IMAGINE – Towards an Eco-aesthetics: Fall 2011 program: Exhibitions, debate, workshop & conference :: October 8, 2011 - January 8, 2012 :: The Aarhus Art Building - Centre for Contemporary Art, J. M. Moerks Gade 13, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

This year Aarhus Art Building is presenting a series of exhibitions and discursive events revolving the theme IMAGINE – towards an Eco-Aesthetic, taking a closer look at alliances between art, micro-strategies for improving the world, and models for social activism aimed towards sustainability.

Jane Jin Kaisen’s Dissident Translations & Ato Malinda’sIncommensurable Identities
October 8, 2011 - January 8, 2012

The Danish-Korean artist Jane Jin Kaisen examines the Korean volcanic island, Jeju — a microcosm of the ideological battles that led to the division of Korea, and a location embedded with the multitude of layers that form both geopolitics and cultural identity in central parts of east-Asia today. Kaisen produces a subjective ‘translation’ of the tragic historical events connected to the U.S. occupation of South Korea, which has had far-reaching consequences, not only for the environment, but also for the country’s population, their unique gender structure and economic, political and psychological ecosystem. Dissident Translations is as a complex interpretation of artist’s heritage, Jeju’s repressed past, the current military escalation and the future consequences.

In Incommensurable Identities the Kenyan artist Ato Malinda focuses on African identity in relation to the Aarhus Art Building’s sustainability theme. With mythical narratives, stories of women’s political and social performances, the exhibition dreams of an African renaissance. Alongside an Art Nouveau themed decoration and with an archaeological survey, Malinda shows a way into the aching heart of Kenya and Africa—with a belief that recognition of histories many facets may contribute to transformation, healing and revitalization.

Panel Debate: Feminism, Post-colonialism & Micro-strategies in Contemporary Art
October 9, 2011; 3:00 - 5:00 pm

The Cameroonian curator, director of Raw Material Company and advisor of the next Documenta, Koyo Kouoh, participates in a panel debate on art as a transformative power today. Together with the two artists Jane Jin Kaisen and the Kenyan artist Ato Malinda, Koyo Kouoh will take a critical look on art, female identity and inequality in a globalized world. Moderated by Chief Curator at Aarhus Art Building Charlotte Sprogøe.

Conference: Imagine – Micro Strategies and Visions in Contemporary Art
November 3, 2011; 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.

As a theoretical culmination of the exhibition program in 2011 Aarhus Art Building will host a conference on the theme the year.

Part one: Status Reports will discuss art and sustainability. From Eastern Europe by curators and eco-art theoreticians Reuben & Maja Fowkes, from Denmark Superflex & curator Charlotte Bagger Brandt on Danish-African projects, from Japan Yasuko Ikeuchi on strategies in South East Asian contemporary art.

Part two: Visions and Models in contemporary art will elaborate on the notion of transformative power in art: by critic and curator Lars Bang Larsen and curator and art theoretician Nicolas Bourriaud.

Curator Workshop
November 25–26, 2011

In correspondence with the ‘art and the social’ theme encapsulated in eco-aesthetics Aarhus Art Building will present a curatorial workshop with the curator Tone O. Nielsen from the curator collective Kuratorisk Aktion, on curating from a social activist point of view.

For conference registration, application to the curator workshop or press material contact curatorial assistant Stine Kleis Hansen: sh [at] aahuskb.dk