15 Oct 2020

WKV Stuttgart: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead: Una forma de ser

ACTUALLY, THE DEAD ARE NOT DEAD
UNA FORMA DE SER
is based on and was produced in collaboration with
Bergen Assembly 2019

Curators
María García, Pedro G. Romero
in cooperation with the further members of the
Bergen Assembly 2019 Core Group
Murat Deha Boduroglu, Banu Cennetoglu, Hans D. Christ, Iris Dressler, Hiwa K, Katia Krupennikova, Viktor Neumann, Paul B. Preciado, Simon Sheikh, Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa

Artists
Gerd Arntz, Daniel Baker, Canciones de la guerra social contemporánea, Joy Charpentier, Ines Doujak, El Solitario / Francisco Lameyer, Toto Estirado, Flo 6x8, Robert Gabris, María García Ruiz, Gonzalo García-Pelayo, Israel Galván, Tony Gatlif, Helios Gómez, Francisco de Goya, Isaias Griñolo, Julio Jara, Hiwa K, Teresa Lanceta, Darcy Lange / Maria Snijders, Delaine Le Bas, Los Putrefactos, Máquinas de vivir, Ocaña, Otto Pankok, PEROU, Ragel, Pedro G. Romero, August Sander, Franz W. Seiwert, SEM/EN, Stalker, Ceija Stojka, Mario Maya y Teatro Gitano Andaluz, Luca Vitone, Rosario Weiss et al.

With 'Una forma de ser', Württembergischer Kunstverein continues its exhibition series 'Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead', which goes back to the Bergen Assembly 2019 of the same name.

The exhibition deals with the relationship between the feast and the political sphere. It examines the party as a social and collective platform for emancipation and self-determination, and explores the aesthetic and poetic forms that have developed since the nineteenth century, particularly in the context of the subcultures of the Roma, flamencos and bohemians. It combines visual arts, music and dance as well as advanced arts since the nineteenth century with cultural forms associated with folklore and popular art: Francisco de Goya with the multiple award-winning contemporary flamenco dancer Israel Galván; August Sander and his photographs of Cologne's 'Lumpenbälle' with the Spanish underground artist Ocaña; the modernist graphic artists Gerd Arntz and Helios Gómez with Ceija Stojka; nineteenth-century Andalusian bohemian culture with flamenco taught to new music.

The curators of the exhibition, Pedro G. Romero and María García have for decades been exploring the world of flamenco and the relationship between stereotyping, romanticizing, and the exclusion of European Roma. Yet they continue to point out the crucial role that Roma and other marginalized groups have played in the development of the avant-garde. Flamenco actually emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in the urban environment of the Roma, bohemians and the so-called 'lumpenproletariat' of the suburbs of Seville and other Andalusian cities: as a counter-movement to an emerging folklorism in Andalusia at the time.

Under the title 'Una forma de ser', a way of being or living, the curators aim to negotiate the communities of the Flamencos, Roma and Bohèms beyond identity politics in terms of forms and strategies of political subjectivation.

Against the background of the current experiences of lockdown and social distancing, they have expanded and recontextualized the thematic field of the exhibition: after all, parties are the epitome of social and physical proximity. Furthermore, certain social groups, such as the Roma, have been hit particularly hard by the Corona pandemic and its consequences, and their social exclusion, which existed long before it, has become even worse. In this respect, the exhibition also negotiates spatial political implications.


PROGRAM

Friday, October 16, 2020, 11 a.m.
Press conference
(Registration required via: ruehl@wkv-stuttgart.de)

Friday, October 16, 2020
Opening reception*
Time slots
5-7 p.m.
7-9 p.m.
9-11 p.m.

During the opening reception we offer three time slots, each comprising short guided tours through the exhibition and talks with the curators and artists at specially designed tables with separating glass panes to prevent infection.
(Please indicate the preferred time slot for your visit when registering)

Saturday, October 17, 2020, 1 p.m.
Talk with the curators*

Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1, 2020, 7 p.m.
Israel Galván: La Fiesta
Staatsoper Stuttgart
in cooperation with the Württembergischer Kunstverein
(Tickets: www.staatsoper-stuttgart.de/spielplan/kalender/la-fiesta)

Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020, 7 p.m.
Sunday, January 17, 2021, 4:30 p.m.
Director's tours*

*Registration required
zentrale@wkv-stuttgart.de
+49 (0)711 -2233 70 (Tue-Sun, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.)