EDN celebrated its first conference in Vienna from 22 to 25 April 2015 under the title Imaginary Relationships.
Sustainability and artistic production, between autonomy and participation
The topic of sustainability was addressed by EDN in the framework of the (UN)conference Imaginary Relationships. It took place in Vienna in April 2015. The programme focused on the question of sustainability in relation to artistic production, between autonomy and participation.
Against the background of various social transformation processes between autonomy and participation, between self-organisation and efforts at good governance, between neoliberal promises and uncertainties in relation to current social contracts and compatibilities, their spaces and thereby possible areas of action and alliances, Tanzquartier Wien offerred a space for discussion about social and economic realities as well as existing and imaginary sustainabilities around models and networks of performers/dancers and their co-players.
A conference tackling the diverse forms of sustainability - social, economic, ecological
Sustainability in relation to the notion of belonging
The focus of the first day was to start define the notion of social and economic sustainability for the context/environment of performance/dance, thereby posing the question of societal relevance, thus putting it in a broader perspective. Questions of acceptance, direct democracy, participation, (self-)empowerment, self-organisation only form part of a spectrum of perspectives towards sustainability in relation to the question of belonging.
Examples and model-lie drafts for sustainability
The keynotes of the second day served as real “best practice” and fictive/utopian outlines of sustainability that have model-like character and to see, what we can learn from them to define in a hands-on mode different outlooks for our diverse practises and environments (social, economic, ecological) and their interconnectedness. Keeping in mind the reality-generating potentially of the fictive/utopian, but also non-linearity, the decentral and the impossibility of universalisms.
With Jacob Bilabel, Andreas Hartenthaler-Dallinger, Kerstin Evert, Roberto Fratini Serafide, Adrienne Goehler, Alexander Gottfarb, Janez Janša, Elke Krasny, Janek Müller, Eddie Nixon, Rocío Rivera Marchevsky and more.
Since the topic of sustainability is one of the most crucial issues in the world of dance, EDN collected all videos of the event here.
Additionally you can read a report of the two conference days by Theresa Luise Gindlstrasser in the pdf below.