18.10.2011 | KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststr. 69, 10117 Berlin

Krytyka Polityczna in Berlin

The end of society. What is Political Critique?

Debate, Concert, Party

25.10.2011, from 8 pm

 

Venue: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststr. 69, 10117 Berlin

Free admission

 

 

8 pm: Debate with Ivan Krastev, Sławomir Sierakowski and Michał Sutowski

in English

 

Cynicism dominates our public life – old Sloterdijk’s prophecy still works. We all know, that current institutions fail, hegemonic ideas mislead our perception, naked force prevails. And? Nothing happens. Political parties have no visions, NGOs fight for particular cases, radicals are out of touch with reality. We try to show an alternative for cynicism and political impotence – over the last few years Polish Krytyka Polityczna has organized a movement combining a social group, network institution, think-tank and a group of influence, which intends to change politics; first in Poland, then in the East and now…? Does it work, and HOW does it work – we invite you to a debate at KW Institute for Contemporary Art.

 

Ivan Krastev, political scientist is Chairman of Board of the Centre for Liberal Strategies. He is a permanent fellow at the IWM (Institute for Human Sciences), Vienna. Ivan Krastev is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Council member of the International Institute for Security Studies IISS – London. Krastev is the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy Bulgaria and associated editor of Europe's World. His latest books in English are The Anti-American Century (co-editors with Alan McPherson), CEU Press, 2007 and Shifting Obsessions: Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption, CEU Press, 2004.

 

Sławomir Sierakowski, founder, editor-in-chief and leader of Krytyka Polityczna. He is an activist, political commentator, sociologist and critic writing about literature and theatre. He studied sociology, philosophy and economy at the University of Warsaw. As the a scholar he worked at the university in Munich under Ulrlich Beck's tutelage. He became well known for Polish public opinion in October 2003, when he initiated the Open Letter to the European Public Opinion, signed by 250 intellectuals in support of the Constitutional Treaty for the EU and the federalist model of European integration. The letter was published in Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Gazeta Wyborcza and other European newspapers. Since then Sierakowski became actively engaged in political, social and cultural debates shaping the Polish public sphere. He also worked for the Polish Cultural TV Channel as a literary reviewer and as a dramatist he collaborated with Jan Klata – one of the most influential Polish theatre directors. Since 2008 Sierakowski appears as an actor in Yael Bartana’s propaganda movies as part of the „Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland”.

 

Michał Sutowski is a political scientist and commentator writing for Krytyka Polityczna and various newspapers, collaborating also with different TV channels. His interests are focused on the history of Polish democratic opposition under the communist regime, Russian political thought, current Russian social life and the political philosophy of Carl Schmitt. He works as a managing editor of Krytyka Polityczna magazine. He studied at the University of Warsaw.

 

 

10 pm: Politicsound: East/West

Concerts by Marcin Masecki and Reinhold Friedl

 

The clash of two approaches to contemporary improvised music. Two musicians specialized in playing on the same instrument and – accidentally – living on two different sides of Europe: Eastern and Western. Two different traditions? Really?

 

We invite you for solo concerts of some of the most interesting and aware representatives of the contemporary music scene from Germany and Eastern Europe.

 

Marcin Masecki was born in Warsaw in 1982. In the age of twelve he became a regular at local jam sessions and formed his first trio. From 1994 to 98 he studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Music School and joined the group Alchemik. They perfomed extensively throughout Europe, recording four albums and winning the Jazz Hoeilaart Competition in 1998.

In 2000 Masecki received a scholarship to study in Berklee College of Music in Boston. After graduation he returned to Warsaw and became an active member of the local improvised/alternative scene. Among others he worked with Fred Frith, Tomasz Stanko and Pink Freud. In 2005 he won the first prize in the International Jazz Piano Competition in Moscow and formed the band TAQ with Ziv Ravitz and Garth Stevenson. In 2008 he formed the band Paristetris with Argentinian singer Candelaria Saenz Valiente and Polish multi-instrumentalist Macio Moretti. In 2009 they were nominated as Artist of the Year by the cultural magazine Aktivist. Masecki realeased two solo albums entitled Bob (2009) and John (2010).

His parallel passion is classical music. Since 2007 he has been involved in the monumental process of recording Bach's Art of the Fugue. In the meantime he regularly performs solo recitals with varied repertoires, especially German 18th century music.

 

Reinhold Friedl, born 1964, lives in Berlin since 1987. He studied piano with Renate Werner, Alan Marks and Alexander von Schlippenbach, mathematics and musicology in Stuttgart and Berlin. As a performer, interpreter and composer, he has received various fellowships - Eurocréation Paris, the Rome Fellowship (Villa Serpentara) of the Berlin Academy of Arts, STEIM Amsterdam, as well as various composition commissions. Reinhold Friedl has published articles in newpapers and professional journals and conducted a seminar on “Music and Mathematics” in the department of Mathematics at Freie Universität Berlin together with Prof. Behrends. He founded and directs the ensembles Piano-Inside-Out and ZEITKRATZER. Friedl has worked as a curator for the Podewil Center for Contemporary Arts Berlin and directed the Off-ICMC Berlin 2000. He has been invited to take part in the Jury of the Ars Electronica and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisboa. As pianist and composer, he has worked with musicians and composers such as Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Phill Niblock, Helmut Oehring, Nicolas Collins, Lou Reed, MERZBOW, Radu Malfatti, Bernhard Guenter and Mario Bertoncini (nuova consonanza). The main focus of Reinhold Friedl’s work is the inside-piano. He played all respective literature using inside-piano techniques and released several articles in this field. In theatre he worked with Frank Castorf among others.

 

 

Subsequently: Party, visualizations, music, sounds

Katarzyna Górna, Sławomir Belina and Wojtek Zrałek-Kossakowski

 

Visualizations prepared for screening in the courtyard and interiors of KW will tell the story of new protest movements against current political and economic system, the story of today’s engagement. They will also be a meaningful illustration for the planned debate.

 

Preparation of the video: Katarzyna Górna and Sławomir Belina

Sound illustrations: Wojtek Zrałek-Kossakowski

 

Katarzyna Górna, born in 1968 in Warsaw. Between 1989 and 1994 she studied at Warsaw Academy of Arts. In 1994 she graduated with a diploma from the sculpture department. Górna works with photography, photo installations and video art. She lives in Warsaw. Her activities have been carried on constantly for more than ten years. She participated in many important group exhibitions. Since 2004 an exhibition summarizing her works of the past decade has been shown in major Polish galleries. Her works became icons in Polish art, being granted a firm position in the history of contemporary art. Katarzyna Górna’s objects belong to major contemporary art collections (Centre of Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Gallery of Contemporary Art “Bunkier Sztuki” in Krakow, “Zachęta” gallery in Szczecin and many Polish and foreign private collecions). The latest works of Górna explore transgenderism, dealing with the issue of sexual identity.

 

Sławek Belina, born in 1968 in Skierniewice. Photographer, performer, sculptor, video artist. He participated in many important group exhibitions. His works were shown in major Polish galleries like the Centre of Contemporary Art in Warsaw, "Zachęta" gallery in Warsaw, "Atlas Sztuki" in Lódź, among others. He uses a variety of media, but predominantly photography. One of the dominant themes in his work is the naked body.

 

Wojtek Zrałek-Kossakowski, dramaturge, music curator, publicist, translator. As a dramaturge he has worked with Zbigniew Brzoza, Natalia Korczakowska, Krzysztof Minkowski and Katarzyna Raduszynska among others. Apart from theatre he is involved in various jazz and contemporary music projects. He leads the experimental DJ collective Zralex and hosts a radio show called "Free Poland" on radiojazz.fm on which he explores avant-garde and experimental music. He is the music curator at the Nowy Wspanialy Swiat (Brave New World) Cultural Centre in Warsaw, and a member of the "Krytyka Polityczna".

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