Online International Conference
“Utopia in Art and Politics”
Friday, March 19, 2021
16:00-20:30 (16:00 - 20:30 EET / 15:00 - 19:30 CET / 14:00 - 18:30 GMT)
Organised by MOMus-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection
In collaboration with the University of Glasgow
(find the whole programme here)
Utopia: A word that in the course of the last two centuries has expanded its meaning and use from literature and the arts where it initially came from, to politics and generally to the way of thinking and gave derivative, opposite and complementary meanings: dystopia, eutopia, heterotopia i.a. Of all different social manifestations that could be characterized as "utopian", two are the most common: the use of the term in relation to artistic production and to political theory. Utopia offered to Politics the plan for universal social redemption under collective effort. Respectively, Art described and depicted Utopia, the struggles for utopian conquests but also the disappointments of dystopian failures and defeats. Are social desires related to the utopian political design and the utopian artistic vision? How individual or collective is Utopia?
The online, international conference under the title “Utopia in Art and Politics” will take place on Friday, March 19, 2021, 16:00-20:30 (Greek time), organized by MOMus-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection (GR), in collaboration with the University of Glasgow (UK). Attendance is free on this link https://www.livemedia.com/utopia21 and MOMus social media (Facebook @MOMusModern, YouTube MOMus Museums). The language of the conference is English. No translation in Greek is provided.
The conference will present and discuss Utopia in Art and Politics through interdisciplinary approaches. The well-known philosopher and theorist of Architecture Alexandros Tzonis will comment on the term, its applications and versions. References to the philosophy, aesthetics and theory of art in relation to the use of the term will be made by Stavros Alifragkis, Liane Lefaivre, Orsan Senalp and Maria Tsantsanoglou. Thouli Misirloglou will comment on the question whether participation as a politicized working process within art institutions can reveal aspects of Utopia and Andreas Takis will refer to the collective agency implied in the genre of Utopia. The well-known art historian, specialist in the movement of Constructivism, Christina Lodder will close the session of speeches talking about the timelessness of Utopia. A discussion will follow.
The conference will close with a 360° digital tour of the exhibition “Utopia Revisited. Literature, Philosophy and Politics in the Art of the Russian Avant-Garde" with works from the Costakis collection of the MOMus-Museum of Modern Art, curated by Angeliki Charistou.
Programme
“Utopia in Art and Politics”
Friday March 19, 2021 | 16:00-20:30 EET
(15:00-19:30 CET / 14:00-18:30 GMT)
ONLINE LINK: https://www.livemedia.com/utopia21
16:00-16:15_Introduction | Greetings
Andreas Takis, Chairman of the MOMus Board of Administration
Emilios Christodoulidis, Chair of Jurisprudence, School of Law, Glasgow University
Maria Tsantsanoglou, Artistic Director of MOMus-Μuseum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection
16:20-16:40
Alexander Tzonis, architect, author, researcher, Emeritus Professor - TU Delft
Lettres sur la sympathie
16:45-17:05
Liane Lefaivre, o-Professor - University of Applied Arts in Vienna
Leon Battista Alberti's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. The Desperately Beautiful Dream and furore of a 15th Century Revolutionary
17:10-17:30
Orsan Senalp, researcher - Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull
Red Star vs Hammer & Sickle: The Fall and Rise of Alexander Bogdanov
17:35-17:55
Maria Tsantsanoglou, art historian, artistic director of MOMus-Μuseum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection
Arvatov’s “Materialized Utopia” and Tatlin’s unfinished projects
18:00 -18:20
Stavros Alifragkis, adjunct lecturer - Department of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & Hellenic Open University
Soviet Science Fiction and Utopia in the 1970s:
The Architecture of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (USSR, 1979)
18:25-18:45
Thouli Misirloglou, art historian, acting director of MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts
Renegotiating power relations in art institutions and the new museum ethics
18:50-19:10
Andreas Takis, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Legal Method -Faculty of Law of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Chairman of the MOMus Board of Administration
Collective Agency in Social Utopias
19:15-19:35
Christina Lodder, Emerita Professor, scholar of Russian art of the early twentieth century, President of the Malevich Society
Utopia: The Never-ending Story
19:40-20:00_Discussion | Short Statements
Marco Goldoni, Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Glasgow University
George Pavlakos, Professor of Law and Philosophy, School of Law, Glasgow University
Emilios Christodoulidis, Chair of Jurisprudence, School of Law, Glasgow University
Igor Voronkov, independent scholar, 20th century Russian and European historian
20:00-20:15_Discussion | Q&A
20:15-20:30_360ο virtual tour of the exhibition
“Utopia Revisited. Literature, Philosophy and Politics in the Russian Avant-Garde” with works from the Costakis collection of the MOMus-Museum of Modern Art, curated by Angeliki Charistou.
