We live in a globalized world. It’s dynamics bring out fundamental and irreversible changes everywhere. These changes come along with anxiety and suspiciousness, especially toward the transcultural dimension of globalization. Art can shift perception, it has a sensual willingness in its approach to the world, that opens our way of looking and thinking. …

The Assumption of the Virgin is a space that showcases a range of individual photographs highlighting femininity, body, gender identity and sexuality. Through countless of discussions about personal experiences of sex, sexuality, gender roles, body image; the lasting image was to create an intimate, personal and intense visual and sound platform. The setting of the bathroom with red lights, highlights the use of personal space when one needs to use the bathroom, but also an underline of ‘sexiness’ and also erotic sense.

The net is the beginning of everything, the start of transformation and connection. It is the testing ground, to turn a tool of daily life into something different. Using the net to fill up the room, it first becomes soft installation. It is all surrounded, one feels trapped and sometimes escaped from it. Then it becomes a projection surface.

Lecture by Prof. Isabel Mundry, Composer Until the end of the 20th century the idea of the music of the avant-garde was to define its development by continuously further differentiate itself. The music was focussed on its own rules, its abstraction, its purity. Nowadays the “music of the avant-garde” does not exist anymore. Instead there are individual works and positions, that define their own framework and follow specific questions. As a result every piece of music needs to ask about its inside and outside. What is the own, thus the pure, and what’s the alien? With each inter- or transdisciplinary work, we encounter these questions, but also with every artistic reference to a topic outside the arts. Based on her own work, Isabel Mundry will describe, how musical articulations and extra-musical references are getting connected. Her main topics will be public spaces and transitions between art and nature. Isabel Mundry was born in Schlüchtern (Hesse, Germany), raised in West Berlin. Studies composition with Frank-Michael Beyer, Gösta Neuwirth and Hans Zender at the „Universität der Künste Berlin“ …

Scouting of an Abandoned School
Out of the interest of some members of the group, and the knowledge of an abandoned school, the group decided to explore this space as a working area, to share a common experience of research & free play.

Impressed by the abundance of noise in the City of Hong Kong, we set out on a quest to investigate the sources of this omnipresent intrusion on our senses. Seeking out the origins of the everyday acoustic background, we very soon pondered on the quality of noise. Is it something undesirable that has to be purged, or is suppressing it a form of censorship? Why do we have a need for both silence and disorder? Is there a ideal balance between the two? Inspired by the principle of noise cancelling, we constructed a space where in theory, three phase-inverted sources of noise recordings we did in Hong Kong should cancel each other out and add up to silence. Viewers may enter this space to experience the interaction of the three sources and with luck, perhaps, find a small pocket of silence amidst the chaos. As expected, the noise cancelling function did not work out perfectly. It was, however, up to each individual to explore the meanings of the experiment. Can one indeed cancel noise with …

As discussed by Wolfgang Welsch, “The concept of transculturality aims for a multi-meshed and inclusive, not separatist and exclusive, understanding of culture.” As such the dissolving boundaries between cultures and new cultural forms have been developed. This lecture will trace the cultural interactions through artworks made since the sixteenth century to present to highlight how different cultural legacies are intertwined with one another. …

Short Practical Excersises Workshop by Zhao Chuan / ‘Artistic Experimentation’ Lecture by Ricardo Eizirik / Visit Manifesta exhibitions

Every participant is asked to give an insight to her/his artistic work as well as about her/his personal background like cultural origins, important ethical values, concerns and current issues they think are relevant. It’s suggested to think of a way to present the work in a different way than usual, which is rather experiential oriented (for example by doing, showing, performing, interacting,..) instead of (too much) talking and it explicitly should not be a regular “power point presentation”.

A Project by Mbene Mwambene, Sylvia Liu Yang, Going Ying Hsiu Kuo and Andreas Mayer   On paper everything is pretty painted in white and black. Hong Kong is one of the densely populated places in the world. The economy is fast booming hence the volumes of garbage shoots up the ladder. Wastes in Hong Kong are first collected from disposal bins to refuse transfer stations (RTS). After they are compacted and put in containers, they are delivered to disposal lands or recycling centers. Those which can be recycled are recycled, some are burnt to create and some sent to land fills. Done and dusted. There are hundreds of collectors in the territory where wastes are located before transferring to refuse transfer stationsThere are seven refuse transfer stations in the territory. They serve as centralised collection points for the transfer of waste to the strategic landfills. Operated by the EPD, the landfill sites only accept garbage from Hong Kong. Thirteen of 16 landfills were closed from 1988 to 1996. There are also 13 closed landfills. The closed …

Silvia (China), Haymond ( Hong Kong), Giulia (Italy) and Mbene ( Malawi/Zambia) embarks on a journey in Zurich to ascertain individual fears in a city known to the world as the haven of purity.

PERFORMANCE/LECTURE
IMPROVE YOUR SOCIAL SKILLS,
FIT IN ZÜRICH’S CULTURE, IN UNDER 30 MINS
Artists: Catch the Manta ( Jiecong Men & Jesica Bastidas )

To recapitulate, certain dualisms have been persistent in Western traditions; they have all been systemic to the logics and practices of domination of women, people of colour, nature, workers, animals – in short, domination of all constituted as others, whose task is to mirror the self. Chief among these troubling dualisms are self/other, mind/body, culture/nature, male/female, civilized/primitive, reality/appearance, whole/part, agent/resource, maker/ made, active/passive, right/wrong, truth/illusion, totaVpartial, God/man. …

IN TIME WE TRUST – IN TIME WE INVEST “THE FUTURE MATE, YH, ITS DOWN THERE. 3RD ON THE LEFT. YOU CAN‘T MISS IT BREH”

Episode 1: A forbidden forrest in middle of the refugees’ camp is surrounded by a huge wall.
Three ways to deviate a wall, which is guarded by the police.
Episode 2: Repeat new sonorities or different strategies to shit when someone is already in the toilets

Tuesday, 20 September 2016, 7:00pm

Lecture by Prof. Bitten Stetter, Fashion Designer, Head of Master Trends, Zurich University of the Arts

This lecture demonstrates vividly and comprehensively how the subtly imperatives like “be modest and be pure” constantly optimise body, soul and mind in our daily life in western societies. …

Wednesday, 14. September 2016, 7:00pm

Lecture by Prof. John Nguyet Erni
Chair Professor in Humanities and Head of the Department of Humanities & Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Many in Hong Kong have identified the city as “half-sovereign” or “conditionally sovereign,” as the times of post-1997 have brought about new ruptures and shifting boundaries of citizenship in economic, cultural, and legal terms. The work of deciphering questions of belonging and multicultural existence is still ongoing, and has in fact intensified in recent times. …

Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential – that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use.

Ff Rrrrr Eeeeeeeee Ssss Ttttttt Y Ll Ccc Aaaaa I Hhhh Mm P Oo N L ? Slow Computer Take 1: Slow Computer Take 2: .

The Group started exploring Apliu Street where Takuro showed where all electronic devices can be found for the amplifier workshop. Afterwards everyone was free to decide whether to explore the neighbourhood freely or join a guided tour by Nuria from Sham Shui Po to Yau Ma Tei, passing by different art spaces of these neighborhoods.

Baltensperger + Siepert, Artists, Zurich
Presentation and talk about the work of the artists specifically related to their collaborative practice and their focus on transcultural topics.

  GJ Lischka, Philosopher/Artist, Berne Today we define all surfaces as PURE. There exist in fact only surfaces, which in turn lie on other surfaces. These surfaces all touch each other, touch us, in one way or another. Dirt –  that which is BEYOND PURITY – seems not to exist. An attempt to sketch the terms of an area “Beyond Discipline”, which resists closure despite its openness. TRANSMEDIA will be used to achieve this: media as form, transforming itself into many different forms of media. GJ Lischka was born in Muntlix, Austria. Studied in Berne (Switzerland) und Munich (Germany). Since 1969 actions, exhibitions, radio- and tv-programs, lot’s of lectureship. Books: Splitter. Ästhetik 1993; Alles jetzt! Die Mediatisierung 2003; SuperSurFace 2008; Denkstoff. Dichte Gedanken 2013; DVD Reality Check, mental clips 2009; Exhibition; GJL. Present Mind ZKM Karlsruhe 2014 Thursday, 01 September 2016, 7:00pm Viaduktraum, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8031 Zurich

‘The Phantom of Zurich’ Lecture by Prof. Dr. Jörg Huber & Daniel Späti
As an introduction to this lecture series we will briefly outline some fundamental aspects about the topic of „Beyond Purity“ first. In a second step we focus on the concept of purity in relation to „Switzerland“ and „Zurich“. …
‘EVERYTHINGTHOROUGHLYWITHEACHOTHER’ Lecture by GJ Lischka
Today we define all surfaces as PURE. There exist in fact only surfaces, which in turn lie on other surfaces. These surfaces all touch each other, touch us, in one way or another. Dirt – that which is BEYOND PURITY – seems not to exist. …

Excursion, 26 August 2016

Thomas Schmutz, Head of Communication, Refugee Organisation Zurich

Temporary Shelter at Times of Massive Immigration Interventions by Social Design / Design Activism Students; Temporary Communal Housing Alternative Container Construction at Times of Lacking Normal Houses / Living Space; „More than Living“ Innovative Business Opportunities for 2nd Generation Migrants / “Accompanied Professional Restaurant Training” for Underprivileged Migrants / “Refugees’ Choir” by Hombis Salon Manager