January 9-11, 2015
HAU Theater, Berlin, Germany

Artist Organizations International (AOI) brought together over twenty representatives of organizations founded by artists whose work confronts contemporary political, economic, educational, humanitarian, and ecological crises. The AOI explored a shift of artists working in the form of temporary projects to building long-term organizational structures that can be understood both as artworks and as social-political organizations at the same time.

Departing from the observation that (1) artist organizations are founded by artists, (2) artist organizations choose the form of the organization, (3) artist organizations seek for structural engagement, and (4) artist organizations propose social/political agendas, the AOI sought to explore the artistic value, political potential, and performative characteristics of the artist-organization, as well as the possibility for transnational collaborations and alliances between them.

This fundamental turn in artistic practice was mirrored spatially in the HAU Theater, transforming the stage into the seating section of the audience, and vice versa. The modular neo-constructivist lecterns were repositioned for each session, displaying an ongoing composition – an ongoing construction – parallel to the attempts of allying the different artist organizations participating to the AOI.

Speakers: Artists of Rojava (via video); Mazou Ibrahim Touré & Moussa Ag Assarid / Artist Association of Azawad; Marina Naprushkina / Büro für Antipropaganda; Dmitry Vilensky / Chto Delat; Lisa Ito / Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP); Lorenzo Pezzani / Forensic Architecture; Federico Zukerfeld / Grupo Etcétera; Natascha Sadr Haghighian / Gulf Labor; Sonja Augart, Tatjana Fell, Alice Münch,Ina Wudtke & Inga Zimprich / Haben und Brauchen; Lada Nakonechna / HudRada & ISTM; Tania Bruguera / Immigrant Movement International (IM) (via phone); Renzo Martens / Institute for Human Activities (IHA); Milo Rau / International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM); Yael Bartana, Susanne Sachsse & Walter Solon / Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP); John Jordan / The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (labofii); Jan Ritsema / Performing Arts Forum (PAF); Matthijs de Bruijne / Schoon Genoeg!; Emily Fahlén & Ahmet Öğüt / The Silent University; Hannah Rosa Öllinger & Manfred Rainer / WochenKlausur; Fabian Eggers, John Kurtz & André Leipold / Zentrum für Politische Schönheit (ZPS). Moderators: Ekaterina Degot, Charles Esche, Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei, Maria Hlavajova, Matteo Lucchetti, Margarita Tsomou. Respondents: Ulf Aminde, Libia Castro, Galit Eilat, Christoph Gurk, Alex Karschnia, Urok Shirhan.