BAK – basis voor actuele kunst

(Sean van den Steenhoven) Beeld jij je weleens een andere wereld in? Heb jij ideeën over hoe het anders kan? Zoek jij ruimte om na te denken over kunst en cultuur en over sociale of maatschappelijke veranderingen? Of heb je een project in gedachten? BAK Young Fellows biedt ruimte, tijd en middelen om jouw ideeën […]

Exhibition

27 May 2023

FULL PROGRAM: UPS

For the months of April and May 2023, Ultradependent Public School (UPS) will transform BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, into a schoolhouse featuring many trainings and workshops. Here you can find an overview of all the upcoming events.

Community Portal

Education Program

4 June 2023

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: BAK FELLOWSHIP FOR SITUATED PRACTICE 2023/2024

Deadline: 4 June 2023, 24:00 hrs CEST Public announcement of selected Fellows: 15 July 2023 Fellowship term: 11 October 2023-19 June 2024 You can apply to the BAK cell in Utrecht by filling out the form here. You can apply to the ÇAP cell in Istanbul by filling out the downloadable form here and forwarding it to […]

Presentation

14 June–02 July 2023

HKU Graduation Project 2023: Refractions

14 June — 2 July, 2023 Wed — Sun, 12.00—18.00 Opening: 14 June, 18:00—21:00 Events program and performance details: https://www.instagram.com/hkumafa/ More info on MA Fine Arts, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht: https://exposure.hku.nl/p/hkumafa HKU University of the Arts Utrecht in partnership with host, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst present Refractions, the graduation exhibition of the […]

Utrecht Basis

Originating with the twelfth-century French term l’exécuteur du testament (the executor of the will), the term “execution” today finds itself entangled in myriad systems, such as linguistic systems, judiciary systems, computational systems, and systems of memory—all of which are touched upon in this text (originally published as an entry in The Posthuman Glossary [2028]) by Critical Software Thing (CST)). Be it by guillotine or CPU, as a realization of a decreed sentence, CST suggest that “execution” always relates to the now, “to an actualization, a presence which is always already over.” Highlighting the micro-instructions, micro-operations, and micro-temporality of systems executions, CST point toward the liveness inherent in them. Without succumbing to the seeming seamlessness of computation—harkening to the Cell for Digital Discomfort’s suggestion to embrace a seamful approach to technology—and with an awareness for the executive power of code, CST propose that code itself to be regarded as but “a partial instruction within a wider, dynamic ecology of many executing systems.”

Archive Essay Text

18/12/2022

Tactical Solidarities

Jose Maria Sison (1939–2022)

It is with great sadness to learn that on 16 December 2022 Professor Jose Maria Sison passed away. Having lived in exile in Utrecht, Professor Sison taught at the first New World Academy in 2013, Towards a People’s Culture, which we convened together with artist Jonas Staal in 2013. Professor Sison’s learnings on solidarity, friendship, resilience, and joy of the world in spite of its many hardships and struggles, will continue resonate strongly. Rest in power.

Announcement

more Prospections

Fellowship

go to the fellowship content

Publications

Year 2021

Toward the Not-Yet: Art as Public Practice

By Jeanne van Heeswijk, Maria Hlavajova, Rachael Rakes, +42

Year 2020

Deserting from the Culture Wars

By Maria Hlavajova, Sven Lütticken, Bini Adamczak, +11

Year 2019

Propositions for Non-Fascist Living: Tentative and Urgent

By Maria Hlavajova, Wietske Maas, Rosi Braidotti, +13

Year 2017

Marion von Osten: Once We Were Artists (A BAK Critical Reader in Artists’ Practice)

By Maria Hlavajova, Tom Holert, Hidde van Greuningen, +13

Year 2016

FORMER WEST: Art and the Contemporary After 1989

By Nancy Adajania, Edit András, Athena Athanasiou, +76

Year 2015

Future Publics (The Rest Can and Should Be Done by the People): A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art

By Nancy Adajania, Ariella Azoulay, Amelia Barikin, +14

Year 2010

The Return of Religion and Other Myths (handbook)

By Maria Hlavajova, Sven Lütticken, Marlies van Hak, +1

Year 2004

Now What? Artists Write!

By Mark Kremer, Maria Hlavajova, Annie Fletcher

Year 2003

Germaine Kruip, A Play To Stop to Add A Moment

By Maria Hlavajova, Germaine Kruip

Year 2002

Becoming Oneself

By Maria Hlavajova, Annie Fletcher, Nicolas Bourriaud, +7

Year 2001

Common Ground

By Maria Hlavajova, Krijn de Koning, André van Bergen, +5

more Publications

Program

OPEN CALL: bak Young Fellows

FULL PROGRAM: UPS

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: BAK FELLOWSHIP FOR SITUATED PRACTICE 2023/2024

HKU Graduation Project 2023: Refractions

Prospections

Execution

Critical Software Thing

Jose Maria Sison (1939–2022)

Fellowship

Publications

Toward the Not-Yet: Art as Public Practice

Deserting from the Culture Wars

Propositions for Non-Fascist Living: Tentative and Urgent

Marion von Osten: Once We Were Artists (A BAK Critical Reader in Artists’ Practice)

FORMER WEST: Art and the Contemporary After 1989

Future Publics (The Rest Can and Should Be Done by the People): A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art

The Return of Religion and Other Myths (handbook)

Now What? Artists Write!

Germaine Kruip, A Play To Stop to Add A Moment

Becoming Oneself

Common Ground

OPEN CALL: bak Young Fellows

FULL PROGRAM: UPS

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: BAK FELLOWSHIP FOR SITUATED PRACTICE 2023/2024

HKU Graduation Project 2023: Refractions

Toward the Not-Yet: Art as Public Practice

Deserting from the Culture Wars

Propositions for Non-Fascist Living: Tentative and Urgent

Marion von Osten: Once We Were Artists (A BAK Critical Reader in Artists’ Practice)

FORMER WEST: Art and the Contemporary After 1989

Future Publics (The Rest Can and Should Be Done by the People): A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art

The Return of Religion and Other Myths (handbook)

Now What? Artists Write!

Germaine Kruip, A Play To Stop to Add A Moment

Becoming Oneself

Common Ground

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