INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: IDENTITY CRISIS NETWORK

Venue: MSU, Gorgon Hall

The first international conference as part of the Identity Crisis Network research project brings together 20 scientists, curators, artists and other individuals and collectives to join a conversation that challenges established prejudices about identity and subjectivity in contemporary art and culture.

Over the past few decades, the concept of identity has often been perceived as a fixed political determinant. However, given its inherent fluidity, diversity, multiplicity and ambiguity, attempts to define it strictly have proven to be limiting – stretching its boundaries to the breaking point. Practices aimed at the visibility of marginalized groups in the art field have often led to compartmentalization or tokenization, deepening polarization and fueling culture wars within and outside art institutions. This position opens up space for questioning the very foundations of contemporary art practice and its potential to generate transformative experiences outside of normative and restrictive frameworks.

The Identity Crisis Network conference seeks to explore whether it is possible to go beyond given categories of identity and simplified labels – both in cultural and political discourse. Our goal is not to offer a one-sided critique, but to explore the potential of art to generate change. Through the conference, we reflect on the philosophical, institutional, aesthetic, and political landscape we inhabit as artists, curators, and theorists, with the intention of imagining new spaces in which potential and contingent outcomes can emerge.

Invited speakers: Jack Halberstam (Columbia University, New York), Anna Longo (Paris 1–Panthéon-Sorbonne), Svitlana Matviyenko (Simon Fraser University), Simon O’Sullivan (Goldsmiths, University of London).

Featured presenters: Bill Balaskas, Salim Bayri, Mark Cinkevich, Hana Janečková, Klara Kofen, Suzana Milevska, Boris Ondreicka, Ying Sze Pek, Tjaša Pogačar and Brandon Rosenbluth, Mohammad Salemy, Mårten Spångberg, Simon Darko, Salo Vukić, Scott Wark, Agatha Wieczorek, Xtreme Girl.

For further information, please contact us at: hello/@/identitycrisisnetwork/./com or visit our website – identitycrisisnetwork.com.

The full program of the two-day conference can be found at the link.
The event is taking place in English and entrance is free.