Message posted on 13/06/2020

Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art 2020 online: call for applications

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Call for applications: Care, Caring and Repair in Cognitive Capitalism
Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art
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Robby Herbst workshop, Spike Art Quarterly, SFSIA 2017.
*Application deadline:* June 28, 2020

*Session one:* July 13–23, online
*Session two:* August 3–13, online

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*Care, Caring and Repair in Cognitive Capitalism*

The original program for Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art 2020 in Berlin on
Care, Caring and Repair in Cognitive Capitalism was cancelled due to
COVID-19 and will now be presented online Monday–Thursday in two sessions.
6–10am PST (LA) / 3–7pm CET (Berlin) / 9pm–1am CST (Beijing)

Building upon our past five year engagement with topics concerning
estrangement, individuation, and collectivity in art and politics, Saas-Fee
Summer Institute of Art 2020 will address the present and future conditions
of our new pandemic reality, including new possibilities it may generate.

In the past 20 years, the techno-social-scientific revolution has joined
forces with neoliberal reformers to produce a generalized crisis in empathy
and thought. Through the coronavirus pandemic we have all, in one way or
another, become *cognitariats**—*isolated data workers laboring for free
within the abstract conundrum of the infosphere. As a result of these
intensive relations with the virtual, we have become prey to a number of
pervasive empathy disorders related to distinct neurological,
neuro-psychological and psychic pathologies ranging from Asperger's
syndrome and autism spectrum disorder to narcissistic and antisocial
personality disorders. As Franco “Bifo” Berardi stated in *Breathing: Chaos
and Poetry*, “Neoliberal reformers have put competition at the core of the
daily business of life, and digital connectivity has replaced physical
conjunction in the sphere of social communication: so the psycho-cultural
conditions of empathy have been undermined.” Berardi’s comments offer an
insight into the inadequate response to this pandemic as a disjunction of
comradeship, a pervasive lack of social solidarity. These are symptoms of a
disease in which our community is rotting from within and which have broad
social-political implications beyond the pandemic such as economic
disparity, white nationalism, the election of despots and the resurgence of
fascism.

As this already global condition has been further complicated by the
coronavirus pandemic, Care, Caring and Repair in Cognitive Capitalism is
the focus of this year's Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art which will be
presented online. We ask: Is the rising global death toll still happening
in many regions a result of the powerful effect of neoliberal capitalism
upon empathy making the care it necessitates impossible? Will the effects
of seclusion and the growing importance of virtual technology in our daily
life (such as remote learning, shopping and communication) intensify the
loss of comradeship and solidarity already in progress? Finally, if the
pandemic is linked to a coming global catastrophe will the governments,
corporations and other institutions which have proved so ineffectual in the
current moment fail miserably again? In the hope of creating awareness and
addressing the causes of the factors that are breaking our social webs
apart, we will interweave four broad categories of care, caring and repair:
(1) Cognitive Capitalism and Affective Labor (2) Theory of Mind, Empathy
and its Psychopathologies (3) Class Consciousness and Solidarity (4)
Climate Change and Global Warming. Through online discussions, deep
readings and performative lectures, we aim to develop strategies of
counterinsurgency.

*Faculty*
Antonia Alampi, Chloë Bass, T.J. Demos, Stefano Harney, Stefanie Hessler,
Joan Jonas, Amelia Jones, Maurizio Lazzarato, Alex Taek-Gwang Lee, Fred
Moten, Yann Moulier-Boutang, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Warren Neidich
(founder/director), Clio Nicastro, Ahmet Ögüt, Ana Teixeira Pinto, Jasbir
K. Puar, Tobias Rees, Suely Rolnik, Daniel Ross, Martha Schwendener, Barry
Schwabsky (co-director), Vandana Shiva, Anuradha Vikram, and more to be
announced.

*Applications*
Applications for SFSIA 2020 are open to students, practitioners and
scholars from the fields of art (including video, photography, installation
and multimedia), design, architecture, critical writing, science and
technology studies, critical theory, cultural studies, film and media
studies, and beyond. Please see our website for updates and further details.

*About SFSIA*
Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (SFSIA) is a nomadic, intensive summer
academy with shifting programs in contemporary critical theory that
stresses an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship
between art and politics. SFSIA originated in Saas-Fee, Switzerland in 2015
and migrated to Berlin, Germany in 2016 where it is currently hosted by
Spike. Additional programs have been hosted by Otis College of Art and
Design, Los Angeles, and Performance Space New York. SFSIA was founded and
is directed by Warren Neidich and is co-directed by Barry Schwabsky.
Sarrita Hunn is the artistic coordinator.

Please see our website

or
contact info@sfsia.art

for
more information.
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