these provocations. Proposals could address, but are not limited to:
- Physical, emotional and mental well being
- Artistic practice as a site of trauma (revisiting past experiences) or of healing
- Pace of Production: slowness vs. acceleration
- Process of Production: individual vs. collective practices
- Responsibility for whom? The self vs. the social good
- Virtual and IRL (in real life) art communities of self-care and -harm
- Race, class, gender, neurodiversity or any intersectional thought in relation to the above
To Apply
Research Network events may include in-conversations, artist presentations, performance lectures, discussions, or panel discussions.
The events will be every two months and take place in the Stuart Hall Library from 6.30 – 8.30pm on Thursday evenings. We aim to programme at least six events in a 12-month period. (The events will alternate with a reading group led by Iniva’s librarians expanding on the themes of the Research Network.)
The Research Network acts as a testing ground for new ideas within a peer group. It is a meeting place for the discussion of practice-based or more conventional forms of research that may include: visual arts, film and media, curatorial practice, cultural studies, social sciences, cultural activism, postcolonial studies, literary studies, including criticism and theory.
Proposals are encouraged from artists, curators and practitioners working in the fields listed above.
Please submit a short expression of interest :
1. outlining your plan for the event, how you address the theme and how your event fits with Iniva’s mission, what the event outcomes will be, including how you plan to document it and how it will appear on the Iniva website – eg. Podcast, film, library guest blog post (max 200 words);
2. brief biog and cv outlining research / art practice interests (max 200 words);
3. outline technical support required, if any;
4. supply no more than five images which must be provided as part of a single PDF and / or a link to website.
Proposals will be selected by a panel comprising Iniva staff and an external expert.
Deadline for proposals: 5pm Thursday 30th November 2017
We can provide some support in terms of marketing, coordination and limited technical support and equipment – please take into account when submitting your proposal and contact the Library Manager if you have any questions about available equipment.
Payment – £100 per speaker
Sadly we cannot reply to all those who submit proposals, however, we are grateful for the time taken to contribute to Iniva’s programme.
Please email proposals to library@iniva.org