(Re)configuring Territories: Spring School 2021 presentations in Narva June 5th, 2021 10:30-15:00 @ Narva Art Residency and online
A week-long intensive Spring School culminated with a hybrid public event where the participants of the three workshops shared glimpses of their processes and findings.
The public event started online with Charming Perspectives where participants of the Trollperception in the Heartlands workshop presented some of the <<charms>> they worked with during the week. The group also made an exhibition of the <<charms>> to the (Re)configuring Territories instagram feed.
The event continued with the Archaeology of Postsocialist Narva tour by the Post-Brokenness workshop group. The cycling tour began at the Narva Art Residency and went around Narva where the participants presented objects, installations and public spaces as speculative archeological findings thirty years in the future.
After the tour the event continued with a common lunch moment, which reflected the topics that the Obschenie group had worked with during the spring school week.
The event ended with a tour to Kreenholm factory area where Sandra Kosorotova presented her project The Garden of Death.
Spring School Workshops → Весенняя Школа → Kevadkool → Kevätkoulun työpajat
(Re)configuring Territories Talk → Доклады на (Пере)осмыслении территорий → (Re)configuring Territories vestlusring → (Re)configuring Territories -keskustelu
TOK Curators: On the Verge of Post-Industrial Routine. In search for an alternative planetary set-up and trajectories of degrowth June 16th, 2021 18:00-19:30 @ Narva Art Residency and online
The starting point for this conversation was the prevailing industrial and economical conditions of the city of Narva and beyond, which TOK curators explored during their residency (Re)configuring Territories in May and June 2021. By discussing a variety of post-industrial contexts and sites, the talk aimed to integrate the economic, manufacturing and architectural processes of decay of the Ida-Viru region into a wider geographical and conceptual framework.
Heavy industrial processes have left often irreparable marks and traces on local landscapes, demographics, health and memory of human and non-human inhabitants of regions, whose environments were affected by the rise and fall of the industrial economy. Changing conditions of industries, exhaustion of resources, and new requirements of ecological policies have led to closure of many production sites which made many people relocate and reconsider and reconfigure their dreams, hopes and future prospects at the territories that now serve as markers of post-industrial capitalism. The event will aim at revisiting several art and research projects from different geopolitical locations that deal with the questions of social and economical aftermath of industrial processes, post-colonial economies, environmental damages and political ecology in order to create sensory and intellectual response to radical breaking of life.
The Creative Association of Curators TOK is a curatorial duo founded in St. Petersburg by Anna Bitkina and Maria Veits in 2010 as a platform for research projects at the intersection of contemporary art, social sciences and socially oriented design. As a nomadic collective working between Russia and Europe, the Middle East and the United States, TOK curators place their practice between historical analysis and political imagination. Their multilayered, durational and cross-disciplinary projects generate new knowledge about the causes and consequences of changing political realities.
Maria Kapajeva is an artist who works between the UK and Estonia. Her work often highlights peripheral histories and unspoken stories, focusing on the representation of women. Her artist book Dream Is Wonderful, Yet Unclear, published by Milda Books in 2020, got Krazsna-Krausz Photo Book Award.
Ann Mirjam Vaikla is an artist and curator and was the director of Narva Art Residency (NART) from 2017 to 2021. Her practice lies in the intersection of performing and visual arts working within various contexts at galleries, theatres and public spaces in Estonia and internationally.
The event was in English with Estonian and Russian introduction. See the recording below.
(Re)configuring Territories Talk → Доклады на (Пере)осмыслении территорий → (Re)configuring Territories vestlusring → (Re)configuring Territories -keskustelu
Discussion with TOK Curators in Narva Art Residency Saturday, May 22, 2021, at 16 (EET) Online
This (Re)configuring Territories discussion opened the cycle of the spring 2021 programme.
Creative Association of Curators TOK joined the Narva Art Residency on May 20 – June 18. The introduction talk with the TOK curators Anna Bitkina and Maria Veits was hosted by curator Ksenia Kaverina and the (Re)configuring Territories programme curators Tommi Vasko and Kaisa Karvinen.
Creative Association of Curators TOK is a curatorial duo founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia by Anna Bitkina and Maria Veits as a platform for research projects at the intersection of contemporary art, social sciences and socially-oriented design. As a nomadic collective working internationally , TOK curators place their practice between historical analysis and political imagination. In 2020 TOK was the winner of the apexart Open call 2020-2021 (exhibition ‘Voicing the Silence’ to be presented in Moscow at CCA Fabrica in summer 2021). In September 2021 TOK will curate the main exhibition of the 6th edition of the Photomonth Biennale in Tallinn.
As part of the (Re)configuring Territories project, TOK was interested in rethinking critically the parameters for historical analysis of post-industrial areas in cross-border territories between Russia and Estonia, exploring their common political, industrial and ecological history.
SPRING SCHOOL 2021 OPEN CALL (Re)configuring Territories Spring School 2021 With Francisco Martínez and Andra Aaloe, Maria Muuk, and MYCKET (Mariana Alves Silva, Katarina Bonnevier and Thérèse Kristiansson) May 31 – June 6, 2021 50€ / 0€
(Re)configuring Territories programme continues as a week-long Spring School on May 31 – June 6, 2021.
We are very happy to be able to host three simultaneous workshops mentored by anthropologist Francisco Martínez and urbanist Andra Aaloe, graphic designer, baker and writer Maria Muuk, and architecture, art and design practice MYCKET (Mariana Alves Silva, Katarina Bonnevier and Thérèse Kristiansson). We will host participants both at Narva and online.
Apply by May 1, 2020!
Spring School Workshops → Весенняя Школа → Kevadkool → Kevätkoulun työpajat
Spring School Mentors → Весенняя Школа → Kevadkool → Kevätkoulun mentorit
Dear Mist: A Journey Through Folklore and Energy Politics. LARP (Live Action Role-Play) May 28–30, 2021 Online, in English Free of charge
The live action role-play taking place in Narva, eastern Estonia. Because of the ongoing epidemiological situation this year’s LARP participants will be online; facilitated by technologies like geo-located audio AR, instant messaging apps, Zoom and live-stream webcams. The river Narva and its lore will be transported and beamed to you.
(Re)configuring Territories Talks → Доклады на (Пере)осмыслении территорий → (Re)configuring Territories vestlusring → (Re)configuring Territories -keskustelut
Anthropology, Fieldwork, and Design Research – With Francisco Martinez and Polina Medvedeva Tuesday, December 15, 2020, at 16 (EET)
Interest in anthropology is growing in situated architecture and design research circles, with fieldwork and community-led design processes becoming an increasingly important part of the critical discourse. What should architects, designers, and artists know from anthropology and its methodology? What can these disciplines learn from each other?
(Re)configuring Territories program curator Tommi Vasko talked with professor Francisco Martínez and filmmaker and artist Polina Medvedeva about fieldwork and the relationships between artistic research and anthropology.
(Re)configuring Territories Talk → Доклады на (Пере)осмыслении территорий → (Re)configuring Territories vestlusring → (Re)configuring Territories -keskustelu
Feminist Fairytales, Parties and Eating Together as Spatial Practices –– A Conversation with Maria Muuk and MYCKET Monday, December 14, 2020, at 16 (EET)
Could fiction and eating dinner together be seen as ways to question the conventional methods of spatial and design practices? Can these careful methods create a more resilient and discursive architecture and design culture?
In the talk, the art & architecture group MYCKET (Mariana Alves Silva, Katarina Bonnevier, and Thérèse Kristiansson), graphic designer/writer/baker Maria Muuk and curator Kaisa Karvinen investigated strategies in each of their practices and dreamed about possible roles of architects and designers in the neighborhoods of current society. The talk started with a short reading.
Talks → Весенняя Школа 2022 → Residentuur 2021 → Keskustelut
Cover image for the event: The Indeterminate Terrain Between Disciplines
The Indeterminate Terrain Between Disciplines – Introduction to the (Re)configuring Territories pragramme With Ksenia Kaverina, Karoliina Korpilahti and Ann Mirjam Vaikla Saturday, December 12, 2020, at 16 (EET)
The first (Re)configuring Territories talk was a discursive introduction to the research program. How can residencies and gatherings create discussions about borders, territories, and design and architecture cultures?
(Re)configuring Territories program curators Kaisa Karvinen and Tommi Vasko talked with curator and archivist Ksenia Kaverina, program director Karoliina Korpilahti and Narva Art Residency’s director Ann Mirjam Vaikla.
(Re)configuring Territories welcomes applications for a six-week Residency in May–June 2020.
The Residency is meant for practitioners and researchers who share an interest in situated practices and speculative approaches.
The chosen resident will live and work at Narva Art Residency where they can concentrate on their research and/or artistic practice. (Re)configuring Territories will provide travel costs (max. 500 euros), a working grant of 3600 euros, 500 euros towards material costs, and accommodation at Narva Art Residency.
Submit your application via email by March 15, 2020, 23:59 CET.
(Re)configuring Territories research programme continues as a week-long Spring School on June 1(Re)configuring Territories research programme continues as a week-long Spring School on June 13 – 19, 2022. This year’s programme explores the politics of collective imagination in the midst of the socio-political and technological upheavals we currently face. How do the changing perceptions of territorial relationships, the experiences of belonging to a place, the multiple spatial layers of history, and their connection to human and non-human agencies shape abilities to imagine futures? What are the possible roles and structures of educational institutions that could develop the necessary skills and knowledge of political imagination?
(Re)configuring Territories stands for free and open societies, against war and violence. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
The war has also changed the context of (Re)configuring Territories project. We are currently reorganizing our resources and this year’s programme.
Action and friendships are now even more important
#StandWithUkraine
#StopRussianAggression
Before the year ends, we – the organisers in Finland and Estonia – gathered to share wishes and hopes for 2022, which will be the final year of the (Re)configuring Territories programme.
A week-long intensive Spring School culminated with a hybrid public event where the participants of the three workshops shared glimpses of their processes and findings.
The starting point for this conversation are the prevailing industrial and economical conditions of the city of Narva and beyond, which TOK curators have been exploring during their residency (Re)configuring Territories in May and June 2021. By discussing a variety of post-industrial contexts and sites, we will integrate the economic, manufacturing and architectural processes of decay of the Ida-Viru region into a wider geographical and conceptual framework.
Elena Hess-Rheingans who took part in the (Re)configuring Territories Spring School 2019 wrote about Narva, the Spring School and Damiano Cerrone’s MetaNar workshop.
