Events
Conference
6. – 9. 10. 2011. Cinema Grič / public spaces
Schedule
He Who Dares, Profits: City Space as a Field of Struggle
Thursday, 6. 10.
In addition to lectures by theoreticians Srećko Horvat, Trenton Oldfield and Irfan Hošić, artists Ana Zubak and Rafaela Dražić are presenting their projects, carried out in July through which they deal with the privatized skyscrapers of Zagreb. Zubak placed in front of the Cibona Tower and Ilica skyscrapers large panoramic photographs taken at their tops which are closed to the public. Together with hundreds of citizens who are, in a public action, photographed in front of these photographic views of the city, she raised the question of the (im)possibilities of entering the once available tops of skyscrapers in Zagreb. Dražić used the facade of the Cibona Tower as a screen to make a critique of current policy and big capital and to examine what happens when the flag of the Republic of Agrokor appears in public space.
Hidden Histories: The Ideologies and Identities of a City
Friday, 7. 10.
This year UrbanFestival has for the first time stepped out of the borders of Zagreb by collaborating with the Seven Days of Creation festival from Pazin. The creators and founders of the festival, David Belas and Toni Erdfeld, will talk about the educational and workshop approach to the festival by reviewing the artistic interventions in the public space of Pazin, while French artist Clemence Agnez presents a site specific work which was commissioned by [BLOK] – and realised in the space of the City Museum of Pazin. Tanja Vrvilo and DB Indoš will talk about the history of youth riots in Zagreb while presenting the adaptation of the play Cpheus for the public space of the city. Sound map Cepheus, carried out in three scenes, is about the actions of revolutionary-literary-pupil gang and the failed assassination on Count Cuvaj in 1912 and can be seen in the (semi)public areas of Zagreb in June.
Resistance to the Disappearence of Public Space
Saturday, 8. 10.
We are presenting three new projects, some of which are to continue even after October. The Urban Vegetable Patch is a collaboration of several organisations and individuals, and it examines the possibility of creating a space for growing food in the urban fabric, which is also the public space of socialization and exchange of knowledge. After gathering in the Vegetable Patch which has been growing since April on the Student Centre Club terrace, the urban gardening will be discussed with the members of the organisation KUD Obrat, which will present its garden from Ljubljana, built on the building site in a standstill. Dutch artist Jonas Staal offers a different reaction to the disappearance of public space in his performance which he will perform in early October in the very heart of Zagreb, without notice or the presence of a deliberate audience. Resistance to another type of privatization, that of education, provided Zagreb artist Nicole Hewitt with the inspiration to initiate a school in which there is no hierarchy of leaders and the led, and whose goal is not to acquire a particular measurable knowledge, but to cooperatively explore common interests.
In the Gap: Researching the Social Space Between the Private and the Public
Sunday, 9. 10.
The last day of the Festival glides into the field of intertwining of the public and private space. Guests and temporary residents of the apartment where in June the Belgrade artist Dušica Dražić lived without a door, will talk about their experience participating in the performance “ Gap”, and Canadian artist Michelle Teran and Belgrade architect Dubravka Sekulić after long-term research will implement their new projects and lead us through specific tours of Zagreb. Teran builds a ‘docu-fictionary’ narrative on housing in the city based on research of Zagreb via a YouTube channel, while Sekulić presents an overview of housing in the Zagreb skyscrapers from modernist “Right to Housing” to the socialist amendments to laws regarding their construction. In the end, the cultural anthropologist Bojan Mucko will reflect on the experimental, ephemerality and boundary-pushing programs and projects from the 11th UrbanFestival.
***The first part of the work of Michelle Teran is in the form of lectures and is open to the general public, while for the second part it is necessary to register in advance due to the specific nature of the localities we will visit. Due to a limited number of seats, please also reserve your place in advance for the project of Dubravka Sekulić. Submissions can be made by emailing ana@urbanfestival.hr or by SMS on 091 256 5656.