TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

Moderator: Karolina Zyniewicz

In April 2020, an experiment in ergodic participatory writing began as a short term art research residency by the workgroup “Art Shows and Public Health” for the online event Braiding Friction under the EU project Biofriction. The objective of this workgroup was the development of different scenarios for ensuring the access to art spaces during pandemic times, as an essential need for the cultural identity of a society and its individuals. The research was based on historical data of previous pandemics, on technology and protocols of biocontainment used in high security labs, space, environmental and underwater research as well as in science fiction storytelling. The aim of the workgroup was to propose a variety of provisions to effect the required level of biosafety and security, further than physical distancing and methods of decontamination. Among the various forms of documentation and outcomes resulting from this three-month experiment, supported by the Portuguese institution Cultivamos Cultura led by Marta de Menezes, were: the pseudo-documentary “Staying in Touch: post-coronavirus art curating” edited by Pavel Tavares, and the short story of the same title co-created by Isabel Burr Raty, Dalila Honorato, Louise Mackenzie, Robertina Šebjanič and Karolina Żyniewicz. This roundtable intends to be a further development of the research while maintaining the role playing game: the curators of “Staying in touch” invite real life art curators that have been developing their activities during the coronavirus crisis to reflect on the role of the more-than-human, public and press in their practices today and in an uncertain future.

Watch Staying in Touch: post-coronavirus art curating