Notice

The Only Lasting Truth is Change: full programme

Bergen, Norway and online 09.11.2022 13.11.2022

Published

The Only Lasting Truth is Change is an expanded symposium investigating future configurations of art, technology, nature and power.

With contributions from Catherine Malabou, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Susan Schuppli, Ingrid Burrington & Ann Chen, Rehana Zaman, Seán Elder, Nat Raha, Daniella Valz Gen, I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free, Hanan Benammar, Martin Zeilinger, Matti Aikio, Toril Johannessen, Rian Treanor, Eduardo Williams, Helle Siljeholm & Øyvind Paasche, Phelimuncasi, Ng Tsz-Kwan, Ioana Vreme Moser, and Andrea Spreafico.

Please note: talks that have been streamed will be made available in our Vimeo channel after the symposium.

Borrowing its title from the seminal science-fiction writer Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, the symposium uses Anarchy, Traces, and Mountains as grounds for the investigation. Inviting artists, scholars and the public to exercise new tactics for navigating reality, together we will learn from current forms of decentralisation, autonomy, solidarity and interdependence. We will search for tools to make visible and intelligible the imprints of the major developments of our time – the technological infrastructure, the fallout of war and of ecological devastation, and the collapse of large political systems. With talks, performances, screenings, hikes, concerts, and workshops, we will forage for new methodologies for inscribing ourselves into future technology and politics.

Wednesday 9 November

18:00-21:00 Østre, Northing, Vestre

18:00 Ingrid Burrington & Ann Chen: 瓠果神山閱覽室 / Gourd Guardian Mountain Reading Room at Østre
19:00 Ng Tsz-Kwan: Off-duty Gods at Northing
19:30 I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free at Vestre

Thursday 10 November

18:00-20:00 Østre

18:00 Hanan Benammar: The Universal Periodic Review

Friday 11 November

18:00-22:30 Østre

18:00 Doors open
18:15 Introduction by curators
18:30 Catherine Malabou: Anarcho-capitalism vs Revolutionary Anarchism: Alternative or Dilemma?
19:30 Martin Zeilinger: Blockchain Futures Between Immutability and Radical Change
20:30 Elizabeth A. Povinelli: Nonfiction, Fictodocumentary Film, and Myth: Bending Aesthetics to Critical Askesis in Settler Late Liberalism
21:30 Matti Aikio: Indigenous Traces

Saturday 12 November

11:00-02:30 Østre

11:00 Susan Schuppli: Ice Records listening session

12:00-13:00 Break

Streaming: The programme 13:00–18:30 will be streamed on  https://vimeo.com/event/2528179

13:15 Introduction by curators
13:30 Susan Schuppli: Ice Records
14:30 Toril Johannessen: Where is the High North?

15:30 Break

15:45 Eduardo Williams: Embracing Uncertainty
16:30 Ingrid Burrington & Ann Chen: 瓠果神山閱覽室 / Gourd Guardian Mountain Reading Room
17:30 Rian Treanor: Intersymmetric_NNNB_BEK

18:30-21:00 Break 

Tickets: for the programme 21:00-02.30 at Østre, register in advance with TicketCo for a free ticket valid for entry until 23:00. Tickets at the door are 150 NOK.

21:00 Doors open
21:45 Rehana Zaman: Rubus
22:45 Zavoloka
23:45 Phelimuncasi
00:45 Matti Aikio

Sunday 13 November

09:30-19:00 Østre, Nesttunvannet, Entrée, Hordaland kunstsenter  

09:30 Helle Siljeholm & Øyvind Paasche: How the earth must see itself at Nesttunvannet (meeting point: Østre)
12:00-17:00 – Eduardo Williams: A very long gif, video screening
16:00 Andrea Spreafico: Poor Dictionary, Lemma: English at Entrée
17:00 Hanan Benammar: The Universal Periodic Review exhibition opening at Hordaland kunstsenter

DURATIONAL PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

SYMPOSIUM WORKSHOPS

Exploring different forms of knowledge sharing and searching for new methodologies and strategies for art practice, the symposium includes a series of workshops taking place in September–November 2022.

The Only Lasting Truth is Change is organised by BEK in cooperation with Northing, Hordaland kunstsenter, Ekko, Østre, Nuts And Bolts, and Entrée, and with support from Norsk kulturråd, Fritt Ord, Bergen kommune and Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing.

Curators: Maria Rusinovskaya, Espen Sommer Eide, Åse Løvgren.
Communication and production: Åsne Hagen, Kaeto Sweeney, Emilie Wright, Vilde Salhus Røed.
Graphic design: Vera Gomes.

Photo credits: 1) Photo by Ingrid Burrington. 2) Hanan Benammar: The Universal Periodic Review. Image courtesy of Hanan Benammar. 3) Martin Zeilinger: Blockchain Futures Between Immutability and Radical Change. Image generated by text-to-image AI using keywords from the talk. 4) Photo courtesy of Susan Schuppli. 5) Photo courtesy of Helle Siljeholm.