Introduction of Propositions #3: Art as Commitment by Femke Kaulingfreks, moderator of the day.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment is the third convening platform in BAK’s long-term research series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing and normalization of historical and contemporary fascisms in our present.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment takes Matthijs de Bruijne’s exhibition title "Compromiso Político" as its starting point. The Spanish compromiso político translates not to a “political compromise” as one might assume, but rather a “political commitment” or even a “political obligation.” For De Bruijne, this playful translation gap opens space for inquiring into true political commitment in and through art. Building on his practice of working simultaneously within social movements and the context of art, De Bruijne puts the term “socially engaged art” under pressure. This genre is, he believes, structurally flawed by its compromise: it tends to bend to art by circulating the aesthetics of the struggle within the art canon rather than committing to the day-to-day reality of the social and political movement. How can we, instead, think and enact an artistic practice committed to both political movement and art? What are the relations between the positions of artist, audience, and visual language in a political movement? How to avoid appropriation while working with/in social movements? Is it possible to call an artwork within art institutions “political” when it uses a language that is illegible outside these institutions?

Introduction of Propositions #3: Art as Commitment by Femke Kaulingfreks, moderator of the day.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment is the third convening platform in BAK’s long-term research series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing and normalization of historical and contemporary fascisms in our present.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment takes Matthijs de Bruijne’s exhibition title "Compromiso Político" as its starting point. The Spanish compromiso político translates not to a “political compromise” as one might assume, but rather a “political commitment” or even a “political obligation.” For De Bruijne, this playful translation gap opens space for inquiring into true political commitment in and through art. Building on his practice of working simultaneously within social movements and the context of art, De Bruijne puts the term “socially engaged art” under pressure. This genre is, he believes, structurally flawed by its compromise: it tends to bend to art by circulating the aesthetics of the struggle within the art canon rather than committing to the day-to-day reality of the social and political movement. How can we, instead, think and enact an artistic practice committed to both political movement and art? What are the relations between the positions of artist, audience, and visual language in a political movement? How to avoid appropriation while working with/in social movements? Is it possible to call an artwork within art institutions “political” when it uses a language that is illegible outside these institutions?

"The Political Compromises in and of Art", a talk by Sven Lütticken during Propositions #3: Art as Commitment on 10 February 2018.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment is the third convening platform in BAK’s long-term research series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing and normalization of historical and contemporary fascisms in our present.

Is institutional critique fatally reformist in its loyalty, be it critical, to the institutional frameworks of art? When does immanent critique meet its breaking point, or tipping point? Are institutions to be undermined, undercommoned, or used as platforms for "institutional activism"? Once there was a clear division between an immanent critique of the art world and an activist desertion of art's institutions for direct action in "the real world.” Does current institutional activism show this to have been a false dichotomy?
www.bakonline.org

"The Strategy of a Dual Perspective", a talk by Merijn Oudenampsen during Propositions #3: Art as Commitment.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment is the third convening platform in BAK’s long-term research series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing and normalization of historical and contemporary fascisms in our present.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment takes Matthijs de Bruijne’s exhibition title "Compromiso Político" as its starting point. The Spanish compromiso político translates not to a “political compromise” as one might assume, but rather a “political commitment” or even a “political obligation.” For De Bruijne, this playful translation gap opens space for inquiring into true political commitment in and through art. Building on his practice of working simultaneously within social movements and the context of art, De Bruijne puts the term “socially engaged art” under pressure. This genre is, he believes, structurally flawed by its compromise: it tends to bend to art by circulating the aesthetics of the struggle within the art canon rather than committing to the day-to-day reality of the social and political movement.

How can we, instead, think and enact an artistic practice committed to both political movement and art? What are the relations between the positions of artist, audience, and visual language in a political movement? How to avoid appropriation while working with/in social movements? Is it possible to call an artwork within art institutions “political” when it uses a language that is illegible outside these institutions?
www.bakonline.org

A conversation between Femke Kaulingfreks, Sven Lütticken, and Merijn Oudenampsen during Propositions #3: Art as Commitment on 10 February 2018.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment is the third convening platform in BAK’s long-term research series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing and normalization of historical and contemporary fascisms in our present.

Welcome by Maria Hlavajova, General and Artistic Director of BAK, during Propositions #3: Art as Commitment. Propositions #3: Art as Commitment is the third convening platform in BAK’s long-term research series Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing and normalization of historical and contemporary fascisms in our present.

Propositions #3: Art as Commitment takes Matthijs de Bruijne’s exhibition title "Compromiso Político" as its starting point. The Spanish compromiso político translates not to a “political compromise” as one might assume, but rather a “political commitment” or even a “political obligation.” For De Bruijne, this playful translation gap opens space for inquiring into true political commitment in and through art. Building on his practice of working simultaneously within social movements and the context of art, De Bruijne puts the term “socially engaged art” under pressure. This genre is, he believes, structurally flawed by its compromise: it tends to bend to art by circulating the aesthetics of the struggle within the art canon rather than committing to the day-to-day reality of the social and political movement. How can we, instead, think and enact an artistic practice committed to both political movement and art? What are the relations between the positions of artist, audience, and visual language in a political movement? How to avoid appropriation while working with/in social movements? Is it possible to call an artwork within art institutions “political” when it uses a language that is illegible outside these institutions?
www.bakonline.org