In January, February and March 2015, through talks, readings, discussions, performances, workshops, film screenings and an exhibition of student work, Studium Generale Rietveld Academie* & Rietveld Uncut** are collaborating on an extensive, artistic research trajectory.

IMPORTANT: Rietveld students are kindly asked to bring their Rietveld student card.
Non-students are welcome, entrance free.

ACT 1, SCENE 3

Enter: Alain Badiou (Vincent van Gerven Oei), Jonas Staal (Jonas Staal), We Are Here Cooperative (Maryama, Sami, Osman, Elke) and Frascati Theater (Lara Staal)
1 3 . 3 0 - 1 5 . 3 0
Talks by Vincent van Gerven Oei and Jonas Staal, a re-enactement by We Are Here Cooperative preceded by a note from Lara Staal

1 5 . 4 5 - 1 7 . 3 0
Beamclub screening: Bamako by Abderrahmane Sissako (2006)

Badiou: Theatre, Bodies, Languages and the State by Vincent van Gerven Oei

Over the last decades, French philosopher and playwright Alain Badiou has become one of the main reference points within art theoretical discourse as regards the revolutionary potential of art, as well as its possible intersections and confrontations with politics. From an inspection of the broad framework of Badiou’s philosophical project founded on the conditions of politics, art, love, and science, we will zoom in on his consideration of the theatre, which he analyzes as an intersection of bodies and languages, in a continuous confrontation with the state. This point of tension between state and theater will lead us, finally, to look at the theatrical work of Dutch artist Jonas Staal, and the ways in which he employs theatrical settings to reinvent what the state could or should be.

Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei is a philologist based in Tirana, Albania. He is visiting lecturer at Tembusu College, National University of Singapore and is currently completing his second PhD at the Centre for Modern Thought at the University of Aberdeen on the wrought relations between etymology and philosophy. Van Gerven Oei has translated and/or published on the work of, among others, Jean Daive, Hervé Guibert, Werner Hamacher, Dick Raaijmakers, Avital Ronell, and Nachoem Wijnberg. He is currently preparing Lapidari, a three-volume catalogue of Albanian monumentality and Cross-Examinations a multi-layered palimpsest on torture and truth. As a specialist of the Old Nubian language, he is also editor-in-chief of Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies and director of project bureau for the art and humanities The Department of Eagles and multilingual publishing house Uitgeverij.

Theatre of the Stateless by Jonas Staal

In 2012 artist Jonas Staal founded the artistic and political organization New World Summit; one year later, this was followed by the New World Academy (with BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht). The New World Summit creates "parliaments" - large scale architectural constructions in theaters, contemporary art institutions and public spaces - where stateless political organizations are invited to speak.

The emphasis of the New World Summit is on groups that are dealing with terrorist blacklisting, and are such rendered stateless and placed "outside" of democracy. Through the space of art the New World Summit opposes these politics of exclusion and attempts to redefine the practice of a fundamental "limitless" democracy.

Jonas Staal (1981) has studied monumental art in Enschede in the East-Netherlands and in Boston in the USA. He currently works on his PhD research entitled Art and Propaganda in the 21st Century at PhDArts program of the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. His extensive body of work, which is continuously on show or otherwise activated, at biennials and art spaces worldwide, includes interventions in public space, exhibitions, lectures, and publications, focusing on the relationship between art, politics and ideology. His publications 'Post-propaganda' as well as 'Power?... To Which People?!' provide the theoretical basis for his controversial work. Among his most recent books is The Art of Creating a State on the role of art in the representation of the unacknowledged state of Azawad. Led by the Tuareg, the National Liberation Movement of Azawad strives toward the realization of the right to self-determination for multi-ethnic populations including the Fula, Arab, and Songhai peoples from the Western Sahara and north-central Sahel regions.

Labyrinth
(re-enactment of one scene) by We Are Here Cooperative (concept, text, performance)

The production Labyrinth is based on the experiences of refugees during their asylum procedures. It allows the theatre audience to experience what it is like to become entangled in a bureaucratic web of endless waiting, interrupted only by interviews and petitions. Labyrinth seeks to present the debatable search for the truth. Whose truth are we seeking here? And how do prejudiced truths translate into language and procedure? In the waiting room, people prepare for an uncertain search for the recognition of their existence. Prior to the re-enactement of one scene, especially staged for the Rietveld Academie, Lara Staal from Frascati in Amsterdam will briefly elaborate on the urgency for a theatre space to program a piece like this.

Lara Staal studied dramaturgy at the UvA. Since two years she has been working as assistant programmer at Theater Frascati in Amsterdam where she holds responsibility for contextprograms with a political orientation.

Maryama, member of We Are Here: the Amsterdam based refugee collective that is fighting for better asylum policies.

Sami, member of We Are Here: the Amsterdam based refugee collective that is fighting for better asylum policies.

Elke, supporter of We Are Here: the Amsterdam based refugee collective that is fighting for better asylum policies.

Osman, member of We Are Here: the Amsterdam based refugee collective that is fighting for better asylum policies.

January 7 - January 14 - January 21 - February 4 - February 11 - February 18 - March 4 - March 11

13:30 to 15:30 to 17:30: talks ~ readings ~ presentations ~ performances ~ screenings
at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie

18 to 22 March: installations, actions & conference-festival at de Brakke Grond

*Studium Generale Rietveld Academie is a rambling, cross departmental and trans disciplinary lecture and performance program with an annually changing, overarching research theme, addressing students of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, as well as the general public. Curator in Chief is Gabriëlle Schleijpen

**Rietveld Uncut is an annual joint presentation by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Within the Rietveld the process of making, from concept to work, is an important element throughout the whole study. This process often stays invisible to the outside world; Rietveld Uncut aims to shed a light on this unique, dynamic and experimental part of the academy and reveals this process to the public. Departments and individual students contribute with projects evolving around the research topic introduced by the many guest lecturers invited by Studium Generale Rietveld Academie.

http://areyoualiveornot.rietveldacademie.nl/