Interventions

Sylvère Lotringer will be the gues for Intervention #5: Born 1938 in Paris; editor of Semiotext(e), he is professor of French Philosophy at Columbia University in New York and Jean Baudrillard Professor at EGS in Switzerland. He is credited for introducing "French Theory" in America. He has published catalogue essays for the Guggenheim, the Moma, the New Museum, the Musee du Jeu de Paume, Modern Kunst in Vienna, etc. and edited dozens of magazines and books.

Graham Harwood, will be guest of "Intervention #4" on June 3rd, 2009. Harwood is known for both his individual work Aluminium (Manifesta07 2008), Rehearsal-of-Memory (Pompidou Centre Paris 1996 - collection), Lungs (Centre for Media Arts in Karlsruhe – collection) and his collaborative work with Mongrel (1996-2007) a celebrated artists group specialising in digital media and his directorship of Mediashed a free-media lab in Southend-on-sea(2005).

Intervention #3 will be centered around some of the theories of the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin. The "imaginary property" research group invites to a small symposium on May 16th featuring three guests and a screening: After "Passing Drama" a film by Angela Melitopoulos, Arianna Bove, Maurizio Lazzarato, and Angela Melitopoulos will give presentations that are linked up with Bakhtins radical reconceptualization of the relation between self and other. Bakhtin suggests an event-like relation between “possible worlds”. The other is neither an object nor a subject; it is the expression of possible worlds.

"Bakhtin’s philosophy can still speak to us because it poses the problem of the relationship between life and culture, between life and art, a problem that traversed the entire beginning of the century, and the 1920ies in particular. The solution given by Bakhtin to this problem is markedly distinct from the solution of the ‘avant-gardes’. According to Bakhtin, in order to ‘overcome’ the separation and opposition between art and life, between art and culture, the elaboration of a ‘first philosophy’ is required: The philosophy of event-being. Art and life cannot and must not tend towards identification, as was the case with the Situationists, for example. But, in order that the enriching, excessive and productive difference between art and life be able to express itself, it is necessary to possess a theory which, whilst maintaining the irreducible differences between these two dimensions, articulates them in the achievement of the event." (Maurizio Lazzarato: Dialogism and Polyphony).

Imaginary property // Intervention #2 has been delivered by filmmaker Eyal Sivan. He presents "Towards a common archives: Manipulating the enemies images". Eyal Sivan is a London based filmmaker, producer, essayist and research professor in media production at the school of social sciences, media and cultural studies at the University of East London (UEL). Sivan directed more then 10 worldwide awarded feature-length political documentaries and produced many others. He is the founder and Chief Editor of 'Cinema South Notebooks' in Israel - a journal of cinema and Political critic, editor at the Paris based publishing house ‘La Fabrique’ and member of the editorial board and columnist at the French social studies journal 'De l'autre Côté'. Among Sivan’s films: Aqabat-Jaber (1987 & 1994); Izkor, Slaves of Memory (1991); The Specialist (1999); Route 181, fragments of a journey in Palestine-Israel (with Michel Khleifi 2003); Aus Liebe zum Volk / I Love You all (2004 with Audrey Murion). Currently he is finishing his film "Jaffa-story of a brand name".

New York based media theorist Ted Byfield will be the first guest in Interventions, a new series of events hosted by the imaginary property (.imp) research group at Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht. Ted Byfield is a professor at Parsons the New School for Design and visiting fellow at Yale Law School (Information Society project). In his intervention he will be reflecting on methods and practices that make up (im)material architectures. Intervention #1 has been video recorded and can be viewed below.