When hearing the term 'care' we may think of bodies in the context of health care; or we think of citizens taken care of by
social workers, educators, psychologists etc.. Maybe we think of the state and democratic models of governance thereby instantiating
a consensualised form of civility. Sometimes (maybe not so frequently) we are reminded that "to care" shares its etymological
root with 'to curate' describing the role of the curator as organizer of aesthetic experiences who must care for artists and
their audiences.
We are familiar with the tendency of opposing care to technology: care then has to do with warmth and love while technology,
by contrast, is cold and rational – a dichotomy that can be extended: care is nourishing, technology is instrumental; care
is overflowing and impossible to calculate; technology is effective and efficient. However, we live in a heterogeneous
world and the question is how to think of a (artistic) research agenda that refrains from purifying the poles of this dichotomy
and that tries to analyse both together?
The annual topic 'Caring' aims at exploring the logic of care within different domains. It investigates the role of the deterministic
body known by modern science *and* a fragile body in it's intricate surroundings. It investigates the individual as autonomous
being *and* as relational being. It investigates the enlightened citizen with a body that does not interfere with his or her
plans, cognitive operations, impartial judgements, firm decisions *and* the citizen in a fleshy, fragile and mortal body situated
within continuous inter-dependency. It investigates interactions within social and material situations where norms are negotiated
and practised within these situations and where those norms do not exist as standards outside of them. The topic will be organized into chapters. In the process of researching these chapters, the investigation should materialise
in the form of small exhibits throughout the year. These will be archived and presented in their entirety in a public presentation
at the end of the year. Preliminary list of chapters:
Care for care Between a logic of care and a logic of choice
Care for the Other Pain and the question of "humour of truth"; medicine and the question of relation; cause & effect
Care for the immaterial How we care for the dead
Care for material Forging knowledge
Care for (technological) instruments Tinkering ('doctoring') vs control
Care for the social Statistical data and the crafting of a society
Care for the living Lab animals, Model organisms, companions
Care for a future Intricacies of Nuclear waste management; scenario building, how to become a speculator
Cooperation partners 2015/2016:
Franz Kainberger & Andrea Maier University Clinic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Medical University of Vienna Consultation of Franz Kainberger & Andrea Maier by advance reservation Chris Walzer Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Open invitation to pathology, participate in all lectures of ‘conservation medicine’, consultation of Chris Walzer by advance
reservation
