Friday 21 October, 19.00, at the CAC Reading Room
Antanas Mockus, a former mayor of Bogota, employed an art-driven imagination in order to suspend the “business as usual”, to destabilise the rational discourse, to disarm hate speech and to bring about an understanding of multitude and community. Unlike his European colleagues – for instance Berlin’s mayor Klaus Woverait who recently initiated an achievement show called Based in Berlin – Mockus never took artists for decoration makers, mere tourist attraction, or good company at EU or Vatican saloons. He saw them as strong partners in the thinking-and-doing process of organising and structuring the society, he had them on his side in his attempt to turn the dirty political game of strategies and personal interests into a passionate political action. Mockus is one of the few politicians who believe in the power of art and artists. The upcoming Berlin Biennale, with Mockus as one of the invited artists-politicians, is a call for such coalition of art and politics, which will self-empower the sector and allow to re-define its subjectivity.
The 7th Berlin Biennale is curated by Artur Żmijewski.
Joanna Warsza is an associate curator.