The Bratislava BAK Summer School: Art in a Time of Interregnum is a collaborative and intensive learning week in Bratislava from 18‑21 September 2018, organized in partnership with Open Studio/ Studio IN – Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, APART Collective in Bratislava, and initiated by Kristína Országhová.

An advanced, interdisciplinary course designed for artists, curators, art theorists, academics, university students, and professionals in the fields of art and social change, this summer school begins from the understanding that ours is a time of interregnum—a time of crisis and ongoing transition. Much in the sense of political thinker Antonio Gramsci’s understanding of crisis, these times are rife with a “great variety of morbid symptoms” as ruling structures prove, in their grasping at “coercive force,” to no longer be sustainable; “the old is dying and the new cannot be born.” As social, geopolitical, economic, and technological structures rapidly change, along with the unraveling legacies of western modernity, and with ongoing recompositions of class, global migration, and the endurability of the planet, so transform ideas, practices, and meanings of resistance, coming together, identity, activist and artistic practice, and collectivity and closeness—as well as the notions of artistic production, the (art) institution, and the public. How, then, does art relate to a contemporary as such? How to think art under such circumstances, and how to think about the contemporary with and through art in order to build space for envisioning ways of being together otherwise?

The Bratislava BAK Summer School: Art in a Time of Interregnum brings together artists, curators, art theorists, and academics to collectively think through, learn about, and imagine critical, politicallyinformed artistic practices that work to grasp and influence our dramatically changing times. Concepts of the precariat, the challenges of contemporary fascisms, contemporary constructions of “we,” the posthuman, the Anthropocene, etc. are discussed with a thematic inquiry into forms of artistic expression relevant to contemporary destabilizations.

In order to address these questions, the Bratislava BAK Summer School draws upon BAK research conducted within three interrelated projects: the current four-year trajectory Propositions for Non-Fascist Living (2017–2020), prompted by the dramatic resurfacing of and normalization of fascisms, historical and contemporary; FORMER WEST (2008–2016), which developed a critical understanding of the legacies of 1989’s radical resistance to power in order to reevaluate the global present and speculate about global futures; and Future Vocabularies (2013–2016), which attempted to act out concrete propositions that explore shifts in the existing conceptual vocabularies within artistic, intellectual, and activist practices. Artists, curators, activists, and theorists will convene workshops, presentations, study groups, screenings, and lectures.

The Bratislava BAK Summer School takes place from 18‑21 September 2018 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Applications can be submitted via info@bratislavabaksummerschool.art by 18 July 2018 (deadline extended to 23 July 2018) and should consist of the letter of motivation (max. 250 words) and CV. The Bratislava BAK Summer School is open to applicants of all ages from Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia, 25 of which will be chosen to participate (5 from each Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria, and 10 from Slovakia, 2 of which are reserved for students of AFAD). No fees are to be paid upon acceptance. The participants are responsible for meals, travel, and accommodation. A list of affordable accomodation options will be provided to accepted participants to assist them in making their arrangements. For any further questions, please contact info@bratislavabaksummerschool.art. The results will be announced via email by 1 August 2018.

This Bratislava BAK Summer School: Art in a Time of Interregnum is organized by Maria Hlavajova, Artistic Director, Whitney Stark, Curator of Discourse and Publications at BAK, APART Collective, Open Studio/Studio IN – Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, and Kristína Országhová. Contributors include artistic director Maria Hlavajova; theorist and researcher Lukáš Likavčan; curator Zuzana Jakalová; curator and art historian Mira Keratová; architect Michal Janák; and journalist and writer Martin M. Šimečka.

The summer school will take place at AFAD Studio IN (Drotárska cesta 44, 811 02 BA), IN/OUT Studio in Nová Cvernovka (Račianska cesta 78, 831 02 BA), tranzit.sk (Beskydská 12, 811 05, BA), AFAD (Hviezdoslavovo nám. 18, 811 02 BA).