Unfinished Systems of Non—Knowledge PART 2: On Wandering
08–10.02.2018
De Waag, Het Trippenhuis, Amsterdam
De Waag, Het Trippenhuis, Amsterdam
INTRODUCING FULL PROGRAMME
THURSDAY, February 8, 2018
Unfinished Systems of Non—Knowledge PART 2: On Wandering kicks off on Thursday evening, February 8, at De Waag with an introduction by curator Christel Vesters and a keynote lecture by Sigrid Weigel. Sigrid Weigel will discuss symptomatic figures of knowledge invented by several Jewish-German intellectuals, amongst them: Aby Warburg, Walter Benjamin and Sigmund Freud. Finding themselves in a position either off academia or at the margins of their discipline, these authors started to transgress the borders between fields, subjects, and cultures and diverge from conventional methods and narratives based on chronology, typology, and a history of progress.
Friday, February 9, 2018
On Friday, February 9, the programme continues at The Trippenhuis organized in collaboration with the Society of Arts / Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. The seminar focuses on Wandering as a mental activity and a prerequisite for experiment, innovation and the development of new ideas. ‘Thinker Laureate’ René ten Bos will explain why it is necessary to avoid shortcuts and quick fixes, and why to embrace a way of thinking that meanders, wanders sideways and sometimes loses track. To come to real solutions for this world, Bos says, undisciplined, wild and moral-less thinking, is a must.
In order to explore new avenues, one needs to be open to the unknown and the unforeseen. The session continues with a contemplation of the unknowable and the power of the unknown. Curator and writer Lucy Cotter will talk about her current research on Art Knowledge: Unknowing the Known, which reflects on art’s insistent trajectory from the known to the unknown, bringing about a radical rethinking of how things interact and what they might become. Writer, visual artist and Academy member Maria Barnas will talk about her wander poems, which she has inserted into various urban spaces and which lure their readers to embark on unexpected journeys with unexpected encounters.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
On Saturday, February 10, the programme moves to De Waag again, dedicating the afternoon to a renewed and in-depth encounter with Aby Warburg’s long lost Atlas Mnemosyne project. Artists and curators Roberto Ohrt and Axel Heil, founding members of the Mnemosyne Research Group, will recount their insights into Warburg’s Bilderatlas while reflecting on structural concepts such as Wanderstrassen der Kultur and the Ikonologie des Zwischenräume. They are joined by performing and visual artist, Jeremiah Day, who will lead us through landscapes of memory, where the personal intersects the political through an unfolding questioning. The afternoon continues with a lecture by Alena Alexandrova who will explore Batia Suter's Parallel Encyclopedia and its promise of another type, parallel, or diagonal knowledge.
On Saturday evening we explore the legacy of the walking practice of the Situationist International. Leading the way is Nick Dunn, professor of Urban Design and Associate Director of the Institute for Social Futures in Lancaster. His latest book, Dark Matters: A Manifesto for the Nocturnal City is an exploration of walking as cultural practice, the politics of space and the right to the city. To conclude two days of wandering, we will join the NIGHTWALKERS for a collective night stroll in the city followed by a discussion about the subconscious relations between the participants and the land they walked on.
Tickets
Tickets for Thursday evening and Saturday can be bought via our website (unfinished-systems-of-nonknowledge.org) or at the door.
Friday’s sessions are free but seats are limited; please register via the KNAW website.
PLEASE NOTE
Friday sessions free entrance but seats are limited
Please register via the KNAW website
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018
DE WAAG
20:00 - 22:00
PART 2: On Wandering - Introduction by Christel Vesters
Wandering, Thinking in Transition, and Boundary Cases – Sigrid Weigel, keynote
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
HET TRIPPENHUIS
13:00 - 16:00
A Thought Never Unfolds in one Straight Line - René ten Bos
Maria Barnas Lucy Cotter, moderated by Christel Vesters
16:00 – 17:00
Drinks
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2018
DE WAAG
13:00 - 17:00
Atlas Mnemosyne Revisited Roberto Ohrt & Axel Heil - Mnemosyne Research Group
To a Person Sitting in Darkness (Camp Darby Blues) –Jeremiah Day, performance
The Universe is Radiant: Reimagining Mnemosyne–Alena Alexandrova
17.00-18.00
Drinks
19:30 - 22:00
Wandering as Deviant Practice - Nick Dunn,
Nightwalkers and others, followed by a Nightwalk
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unfinished Systems of Non—Knowledge PART 2: On Wandering is a two-day interdisciplinary project curated by Christel Vesters. The programme consists of lectures, presentations, and performances, and takes place on Thursdaynight February 8, Friday 9 & Saturday 10 February 2018 at two historical locations, Het Trippenhuis and De Waag, in the city centre of Amsterdam. The project is accompanied by a website which serves as an on-going platform for research and exchange. More information on the speakers, their writings, poems and art practices can be found here.
Unfinished Systems of Non—Knowledge PART 2: On Wandering is organised in partnership with the University of Amsterdam and de Appel. The seminars on Friday at The Trippenhuis are presented in collaboration with the Society of Arts/KNAW. To keep up-to-date about our programme, please visit our website, or like our Facebookpage.
About the USNK main venues
USNK is thrilled to announce its two main venues for its second event On Wandering: Het Trippenhuis, seat of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science and the Academy of Arts, and the Anatomical Theatre at De Waag. Both buildings have played an important role in the history of art, science and knowledge, and still do so today. The anatomical theatre in De Waag provided the backdrop for Rembrandt’s famous painting ‘The Anatomical Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’ (1632), and in 1812 Het Trippenhuis became the residence of the Royal Institute of Sciences, Literature and Fine Arts, which was founded by King Louis Napoleon a couple of years earlier. Today, both venues continue to be a place for scientific development, exchange and discovery.
The two-day public event is accompanied by an online platform which contains essays, information about the programme and practical details: unfinished-systems-of- nonknowledge.org.
USNK PART 2 is generously supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and the Mondriaan Fund.