The Art of Civil Action: Political Space and Cultural Dissent
Book Launch and Panel Discussion
with Pascal Gielen and Hakan Topal, Moderated by Sara Reisman
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
6 to 8pm
Dan Perjovschi for The Art of Civil Action: Political Space and Cultural Dissent. [Image Description: Inside a book are two drawings, one on the left page and one on the right page. Both drawings are simply drawn with thick, black lines. The left image has a figure painting a canvas on an easel with a X drawn through the action and an arrow pointing to the right. The image on the right has a figure holding a sign in protest.]
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation co-hosted with East++, Institute for New Artistic Inquiry, Purchase College, a book launch and conversation for The Art of Civil Action: Political Space and Cultural Dissent, edited by Philipp Dietachmair and Pascal Gielen, and published by Valiz books. With contributions by social scientists, cultural theorists, activists and artists - including Hakan Topal's essay, "A Stage for Resistance: The Cultural Scene in Turkey" - The Art of Civil Action explores how arts and culture can offer the building blocks for a locally rooted civil society in a globally connected context.
Bios
Pascal Gielen is full professor of Sociology of Art and Politics at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (Antwerp University, Belgium) where he leads the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO). Gielen is Editor in-Chief of the international book series Arts in Society. In 2016, he became laureate of the Odysseus grant for excellent international scientific research of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders in Belgium. His research focuses on creative labor, the institutional context of the arts, and cultural politics. Gielen has published many books, which have been translated in English, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
Hakan Topal is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently an Assistant Professor of New Media and Art + Design at Purchase College, State University New York. Trained as a civil engineer (B.S. at METU, Ankara), he continued his studies in Gender and Women’s Studies (M.S. at METU) and Sociology (M.A. at NSSR, New York). He obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research with a focus on urban sociology and sociology of arts. He was the co-founder of the international art collective xurban_collective (2000–2012) and exhibited his collective and individual art works and research projects extensively in institutions such as the 8th and 9th Istanbul Biennials; apexart, New York; Thyssen- Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Vienna; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; MoMA PS1, New York; Platform, Istanbul, the 9th Gwangju Bienniale; and ICP Museum, New York. Topal represented Turkey in various international exhibitions including the 49th Venice Biennial Turkish Pavilion. His texts and projects have been featured in various international journals, books, and catalogs.