EUTOPIAS II. Intensive Summer Course
Contemporary Art and Utopia: Social Dreams and Nightmares
Directed by Julia Ramírez Blanco
Coordination: Olga Sureda Guasch
Application deadline until July 4th
August 1 – 6th, 2018
Schedule:
August 1 — Arrival & welcome dinner
August 2 – 5 — Theoretical morning sessions & afternoon workshops
August 6 — Conclusions brunch & departure
Fee: 520 € All included (Course, full board and transport)
*Transport from Vic to Nectar and backwards*
LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS
Send a short bio together with a motivation letter to eutopias.summercourse@gmail.com
Contemporary Art and Utopia: Social Dreams and Nightmares.
EUTOPIAS Summer Course is a yearly seminar on contemporary art and utopia, hosted in the beautiful country house of Nectar. In its second edition, EUTOPIAS departs from the idea of the existence of certain utopian prototypes, such as the ideal city, the commune, or the generous garden where nature flourishes in an eternal spring. Throughout its sessions, this year’s programme will examine contemporary interpretations of these mythical spaces through the work of contemporary artists. Other topics, such as speculative fictions, feminist cosmologies or alternative institutions, will also be explored from this point of view. EUTOPIAS, however, is not only an academic experience: all sessions take place in the Nectar house in the middle of the natural park of Les Guilleries. Living together, participants will experience a utopian lifestyle while reflecting on artistic interpretations of the good life. Theoretical sessions will be complemented by practical workshops, conducted by Spanish architect Uriel Fogue, French artist Lise Lerichomme, cultural manager Olga Sureda and Israeli artist Tai Lomas.
Course directed by Julia Ramírez Blanco.
With a PhD in art history, Julia Ramírez Blanco is an art historian and critic, as well as a teacher at Barcelona University. An expert in the relationship between art and utopia – to which she devoted her doctoral thesis – she is the author of the bookArtistic Utopias of Revolt (Palgrave, New York and London, 2018; Cátedra, Madrid, 2014), and the editor of the monographic issue of REGAC Journal dedicated to NON-TEXTUAL UTOPIAS. Her texts have appeared in English, French, Italian and Spanish within various co-authored books and in journals such as Third Text, Arquitectura Viva,Quintana, Lars, Boletín de Arte, El Mundo, Abc Cultural and The Nation Journal. She has conducted her research at various institutions in Europe and the United States (Ecole du Louvre Paris, New York University, LAUA Nantes, Reale Accademia di Spagna a Roma), and has been the recipient of various grants. She is a member of two R+D research projects regarding her double interest in contemporary art and utopia.
Nectar is a non-profit cultural organization located in the Pre-Pyrenees where work and projects can be combined with passions and enriching activities by collaborating, innovating, and connecting.
Nectar is founded on the belief that working in a sustainable, rural and collaborative environment away from the pressures of everyday life in the city can restore and empower people personally and professionally.
Located in the midst of nature inside a Natural Park, in a off-the-grid 16th-century farmhouse, Nectar is an open and collaborative project, an inspiring and creative place of knowledge and training with a connotation of home, where individuals and groups become part of a community and stimulate their work through the exchange of ideas and perspectives. Through a series of activities such as courses, workshops, retreats or artists residencies, Nectar creates connections and connects skills between different disciplines and cultures.
On Mediation is a platform on curatorship and research from the research group Art Globalization Interculturality (AGI), University of Barcelona, OM addresses different curatorial perspectives that identify distinct ways of doing and which drive curatorial practice towards a post-disciplinary setting. Among other activities, On Mediation offers an International training seminar that has a first theoretical phase, given by curators of recognized international experience, and a second practical phase, where participants can develop the ideas put forward during the seminar through a tutored curatorial project.