Interstitches and a practise of openess and inclusion.
«modes of thought that are open and inclusive»

Concept: Elke aus dem Moore & Carmen Mörsch

6 February – 4 April 2004

In co-operation with the archives B + B (London), Archive
KONTEXT/KUNST/VERMITTLUNG (CONTEXT/ART/EDUCATION) (Berlin), Künstlerhaus (Stuttgart)

The exhibition and event project SOFT LOGICS, set up in honour of the 25th anniversary of the Stuttgart Kuenstlerhaus, creates a framework that updates concepts originating from the time when the Künstlerhaus was founded, and which call for a cultural practice that is open and inclusive.

In the exhibition, three archives that deal with different approaches to artistic-cultural practice will be brought together. The Künstlerhaus Archive documents the productions and developments of the house in an exemplary manner, thus representing a period of critical, self-determined practice. Part of the project deals with the processing of collecting materials, interventions (“Performing the Archive”) take place on a weekly basis.

The team of curators B+B from London will introduce their mobile collection of participatory and socially engaged art projects. Sophie Hope and Sarah Carrington will continue their practice with artists on location.

The Archive KONTEXT/KUNST/VERMITTLUNG (CONTEXT/ART/EDUCATION) contains a wide range of collaborative projects.

The accompanying programme of events will begin with an afternoon dedicated to examining archivist practices in contemporary art (GUIDED LABYRINTHS). A roundtable with cultural representatives from Stuttgart will question the present day relevance of the self-organised forms of cultural work (SELF-MADE MICROUTOPIAS). The event STYLE POLITICS will be looking at expressions of cultural identity. The programme of events will be rounded off by a workshop with international guests in April, who will be discussing how art and education can be brought together.

The title SOFT LOGICS is based on the theories of the French philosopher Michel Serres, who counters the hard edges of ‘thinking in categories or boxes’ with the soft undulating forms of a sack. The folds of the sack are complex and unpredictable yet its shape suggests another kind of precision. SOFT LOGICS proposes an organic interplay of different thought-, action-, and communication models, in which complex ideas can grow and take on new shapes.
«Interdisciplinary is increasingly regarded as essential critical practice, for a discipline that builds walls around itself {...} is likely to stagnate. Here the Philosopher Michel Serres offers a pertinent image: ‹I believe that there is box-thought, the thought we call rigorous, like rigid, inflexible boxes, and sack-thought, like systems of fabric. Our philosophy lacks a good organum of fabrics.› {Michel Serres: Rome. The Book of Foundations. Stanford 1991} {...} Serres also argues for ‹soft logics› – modes of thought that are open and inclusive.» {Barnett, Penina; Jeffries, Janis; Ross, Doran: Letters of the editors. In: Textile. The Journal of Cloth and Culture. Vol. I, Issue 1, London, Spring 2003}