(scroll if you want to go directly to the program for CONSTANT CRAVING)

Dear all,

Soon coming to an end: this heavy academic year, marked by turbulences. Heavy, first and foremost for the world at large, which increasingly finds itself in a grim state of bewilderment. Heavy, to a much less dramatic but nevertheless disorienting degree, for the DAI as well. Turbulences, in our case not evolving from turmoil beyond our control, but from living the consequences of a highly experimental reset of the conditions of our very existence as Planetary Campus. As participants in a roving academy without material walls, we all had to cope with a sense of loss, not necessarily the loss of our school building and our routines, but rather the loss of a sense of place, which forced us to seek for new relationality between "home" and "world", meanwhile critically challenged to see our nomadic selves in their, relative, but still very real and predominantly white privilege. Desiring to better understand the oscillations between the ecstasy and the agony that accompanied our wanderings, we strongly felt the need to theorize our in-between state. Last month, in Athens, during our riveting COOP SUMMIT days, one study group asked how to practice unified organisation in a roaming context—in places yet unknown. The group offered the very helpful structure of ‘islandthinking’ as a means to collaborate through collective knowledge: imagine boat routes between islands, where one often has to cross through specific islands to access others. "‘islandthinking’ as a metaphor for interconnectedness, whilst simultaneously maintaining individuality". Interestingly this is completely in sync with how our syllabus and curriculum reflect the different modes of interaction in and with this thing called "DAI". 

The COOP constitutes the most collaborative and cooperative of the three modules the DAI's graduates have to complete successfully, in order to obtain their master's degree. The completion of an, in general individually written theoretical thesis (supervised in the context of HowToDoThingsWithTheory) sits at the other end of the spectrum. The third component of the 2018 graduation are individual "acts" scheduled to take place in Athens, this year under the title CONSTANT CRAVING ~ PERFORMING UNDER CONDITIONS on June 30 and 31, as well as July 1st. More than generously hosted by State of Concept where the acts, which can be perceived as very personal punctuations to mark the end of an often intensely transformative two year period at DAI will unfold in-and outside of DAI-alumna Yota Ioannidou’s installation A Case of Perpetual No. 

Other than the constraints of the given time and space frame, there are no restrictions to the content and the format of the acts. Each student is called to 'speak' to two cameras (live-stream & documentary) and to a live audience consisting of peers, to the two brilliant guest respondents Maria Lind and to the theory tutors with whom the graduates have been sparring over the past two years: Bassam El Baroni, Sven Lütticken, Rachel O'Reilly, Hypatia Vourloumis and Marina Vishmidt. I the undersigned, will have the blissful honour to act as "referee", a role which allows me to commit to what I consider to be part and parcel of the specific practice of orality: deep and focussed listening to the unique 'voice' of each presenter. It will be such a treat to be touched and moved and challenged by the resilience of the artistic mind, by the political power of the body in movement as well as by the bittersweetness of this particular moment in this particular place. I warmly recommend you to join us in Athens or, if that is not possible, to switch on the live-stream channel. 

With HUGE gratitude to ALL who have invested their precious time, energy and love in the realisation of this remarkable event, I send you my warmest regards,

Gabriëlle Schleijpen

artistic director | head of program

For the entire day to day program of the final DAI week of this academic year, please visit our bulletin.

PROGRAM

With as respondents, special guest Maria Lind and theory tutors Bassam el Baroni, Sven Lütticken, Marina Vishmidt and Hypatia Vourloumis.