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IDEE DES KOMMUNISMUS - PHILOSOPHIE und KUNST

 From June 25 to June 27, 2010 the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
(Berlin) hosts an interdisciplinary congress called “The Idea of
Communism. Philosophy and Art”. The core event is a philosophical
conference started by Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek, and based on an
event of the same name which took place in London in 2009. A program
including performances, installations, films and concerts provides an
aesthetical complement to the conference. Works by guest artists deal
with both the abstract idea of communism and the political history of
20th-century ‘really existing socialism’ in Europe, as well as a
potential future for the communist model (in art).

CONFERENCE: The word “Communism”: between philosophical criticism and
an actual review of the “socialist States” Alain Badiou: “The 2009
London conference showed that, in debates dealing with both the
historical destiny of humanity and the norms of collective action, it
is now possible to give back to the word “Communism” its full meaning.
Since the labour movements in the 19th century and their
interpretation by great minds of the times, the word "Communism" has
been at the intersection between politics and philosophy. Therefore,
nowadays it must be considered on the basis of both its ideal content
and the actual experiences to which it has been associated and in
which it has been seriously compromised. The London conference was
about philosophy and ideology. The Berlin conference will focus on a
review of the socialist States that in the 20th century embodied the
motive of a “dictatorship of the proletariat”. With this in mind, the
conference will host a significant number of participants from Eastern
European countries.” With: Alain Badiou (Paris) and Slavoj Žižek
(Ljubljana), Susan Buck-Morss (New York), Cécile Winter (Paris) and
Gáspár M. Tamás (Budapest).

PERFORMANCE. INSTALLATION. FILM. MUSIC.

The centre of the art program are guest performances by two
performance groups from Eastern Europe. BADco., an art collective
based in Zagreb, presents its two latest works: "1 poor and one o" and
"The League of Time". Janez Janša’s company (based in Ljubljana)
presents a performance called “Pupilja, Papa Pupilo and the Pupilceks
– Reconstruction”, a re-enactment of a Slovenian neo-avant-garde
happening from 1969. In addition, Nick Currie aka Momus will carry out
an “unreliable tour” on the conference theme, and Berlin artist Anne
Kuhn and Chto Delat, a Russian collective of activists and performance
artists, will set up installations.The film program gathers various
perspectives of history and the utopian potential of Communism: Harun
Farocki presents his film work in relation to labour and utopia
through an entertaining film-lecture. Other films featured are
“Handsworth Songs” by Black Audio Collective, Chris Marker’s “Der
letzte Bolschewik” and the playful pseudo-documentary “L’An 01” by
Jacques Doillon, Alain Resnais and Jean Rouch.The concert program
includes a live performance using electronic media by Marc Weiser aka
Rechenzentrum of a dubbing of the classic socialist film
“Enthusiasmus”. Finally, the agitprop collective Schwabinggrad
Ballett, based in Hamburg, will present a concert-performance.

With the support of Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung,
Éditions Lignes and Institut Français.

Curators // Conference: Gernot Kamecke, Frank Ruda, Henning Teschke
and Jan Völker.
Curators // Performance. Installation. Film. Music: Michael Busch,
Alex Engel, Maximilian Haas, Sebastian Kaiser and Christian Morin.

Tickets (including the complete art program and conference): 55 Euros
(reduced 27,50)