FRAMING - On Framing the Cultures of the World

Conference

The idea behind this Conference Series starts from the various facets of the semantic references implied by the term "framing" - as a tangible material surrounding an art work, cutting it off from the environment, or as an immaterial frame, the context in which an exhibit is located and, last not least, as a synonym for manipulating the information available to the viewer. This series has already considered the mechanism of "framing" within art and film production, and now turns to deal with strategies of representation in urban space and the appropriation of "culture" for political purposes.

Friday 18.6.04

17.00 >> The Staging of Spectacles: the Evented City

A city becomes more attractive when culture there is found in public space - an idea deliberately embedded in urban policy, with both political and economic goals in mind. This process concentrates on festivals and events, whether purely spectacular or more (multi-)cultural, providing the symbolic capital of a city and staging it as a brand. But how far do cultural institutions and cultural actors actually participate in such market-oriented and urban social processes?

20.00 >> Urban cultural policy in the "New Berlin" (Panel discussion)

The "Berlin Republic" is pursuing a "special path in cultural affairs" - and here the background and structure of European cultural policy is explored, together with the "cultural understanding" applied on local and international levels. Politicians, cultural providers and cultural theorists are given the chance to enter into a critical dialogue, exchanging ideas on how "culture" is intrumentalised for political purposes.

Saturday 19.6.04

15.00 >> Cultural Global Player: The Symbolic Capital of Culture

The idea of a "cultural economy" explores the relationship between "culture" and the "economy", considering, firstly, how far cultural global players can use design and advertising to influence the dissemination of cultural goods in a globalised economy and, secondly, questioning the role of culture itself as an autonomous global player.

17:30 >> Ethno-Marketing vs. Mediating "Ethnics" (Panel discussion)

Ethno-marketing has evolved into an independent branch, employing specific cultural signs to reach an ethnically defined target audience. But, from the agencies' viewpoint, how are these imaginary groups "framed"? How far, in turn, do cultural institutions now use precisely these marketing strategies in attaching ethnic markers to the cultural goods they are presenting? How do "cultural brokers" disseminate the cultures of the world?

Concept developed by Tirdad Zolghadr in cooperation with Kerstin Frei and Peter C. Seel.

LIKE A FATA MORGANA

An installation by Setareh Shahbazi and Roseline Rannoch
Fri 23.4. - Sat 19.6.04

This work stands as an artists' statement on common "transcultural" exhibition practices, exploring the function and meaning of cultural, medial and subjective frames, reflecting ironically and critically on concepts ranging from diaspora, regionalism, cultural symbolism, and cultural heritage to individual biography. From a distance, returning to a so-called "shared cultural heritage", they first accumulate signs - images, quotes and artefacts as characterising a particular cultural landscape - and then use these elements to construct a frame to observe the signs. In this context, their work investigates how far changing frames alter an art work or even make it disappear altogether.