LAB 3: "Still in Transit" (gLV) 

Transkulturelles, digitales Austauschformat zwischen der ZHdK und der Schule der künstlerischen Geste in Almaty, Kasachstan.

Angebot für

Nummer und TypMTR-MTR-1040.21F.003 / Moduldurchführung
ModulLAB 
VeranstalterDepartement Kulturanalysen und Vermittlung
LeitungRada Leu, Peter Tränkle
ZeitMi 3. März 2021 bis Mi 26. Mai 2021 / 17:15–20:30 Uhr
Anzahl Teilnehmende4 - 16
ECTS2 Credits
VoraussetzungenStudium MA Transdisziplinarität

Für Studierende anderer Studiengänge bzw. Vertiefungen der ZHdK, im Rahmen der Geöffneten Lehrveranstaltungen: Einschreibung über ClickEnroll
https://intern.zhdk.ch/?clickenroll
LehrformE-Learning-Modul: Gemeinsames Erarbeiten eines Kunstprojekts mit Künstler*innen aus Zentralasien auf Distanz; Konzeption und Durchführung einer Ausstellung. Das Modul findet online statt und wird mit Inputs von ZHdK-internen und -externen Lehrpersonen ergänzt.
ZielgruppenWahlpflicht für Studierende MA Transdisziplinarität
Geöffnete Lehrveranstaltung für alle Master-Studierenden der ZHdK
Lernziele / Kompetenzen
  • Interesse an transkultureller Zusammenarbeit
  • Bereitschaft zu Kollaboration auf Distanz
  • Interesse an gegenwärtigen Diskursen zu Identität, Post-Kolonialismus, Dekolonisation, kultureller/gesellschaftlicher Transformation, Hybridität
  • Selbständigkeit
InhalteThis is a continuation of the LAB “IN TRANSIT”, which took place during the fall semester 2020.
--> https://www.qwas.ch/lab-winter-2020/lab_in-transit_2020_info.pdf

Participants from the Master Transdisciplinarity and from other departments/programmes of ZHdK connected with young artists from Central Asia, and began collaborative projects across all media. The first LAB concluded with an online-exhibition in December 2020, which showcased the works in progress.

This second part of the LAB is open to new participants as well as to all students who completed the first part.

Being in transit is a permanent state of the “New East” (post-soviet/Eastern European countries). Through the change of regimes, social unrest has been a major factor in their contemporary history - placing them in a state where the only permanence is change. Whilst the unreliability of governments, politics and identities is challenging (to say the least), it can also lead to an unexpected, precious capability for the 21st century: the ability to constantly re-invent and re-write identities, histories and futures; to move, transition, and translate from one status to another.
Kazakhstan, where our collaboration is rooted, is a prime example of these transformations: often omitted from contemporary art discourses and discourses of decolonization, the former Soviet republic’s society continues to undergo dramatic shifts in self-imaging, which are most visible in its art scene. Young Central Asian artists dwell on questions of belonging; defying, criticising, but also reinventing traditional notions of “East” and “West”.

In this Lab, we explore the idea of travelling from East to West (where does one end and the other begin?), challenging the notion of borders, through digital and analogue spaces. We critically explore the challenges of a Kazakh or Swiss identity, both similarly straddled between multiple, often contradictory ideas. Situating one’s own artistic practice within spatial, (pop-) cultural and historical narratives, we gain knowledge of transformational dynamics.

Participants from the ZHdK will digitally collaborate with artists from Central Asia and create artworks together, exploring questions such as: How does an artwork change in transit? What happens in-between? Where is “home”? How do we decolonize our gaze? What gets lost in translation, what is gained? And is the message you send the same that is received?

After getting to know each other digitally, students will have the opportunity to develop a collaborative artwork which explores the above topics and present it in an exhibition (location to be defined - ideally in a third space, where no one of the group members is in sole control or “at home”).

The project “QWAS: Migrating Dialogue” is an ongoing collaboration with the School of Artistic Gesture. Based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this is a non-governmental initiative for contemporary art education. In past formats within the MA Transdisciplinarity, we have explored topics of identity, non-places, borders, transculturality, otherness and trains.
Bibliographie / LiteraturReader includes text like: Agata Pyzik: Poor but Sexy - Culture Clashes in Europe East and West; Homi Bhabha: writings on mimicry/de-colonization/3rd space theory; Anna Engelhardt: The Futures of Russian Decolonization; Alexandra Kollontai; Boris Groys; Edward Said.
Leistungsnachweis / Testatanforderung80% Anwesenheit, aktive Mitarbeit
TermineMittwochabends, 03.03. / 17.03. / 31.03. / 28.04. / 12.05. / 26.05.; jeweils 17:15 bis 20:30 Uhr
Dauer6 Abendveranstaltungen im Semester
Bewertungsformbestanden / nicht bestanden
BemerkungThis Lab will be taught in English.

Die Anzahl Teilnehmer*innen in dieser Lehrveranstaltung ist auf 16 beschränkt; die Zuteilung erfolgt im Fall einer Überbuchung nach Abschluss der Einschreibefrist.
The number of participants in this course is limited to 16; in case of overbooking, the allocation will be made after the registration deadline.
Termine (6)