Guest Editors: Leigh French, Adam Jeanes and Simona Nastac
Production Team: Valentina Gottardi, Ann Harezlak and Lucy Parker

The 2007 Almanac of Political Art

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS + INVITATION TO PUBLIC EVENT

Deadline for contributions: 28 June 2007, 1700h
Discussion and production: 30 June 2007, 1100h –1600h,
Austrian Cultural Forum, 28 Rutland Gate, London SW7
Free and open to the public, refreshments will be served!

What makes art political today?

At a time of increasing awareness through symposiums, writings and critique of ‘political art’, it is time to reclaim and re-assess the terms, unravel where our politics lie and determine how politics are expressed through art and/or art achieves political aims. How do our understandings of political art differ and what are our shared concerns?

This is a chance to air our differences and document our ideals in the 2007 Almanac of Political Art!

The Alamanc will be edited and produced in one day marking two-years of REUNION meetings, exhibitions and events with artists from the UK and South East Europe. The Almanac aims to reunite the material, people and understandings of the terms and tactics of political art practice in Europe today.

An almanac (meaning ‘climate’ in Arabic) is usually published once a year and acts as a reference book of statistics, facts and recent events for that year. Almanacs sometimes include records of the rising and setting of the sun and moon, tide tables, planting charts, anecdotes, astronomical data and also predictions for the coming the year. The 2007 Almanac of Political Art follows this format, inviting people to contribute inspirations, quotes, hints, suggestions, references, drawings, photos, texts, weblinks, statistics and interesting facts relating to the question - what is it that makes art political? The editing and production of the Almanac in one day will mean the contents is filtered, discussed and analysed, leading to a series of predictions for political art in 2008.

Editor at large: Sophie Hope
Guest Editors: Simona Nastac and others TBC
Contributors so far include: allsopp&weir, Djordje Balmazovic, Nemanja Cvijanovic, Igor Grubic, Nada Prlja

Read on to find out how to contribute!

During Nemanja's residency in London he showed some work in this exhibition at the ACF and took part in two discussions:

MONEY MATTERS: how is political art supported?
Presentations and discussion with Nemanja Cvijanovic, Nada Prlja and Sophie Hope.
Thursday 12 April, 1900h
Austrian Cultural Forum, London

CONTEXT MATTERS: Can political art travel and be understood?
public works Friday Session (on a Monday) with Nemanja Cvijanovic, Nada Prlja and Sophie Hope
Monday 23 April, 1900h
public works, Northgate House, 2-8 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4RT
http://fridaysessionslondon.blogspot.com/

Notes from both these events and also the transcript from the interview with the Director of Austrian Cultural Forum, Johannes Wimmer about the Sweetest Dream, Nemanja's reworking of the EU flag, will be posted here soon.

From 11–14 April, the Austrian Cultural Forum in London will be temporarily transformed into a functioning estate agency, where Nada Prjla will take the role of an estate agent, offering for sale a selection of properties in the Balkans.

Reunion is pleased to be hosting Nemanja's residency in London. Nemanja and I have been skyping about shared research interests and are looking forward to exploring more about the ways in which politically engaged practices are interpreted and supported (or misinterpreted and not supported).

The Sweetest Dream, 2005, flag

Nemanja describes the work:
'The european ‘second empire’ or ‘sub empire’ is united by dreams and symbols. Its boundaries are open to the circulation of goods but waterproof to the circulation of people. Near custom houses there are CPT (temporary permanence centres, along all the mediterranean coast: from Gorizia to Italian coast, to French coast, to Spanish coast. They look like concentration camps, from an age not so far, where people have no freedom, no justice and no culture). CTP are managed by a shameful society, that lives of wars, exploited countries’ misery (htey are its new ‘colonies’).
My point of view is from outside the EU, as Croatian citizen. EU approves without any problems the co-exhistence of ‘first and second degree (level/class)’ citizens within the community, and if we wanted to we could name even a group of ‘third’ degree invisible citizens.
I hope that everyone who sees The Sweetest Dream, when observing th EU flag next time, would reflect on what is become of this EU ‘anti-fascist’ dream of equality and economic sharing.'

Students of the London College of Communications made some of their own embroideries.

Lieve Carchon helped us to turn our collections of quotes into rhymes - thanks Lieve for your rhyming skills!

Thanks to Hanover in Hackney and SPACE for their support in organising the meetings between residents of Bayton and Adelaide Court and Skart.

People who got involved included students from the London College of Communication; residents of Dayton Court and Adelaide Court (Hanover in Hackney) and other individual activists, artists and writers.

Here are some of the pieces. We used 3-D paint/pens to make them as it was a lot quicker than embroidery and has a similar effect! This reflects the speed at which people in London move - there's no time to fit in such a slow activity as embroidery!

During their stay, based at SPACE studios, they hope to continue a previous project, involving using traditional modes of embroidery common in Serbian households to stitch together new provocative messages, in collaboration with local women and children's groups in Hackney.

Saturday 10 February, 3pm: Presentation by Skart about their work
Saturday 3 March, 3pm: Launch event of Skart's New Embroideries project
Refreshments will be served!

Address: SPACE, 129 - 131 Mare St, Hackney, London, E8 3RH

The final pieces will be displayed in local public places in Hackney. Past New Embroideries makers include the Single Mothers Association in Belgrade, women's refugee groups, and village embroidery groups in Serbia, Austria and Germany.

SKART info-courtesey culture base

A checked floor caught Igor's eye at Goldsmiths.

On 25 November, Sophie took part in a panel discussion in Athens about 'Borderlines' organised by the Forum European Cultural Exchanges and the Hellenic American Union. Other speakers included Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss & Katherine Carl, Heath Bunting and Angela Melitopoulos.