Exterritory Project
A symposium conceived by artists Maayan Amir & Ruti Sela moderated by Anat Ben-David with Angus Cameron, Dana Diminescu, Stuart Elden and Laurent Jeanpierre. Location: COMPTOIR GENERAL 80 quai de Jemmapes, 75010 Paris. Kadist Art Foundation and Evens Foundation are pleased to announce Exterritory Project , a symposium conceived by artists Maayan Amir and Ruti Sela which is a continuation of a collaboration that began in June 2011 on the occasion of their solo show in Kadist’s space. This project will gather researchers and academics who recently wrote about the concept of « extraterritoriality » in connection with erse fields such as political philosophy, geography, technology and finance. The contents of this symposium will be a part of a publication edited by the artists Maayan Amir and Ruti Sela: Exterritory: A collection of Essays on the Notion of Extraterritoriality, to be published in 2012. Exterritory Project has been initiated by artists Maayan Amir and Ruti Sela in 2009. This project is mainly based on bringing together artists, activists and scholars who wish to rethink geo-political stipulations and conventions in a non-national space. The first Exterritory event took place in June 2010, in a form of a floating journey on board three boats sailing in the exterritorial waters of the Mediterranean. During the event, two-dozen participants from across the globe joined in an attempt to interpret and distill the concept of Exterritory, both in art and thought. Leaving from the shores of Israel and stopping in Cyprus, the participants presented more than 50 artworks and curated programs that examined the notion of Exterritory in various media such as performance, installation, video and sound. The project attempts to create an alternative situation for encounter, research, discussion and art-making and to generate a network of intellectual and professional connections that surpasses national politics and social hierarchies. The main goal of the artists is to create a new space for cultural exploration that concentrates on the various aspects of the notion of Exterritory (in regard to power, law, nationality etc). « The borders of exterritoriality are not clear. They constitute a space of imagination, of transience, and of constant change. While territorial thinking is profoundly connected to ideas of nationhood and nationalism, exterritoriality can be found in the history of piracy and in utopian thought. While territory presents itself as a complete and ostensibly natural continuum, exterritorial space is fragmented by its very nature, and fundamentally built on movement and vision. » Maayan Amir & Ruti Sela