After the Event focuses on the progression of the social uprisings that occurred between 2010 and 2013. From Turkey to Spain, Greece, Syria and Egypt, the locations of this unrest, the movements shook existing political systems and, at times, even brought them to their knees. Yet, ultimately, they were not powerful enough to subvert the political system in its entirety, and today many of these movements appear to be enduring a crisis or regression and cannot trust political and organisational forms, or now-familiar languages and ways of doing.
A sense of defeat has taken hold as the possibilities of new ways of doing politics are ruled out; feelings like melancholy and desperation, the sense of coming to a dead end, the inability to start something new all appear to account for the discontinuation of a political cycle.
By way of presentations and a workshop, this encounter seeks to discuss this historical experience by focusing on social uprisings, the multiple forms with which an event survives, and its present and possible future. Reflections which can serve as a tool for dealing with the present-day protests surfacing in different places.
Shining a light on archives and the collective memories created by different events, After the Event tables the following questions: How can we recall these times of political dispute from a present-day perspective? Can past images help us to rethink the emancipatory potential of the revolutionary tide that spreads across different geographies? How can we analyse information from the present?
The Emerging Knowledge programme is part of the project Our Many Europes, organised by the L’internationale museum confederation and co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme. L'Internationale comprises seven major European art institutions: Moderna galerija (MG+MSUM, Ljubljana, Slovenia); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS, Madrid, Spain); Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA, Barcelona, Spain); Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium); Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie (Warsaw, Poland), SALT (Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey) and Van Abbemuseum (VAM, Eindhoven, Netherlands), and collaborates in the project with the Valand Academy (Gothenburg, Sweden) and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD, Dublin, Ireland). Together, these institutions will present a programme with over 40 public activities (lectures, exhibitions, workshops) until May 2022.
