UiT Norges Arktiske Universitet, Kunstakademiet

Thomas Hirschhorn – Critical Workshop

«Assuming Public Space» is the title but also the mission, the project, the thematic, the idea, the proposition, the vision, the utopia of the workshop. I am proposing a workshop in the Public Realm of Tromsø because as an artist this is what I can share: my experience and my position. My competence – as far as I know – is the competence to include the non-exclusive audience, and also to work in Public Space. I have made 67 works in Public Space so far, with further projects to come. Therefore my competence comes from my artwork and my concrete experience of confronting Public Space, and from my ability to create the conditions for implication, for seriousness, for equality of treatment and for fun. The workshop I propose in Tromsø will be a critical workshop, based on equality, judgment and discussion, dense, charged, and collective. A critical workshop seems to me the appropriate way to give, to give an input, to transmit, to transmit my experience.

Practically: – The critical workshop «Assuming Public Space» will take place at the Academy of Tromsø, Norway. – The critical workshop will be led by me and will last for a week from Monday to Sunday (7 days). Possible dates are Monday April 23rd – Sunday May 1st 2017 (option 1), or Monday June 5th – Sunday June 11th (option 2). (I arrive in Tromsø on Sunday and leave Monday morning). – In preparation of the workshop, I will come for a short visit ahead to meet the students and present the workshop, and I propose to give a lecture about a work of mine in Public Space. (See calendar for 2 day-visit options). – All students of the ‘Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing’ Tromsø can participate. – Each student will have to make a new specific work of art in the public space of Tromsoe and participate in all our collective discussions and critiques. – Every work made for the workshop «Assuming Public Space» will be discussed together.

Structure of the workshop It is important that the workshop be based on equality. Equal presentation-time, equal discussion-time. During the 7 days of the workshop everyone participating shall present the work he has done in public space, or invite everyone to see the work taking place or performed in public space. (I will further explain this during my preparatory visit). Each work is discussed together, in its outcome and consequences. The work will be judged through questions and debate such as “Is there implication?”, “Is it an event?”, “Are there encounters?”, “Does it create a new term in art?”, “Is there a position in the artwork towards its location, toward its dedication, toward its duration, toward its thematic?”

Production: In order to produce the work I have included in the workshop-budget an amount (30 000 €) for the production of the work, that will be distributed equally between each participant. If there are 20 participants, each student will receive 1 500 €, if there are 10 participants each one will receive 3 000 €. It is therefore necessary that every student participating in the workshop sign-in ahead in order to organize and distribute the production fee between all participants.

Presence: In order to make the best of the other’s judgements, everyone participating must be present full time and attend every presentation. Every work is discussed together. It is important that each work be discussed in equality, therefore the time will be equally divided between all participants. The workshop will last a full week from Monday to Sunday, 3 hours in the morning from 10am-1pm, and 3 hours in the afternoon from 2-5pm.

Requirements: To participate, it is necessary that everyone: – do a new and specific work in Public Space – present ones’ own work (mission, goals) – use the production-fee in an appropriate way and justify expenses with a budget – engage in common discussions, in exchange, thinking, judging.

Goals of the workshop “Assuming Public Space”: – encourage doing a work in public space – determine the pertinence of a work in Public Space – be ready to have one’s work judged – have the generosity to judge the work of others – trust ones’ own – very own – judgement.

Judgement Criteria I expressly use the term ‘judgement’ and don’t use the term ‘evaluation’. A lot is being produced in all kinds of fields, but few people accept the judgement of their production. But an artist or anyone who has the power to produce something, must be ready to accept that his production is being judged. Besides, a judgement – at the opposite of an ‘evaluation’ – is an engagement, something absolute, something which comes from the heart, something you can think about and build upon. In order to resist evaluation and be subject to it, we need to work out our own judgement on our own work, and on the work of others as well. Contributing to an evaluation is not important – but having one’s own personal judgement is essential, as an artist, but also as a human being. To me, ‘judgement’ is a positive term, but I am aware that it is often used negatively. Judging a work is never judging the person. Judging a work (my work/the work of others) is one of the keys to giving form, and facing this judgement is one of the keys to asserting form. Asserting form is the most important thing in Art. My criterion of judgement is «Energy: Yes! Quality: No!». I want to assert what has energy for me – I do not want to judge the quality of something. I don’t want to tell the other what should have quality for her or for him. My judgement is never personal, I only judge the work and its output. I want to show that if you do something, you will be judged for what you are doing. And, as part of the act of doing something, the judgement of this doing has to be held out – this is the grace. I am happy if my work is judged.