Akademie Schloss Solitude – Online
Conceptionally fuelled by and with: Atelier Ad Hoc Architecture (Maria Daria Oancea & George Marinescu), Olivia Berkowicz & Carla Garlaschi and Valentina Sciarra.
Curated by: Berit Fischer
Wednesdays, 16-18h (CET/MEZ)
18.11.2020 Atelier Ad Hoc Architecture (Maria Daria Oancea & George Marinescu)
25.11.2020 Olivia Berkowicz & Carla Garlaschi
02.12.2020 Valentina Sciarra
Ecosystems of Knowledges is a platform by Akademie Schloss Solitude for the fellows to work and reflect collectively on specific topics to share practices and processes of knowledge in an open way. In the dialogical discursive sessions further aspects of the liminoid are explored and discussed.
Liminoid Encounters – Ecosystems of Knowledges explores apertures for meta-explorations, for the beyond and beneath, the between the fixed and the finished, for ambiguous states of becoming.
In particular today’s precarious planetary and social existence –that is governed by power-seeking, exploitative neo-liberal and cognitive capitalism– can be seen as a deep liminoid transitional state that urgently demands to contemplate of “what was” towards a “what will be next”. An hopeful aperture to re-imagine alternative futures, a shift towards a genuine newness, a more just and mindful emergence of social co-existence and response-able planetary guardianship. Not least the current Covid-19 Zoonosis brings afore the delicate vulnerabilities and deeply interwoven interdependencies of human existence, and co-existence with the non-human agents.
“Liminoid”, was originally termed by cultural anthropologist Victor Turner (1974). Although Turner’s approach needs to be critically situated in the tradition of structural-functionalism, as an anthropological tool to analyse especially tribal communities, his concept sought to challenge the dominant structural positions of his time, towards the idea of anti-structure and the informal in social life of the modern and industrialised society. Turner’s concept of the liminoid subsisted its modern and anthropological origins, and remains a philosophical idea to grasp states of emergence, heterotopian and transitional modes of flows, the “betwixt and between” (Turner).
During the three iterations of the Liminoid Encounters – Ecosystems of Knowledges we will engage in a diverse range of transdisciplinary approaches that reach beyond Turner’s modern anthropological idea, towards one of contemporary situatedness. Furthermore, each session will encompass a collective reading and discussion of a short text chosen by the invited fellows, that resonates with the notion of the liminoid and their own practice.
Wednesdays, 18.11.2020, 16-18h (CET)
Atelier Ad Hoc Architecture (Maria Daria Oancea & George Marinescu)
Negotiating Space: Crossing Thresholds in the Public Domain
Visible or invisible limits describe a complex fabric of situations in-between accessibility and exclusion. Looking at the ‘liminoid’ as a fragile spatial condition, both informal and planned, could we have a better understanding of co-existence in the city through the character of its border instances?
Atelier Ad Hoc is a Bucharest based architecture collective focused on mutations regarding public space, living conditions and property manifested in the everyday life of the city. Founded by George Marinescu and Maria Daria Oancea in 2015 as a dual practice: a design studio and a non-governmental organization (NGO), the studio engages with situations associated with social and spatial vulnerability, dealing with survival instances and informal or planned aspects of architecture. https://atelieradhoc.ro
Wednesdays, 25.11.2020, 16-18h (CET)
Olivia Berkowicz & Carla Garlaschi
Quinceañera – You’ll Never Bathe in the Same River Twice
Olivia Berkowicz and Carla Garlaschi (aka Princess Prada) are working towards a reiteration of the happening Quinceañera, which reflects on regional pop choreographies and queer liminality as dissident gatherings. Quinceañera explores coming of age rituals in the Latinx and Eastern European context from a decolonial and demodern perspective. Within the frame of the liminoid, they will share how they are experimenting with pop music, guided meditations and floriography to shape the coming event.
Carla Garlaschi (b. Chile) moves between the roles of visual artist, writer and performer, aka Princess Prada. She works with Latin American media formats through transmedia storytelling. https://carlagarlaschi.com
Olivia Berkowicz is a curator, writer and editor. Her practice explores the intersection of critical visuality studies and contemporary art theory, with a focus on memory and translocality. Garlaschi and Berkowicz have been collaborating since their first Quinceañera event in 2017. http://oliviaberkowicz.com
Wednesdays, 2.12.2020, 16-18h (CET)
Valentina Sciarra
Construction of Future Meanings Through Actions
The concept of liminoid is particularly interesting when considering questions of awareness, internal processes and decisions from which we can understand which/how new concepts will then develop. Moving from the internal liminal processes towards conceiving the liminoid as a “threshold” condition, that opens the transformation of our society, it can inspire towards “new” actions and choices for change.
Valentina Sciarra (Rome, Italy 1983) is a visual artist working on sculpture and in-situ intervention at the intersection of photography, installation and sound.
In her work, she uses a multi-media language to explore aspects related to collective perception and shared analogies, structuring an invitation to confront reality – repository of traces and human relations – in an unprecedented way. www.sciarravalentina.com
