CA2M presents the XXI Image Symposium: _Monstrous Compositions. The Documentary Dispositive at Work_

The Documentary Dispositive at Work" with the participation of Achille Mbembe, Michel Feher, Marina Garcés, Alejandra Riera, Peter Pal Pélbart, Xavier Ribas, Louise Purbrick, Filipa César and Roger Bernat, and launching and open call for research projects on artistic theory and practice.

Composition as the chosen premise extrapolates the exploitation of natural resources to a definition for social productivity today. There is a monstrous yet very real similarity between the depletion of natural resources and the exhaustion of our psyche. Beneath an apparent return to the colonial system, what we once confidently called the "first world" is beginning to show signs of a systemic crisis. The injustices we had always consigned to another dimension are becoming more common and encroaching more and more on our own dimension. Poverty on the rise, ecological collapse and economic inequalities are gradually creating a situation in which it is difficult to imagine cultural, aesthetic production that does not reflect the precarious state of affairs around us. Our recompense is the invitation that we receive in a permanently connected world to, quite literally, consume ourselves.

If this is modernity, then "extractionist" is the only way to describe it. The fatigue that is spreading so inexorably is perhaps the symptom of what Teresa Brennan called "exhausting modernity." In such a scenario, the moralization of financial capitalism does everything within its power to annihilate critique. And it is in this context that documentary dispositives have acquired a particular relevance as points of intersection between different forms of knowledge, languages and institutions. The documentary has become a shared refuge for art, research and activism, and now operates as a dispositive no longer limited to producing images. Documentary practices today encompass the creation of dispositives that may be critical, therapeutic, theatrical, filmic, pedagogical and a whole host of other things.

The symposium will comprise a forum of debate on these topics, three workshops led by artists and other agents, and critical sessions open to contributions from researchers.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of June there will be three simultaneous workshops at the CA2M: Filipa César, Xavier Ribas and Alejandra Riera (this one only on the 24th and 25th).

Each of these workshops, which are independent, will be personally handled by each of the artists that are giving them. They have all worked with experimental formats in the production of knowledge and they have experience in teaching, and in collective projects of diverse forms. The workshops will take place in three consecutive afternoons so that they will work as a space of reflection parallel to the work days. You are invited to participate as artists as well as critics, theorists or image enthusiasts. The work groups will not be larger than 12 people.

Deadline for project submission: May 30th, 2014.
Days: 23 - 26 of June, 2014.

Call

Call for Researchers' projects in the fields of theory and artistic practice on the core topics of the Symposium: Extractionist modernity and New Forms in documentary dispositives.

The projects will be presented in the symposium in a discussion moderated by Carles Guerra and Vincent Meessen (to be confirmed).

Supporting documents and conditions

The following documents are required to participate in the critical sessions:

–Registration form fully completed

–Theoretical or artistic practice project; essays are to be presented in pdf or link to a website or to a video

Essays can be written in Spanish or English. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Successful applicants who live outside Madrid will receive a travel and accommodation grant over the course of the symposium.

Deadline

Applicants are requested to submit their documentation by 30 May.

More information:

www.ca2m.org/ actividades.ca2m@madrid.org