SPIKE CONVERSATIONS AT PARIS INTERNATIONAL

One result of this new situation is an increasingly prevalent understanding of the structure of an art practice as as a format in itself, rather than the artwork or the exhibition. Each of the two-person conversations in Spike’s space at the fair will be moderated by the magazine’s editor at large, Alexander Scrimgeour.

The latest issue of Spike, whose theme is “The Event”, will be available to read or buy in the space every day from 5 p.m.

The conversations will be preceded on Tuesday 20 October with a special DJ set from DJ FLX from 8-10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, 21 OCTOBER, 7 PM
KNOWING THE NOW
ALESSANDRO BAVA (BAVA & SONS) AND EMILY SEGAL (K-HOLE)

… will discuss the intersection of fashion and art and reflect on organisations such as K-HOLE and Bava & Sons, their adoption of corporate models, and the function of a vision of the future as the basis for their work – reflecting on the ways in which contemporaneity itself provides a motive for action.

Alessandro Bava is an artist, architect, and editor. In 2014 he founded Bava and Sons, a design practice working on architecture projects, cultural commissions, and research. He is also co-founder of ÅYR, an art collective which explores the post-internet evolution of domesticity and the home. Emily Segal is artist and brand consultant based in in New York. She is a co-founder of the trend forecasting group and art collective K-HOLE.

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THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER, 5 PM
CRITIQUE AND PRECARITY
FULVIA CARNEVALE (CLAIRE FONTAINE) AND RORY ROWAN

… will discuss the question of maintaining autonomy and criticality when the pressure from outside (whether from the art world system, bureaucratic infrastructure, or simply needing to pay the rent) seems to be getting greater and greater. What forms of criticality are still possible? Can the institution be a positive force that works “in the interests of art” and intellectual engagement? What functions does art still have beyond affirmation or simply maintaining the status quo?

Fulvia Carnevale is, with James Thornhill, one of the “assistants” of Claire Fontaine, a collective artist based in Paris. Claire Fontaine’s practice can be described as an ongoing interrogation of the political impotence and the crisis of singularity that seem to define contemporary society today. Rory Rowan is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich’s Political Geography Research Unit, where his work crosses the fields of geography, political theory, philosophy and the environmental humanities.

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FRIDAY, 23 OCTOBER, 5 PM
ART AS A START-UP?
CONSTANT DULLAART AND TOKE LYKKEBERG

… will discuss the rise of models of art production situated between commercial and postcommercial — between, one might say, the institution (as represented by the gallery and museum system) and the network (as represented by the Internet and the economy of likes). What, if anything, makes art different from a start-up? How is art affected by the economy of likes?

Constant Dullaart is a Dutch artist who works primarily with the Internet as an alternative space of presentation and (mis)representation. He recently successfully completed a Kickstarter funding campaign for a media player company called Dulltech. Toke Lykkeberg is a Copenhagen-based critic and curator. He was co-founder of the artist-run space IMO in Copenhagen, and has co-curated the exhibition “CO-WORKERS – Network as Artist”, currently on view at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.