“Art in Times of Gray Democracy”
Release
Panel presentation of the publication with Stefan Kausch, Julia Kurz, Joanna Warsza and guests
In connection with the Leipzig Book Fair 2015
The publication “Art in Times of Gray Democracy” questions whether art still has the potential to initiate, revive and keep political participation alive in longstanding and stagnating democracies. At the heart of this pursuit is the project series “Performative Democracy”, for which the artists Alexandra Pirici, Pablo Helguera, and Ulf Aminde used artistic forms of acting out, articulation, experimentation, restaging and failure to address and activate diverse publics in Leipzig and to provoke both moments of dispute and participation. Included in the publication is an interview with the Polish sociologist Elżbieta Matynia. Her term, “performative democracy,” was an important point of reference for the artist’s projects, which are not only documented but also reformulated in the magazine format publication.
“Art in Times of Gray Democracy”
Edited by Julia Kurz, Joanna Warsza and Franziska Zólyom for the GfZK
Design: Leila Tabassomi, Stefan Walter
Published by Spector Books Leipzig