Nottingham Contemporary

This event was presented in two parts, starting with a Study Day and culmiating with a Public Discussion & Film Screening.

Public programming can be equally aligned with radical experiment in pedagogy and the disconnected neoliberal staging of critical content at a strategic distance from the sites where these discussions might provoke social and political change. While this notion conjures up the ultimate democratic image of a public debate, on the other it can also perform itself as one of the symptoms of a post-democratic impasse traversing contemporary cultural institutions, where ideas discussed find no real support for becoming operative.

Following a first meeting at Middlesex University, this second gathering considered the specific prospects and contradictions opened up when public programming intersects with social movements. As the influence of Occupy, M15, BLM and other social movements placed new democratic demands on the so-called art-world, the way these can be picked up might shift, from formalist appropriations to more congruent attempts to learn new ways of producing public discourse. By bringing into dialogue practitioners from Southern Europe and the UK, this study day asked how cultural workers can begin to refuse, to formulate demands, to organise and move from the programming of political content to the production of new forms of intervention and solidarity?

Study Day, 11am-5pm

By Bringing into dialogue practitioners from Southern Europe and the UK, this study day asked how can cultural workers begin to refuse, formulate demands, organise and move from the programming of political content to the production of new forms of intervention and solidarity.
Speakers include: Felicity Allen, Jesús Carrillo, Tomislav Medak, Maddalena Fragnito, Camilla Pin Montagnana and Gigi Argyropoulouis. This Study Day is organized by Valeria Graziano (Middlesex University London), Janna Graham and Susan Kelly (Goldsmiths, University of London).

Public Discussion & Film Screening, 6-8.30pm

Presentations by guest speakers from the Study Day followed by a discussion and screening of Alcaldessa (Ada for Mayor), a documentary following the steps of activist Ada Colau, from her time organising the anti-eviction protests in Spain to becoming Barcelona’s mayor.

Alcaldessa (Ada for Mayor) dir. Pau Faus. 1h 28min.

This documentary film follows Ada Colau for one year, from her time spent organizing the anti-eviction fight in Barcelona to the day she is sworn-in as its mayor. The intimate chronicle -featuring Colau’s own video diary- and privileged access to the inner-workings of a new citizen platform reveal an extraordinary journey in which two prevalent themes are united: a historic victory illustrative of the political changes taking place in southern Europe, and the inner struggle of someone who fears becoming what she has so often questioned.

Developed in collaboration with Middlesex University and Goldsmiths.