Study plan

MODULE 1. REINVENTING INSTITUTIONS: BODIES AT THE CENTRE
From 8 to 17 February 2023

This module aims to review the role of the institution as an open public sphere, as a citizen’s laboratory in which narratives and stories intersect, spaces from which to question and be questioned. The mechanisms and structures for generating knowledge will be reconsidered, analysing artistic practices that promote new forms and dynamics capable of connecting contemporary artistic and social processes. It is based on generating maps, experiences, concepts and historiographic accounts, but also seeks to redefine borders and reinvent models, intertwining critical thinking and knowledge with experiences and practices that contribute to taking action in social and political change from the cultural and artistic production sphere.

MODULE 2. ENVIRONMENTALISMS: IMAGINING THE IMPOSSIBLE
From 8 to 17 March 2023

We are facing a deep socio-environmental crisis, we are immersed in climate and eco-systemic scenarios that require radical action in the economic, political, social or cultural fields. Natural disasters, the climate emergency, the energy crisis, the loss of biodiversity, the scarcity of the planet’s resources and the unlimited growth policies, added to the social and economic crises that cause insecurity, inequality and uncertainty, can paralyse us in one of the deepest strengths that we have as a society: working collectively and with co-responsibility in order to open paths towards essential social transformation. In the Balearic Islands, the almost exclusive dependence on the tourism sector has led not only to serious environmental impacts, but also to social, economic and political ones, which are leading towards collapse.

MODULE 3. FEMINISMS: THE OTHER NON-APROPIABLE ONES
From 29 March to 14 April 2023

In the words of Fina Birulés, who in turn refers to the theories of Judith Butler, controversy is precisely what produces the richness of feminist thought, because in the gesture of questioning certainties lies the potential for social transformation and critical analysis of ourselves, so it is about openly addressing the conflict, giving voice to what divides or separates us. Because it is also in this open conflict with others, practiced without cancelling communication, where, until now, female freedom has found its place.

MODULE 4. DECONSTRUCTING BORDERS: DECOLONISING KNOWLEDGE
From 26 April to 5 May 2023

From the perspective of visible and invisible borders, module 4 looks to explore experiences of social innovation related to the heterogeneity of migratory phenomena, the demographic changes that these phenomena produce and the place occupied by people, families and communities that have migrated or are refugees, their rights (or non-rights), their vulnerabilities and the multiplicity of invisible borders. It seeks to question what we understand by integration, which, as Bonaventura da Sousa states, can be either authoritarian or solidary. The former imposes the way in which a system wants groups to integrate, while the second adapts the conditions of inclusion depending on the groups that arrive, and in collaboration with them.

MODULE 5. WORK: PRECARIOUS MASSES
From 17 to 26 May 2023

For the social majorities, throughout modern history jobs have been synonymous with social integration, with a sort of universal guarantee for social advancement and against the risk of impoverishment. However, with the socio-political dynamics of recent decades, based on neoliberal forms of thinking and practice, these securities have disappeared. We are in the era of job insecurity, which is increasingly leading to a society with vast inequalities, low levels of unity and very little hope, and many authors agree that the lack of action to combat these inequalities and address contemporary challenges nurtures populist movements and discourses that wear down democratic values.

CLOSING SESSION
27 may 2023

During the closing event of Contact Zone #2, Es Baluard Museu extends an invitation to all the people who have participated in the programme (attendees, teachers and organisation) to speak and discuss about the model of the Laboratory of Art and Thought (LAP), which intends to be a space open to dialogue, questioning, tensions and self-criticism. We want to share, based on experiences such as the LAP and other similar practices, reflections that help us collectively rethink and reimagine the possible futures of the museum institution: around the possibilities of creating new models for the relationship between institutions and citizens as well as the paradigm shifts necessary for the radical democratisation of cultural institutions. In short, we want to explore the ways in which the Museum allows itself to be inhabited.