Sustensistan Europa A-R

Social Sculpture (Poetic-Philosophical Laboratory) Background In the same time as the more and more serious crises that Europe is going through, financial breakdown, environmental threat in exponential development, and branching out to other fields such as politics, citizenship, business, etc, it is crucial not to accept the separation of culture from the rescue of societies and their economies. If we do so, we will have closed the circle of the loss of savoir-vivre installed with the rise of industrialization and closing in generation by generation. When I watch the youngest generation, I see a gap widening between the numbed consumption of drugs, entertainment and violence on the one side and the rejection of established (cultural) institutions and forging of alternative collectives on the other. Many other forms of life exist, of course, but there is a pattern of disconnection of subcultures, stemming from the loss of common vision for the future of our societies and for Europe. Crises are eroding the collective affective consciousness. The base of culturally motivated innovation of our models and values is growing thinner, presenting a need for moves, events, projects that reconnect and recollect. Sustensistan-Europa is designed to meet with this particular need. One does not change the world through a social-sculptural process of poetic philosophy. But the first experiences with artists performing creative reflection on the immanent Stofflichkeit of the world as well as the highest principles upon which we base our lives have been that it gave a feeling of sincerity and intimacy with a very strong effect. Connecting this feeling to a collective working process and connecting this to peers in other places is fundamental. From Wall Street to Rome today the indignation movement expresses hope and desperation. But we need to go to the heart of matters and use the potentially radical character of philosophy and art to create across the abyss of dystopia. Sustensistan-Europa builds on that radical call. As one of the countries to lead the process of decomposition of the Eastern bloc, Slovenia knows the double condition of having broken away from a past and moving into a form which is crumbling under its feet. I am convinced that the only way to make the coming transformation a culturally sustainable one is a participatory way. But the invitation goes through breaking down the limitations of art, culture, philosophy, disciplines, and everything we think we know. Such a radical move may however be easier for Slovenians than for Swedes or Danes in our relative smugness and humble piety. I would love it if Maribor became the first city where this work will start from, becoming the epicenter of the forming of new cultures of sustainability. Sustensistan Europa A/R is a work aimed at exploring the in-between space of the future we are about to lose and the past we have yet to regain, forming a (sus)tension zone reconnecting Europeans to our own transformation and giving this zone a physical expression for all to explore further. After filling a space in Maribor with these tensions, the project is turned mobile and sent to Guimaraes to continue its journey. The project invites artists and others searching at the heart of the matters of the deep changes that our continent is going through to make a collective move into an in-between chronotope called Sustensistan. Its function is to stimulate the expressions of the most fundamental aspects of our present state and our loss of historical wisdom. The collective brings its impressions back to Europe and invites Europes cultural cities to participate. [Phase 1 October 2011 February 2012] Connecting and aligning with artists and other important figures in order to align a common if diverse understanding of the cultural fundamentals of Maribor looking at the past, the present and the future // sharing and developing the blueprint of the project and balancing the infinity of ambitions with the harsh reality of defeatism // developing the practical action in terms of the space, the encounters,

and the collaboration processes across disciplines and across cultures // carrying out webbased exchanges of ideas // connections taking place in parallel with artists in Guimaraes; [Phase 2 10-15 days in March 2012] First residency period // Conversations and workshops in Maribor in order to move to the next level of understanding and collaboration, based on a poetic philosophical approach finding and enlarging fields of intervention (cultural trigger points) that will be able to make a difference both for cultural life and for the future of the city of Maribor // conception of forms of expression that can fit into the installation space, coordination of the different elements and how they can invigorate a reconnection process // [Phase 3 20 days in May-June 2012] Second residency period // collective expression, materialization, crystallization of the installation Sustensistan-Europa Maribor2012 in the designated space // local artists create the contents of the space in collaboration with the other participants from the city, and with invited artists and researchers from across Europe and from Guimaraes // finalization of the space for opening in June 2012 // as the final step, the chronotope of Maribor is turned mobile and makes the physical move from Maribor to Guimaraes, taken home by artists from Guimaraes to their city to continue the process as relay. Short CV: Oleg Koefoed, Ph.D., Action-Philosopher
2007- Co-founder of Cultura21 Int. network for cultures of sustainability Projects: TOUCH (2011) (w. artists and designers from Bulgaria and Spain): tactile art laboratories with blind and sight impaired and around blindness and tactility in art Flowers of Sustainability (2007-2011) (w. Insa Winkler): events, workshops, installations, residencies, in Venice, Hamburg, Kirgizia, Beijing, Seoul, Kiel, Copenhagen, involving citizens; design students, artists, scientists, etc, through the use of flowers as artistic tools for enabling dialogue and lateral understanding Embassies of Sustensistan (2009-2010): social sculpture project before and during COP15 in Copenhagen, involving citizens from neighborhoods of Copenhagen and artists from Europe and the U.S.; ASSiST (2010) First International Summer School for Arts & Sciences for Sustainability in Social Transformation, involving artists, researchers, and activists from 21 different countries, in Gabrovo, Bulgaria CultureFutures culture for an ecological age (2009-). Articles, performances, lectures, courses, poetry, creating sharing of visions and experiences among cities such as Sao Paolo, Toronto, Copenhagen, Milano, etc. 2006- Co-founder of Center for Action Philosophy Projects: Venten, glemslen (Waiting for Oblivion) (2011) (w. sound artists Beautiful Burning World): performance about the role of memory, matter, and oblivion based on the works of Maurice Blanchot and my own lyrics No One Creates Alone (2006-2007) (Painting, Poetry, Installation, Publications, with visual artist Lars Ravn) Other project (through Center for Creative Encounters, Copenhagen Business School): EDUFashion / OpenWear (2010-2011) (w CBS, University of Ljubljana, University of Milano, Fashion/Textile School of Ljubljana, a.o.): creation of collaborative platform and brand for ethical / sustainable fashion designers 2004: Ph.D. in philosophy and cultural theory with the dissertation Sketches of a Poetic Philosophy // 1997: Candidate in Communication and History Author of numerous publications in the field of cultural theory, cultures of sustainability, art and society, action-philosophy and poetic philosophy, masculinities, inter- and transcultivation, as well as poetic work; published in Danish, English, Italian, and French