Kunstcafé: The Reality of The Autonomous Art Practice
Against the backdrop of the exhibition ‘The Autonomous Art Practice & The Dream’, showcasing the work of four young autonomous artists, curator and researcher Ilga Minjon discusses the reality of autonomous art practice with postconceptual artist and activist Alina Lupu and editor and producer Agata Bar. Language: English
Is it possible to develop an art practice to its heart’s content? In this economy? Artists cannot escape the reality of contradictions. If you can find a studio at all, the question becomes how much time you can spend there alongside your three part-time jobs. Will you be accepted into that institutional exhibition if you speak out against the genocide in Gaza?
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The Panel:
Ilga Minjon (they/them) is a curator, researcher and educator based in Amsterdam. Working closely with artists across disciplines, they aim to weave together future imaginaries from decolonial and feminist re-writings of belonging, in art, technology and sound. They’re a member of Stadscuratorium Amsterdam, a city-wide advisory commission for arts in public space. As a tutor at Design Academy Eindhoven, they teach Contextual Studies and design research.
Ilga has curated numerous experimental public events, exhibitions, symposiums and international residency exchanges at Impakt [Centre for Media Culture], FLAT Station/BijlmAIR, Amsterdam Southeast, and Stroom Den Haag. Other activities include experiments in audio/radio and exchanges around pedagogies of collectivity. Ilga is part of Reading Vigil for Palestine, a collective who gather daily on Dam square in Amsterdam for one hour since November 2023, to read about Palestine in public space, until a permanent ceasefire.
Alina Lupu is a Romanian-born, Dutch-based post-conceptual artist, writer, photographer and activist. Her work interrogates the role of images and performative actions in fostering solidarity and resistance against capitalist hegemony and precarity. She examines protest through a broad lens, encompassing civil disobedience, petitions, debates, and counter-capitalist care structures and works towards reimagining institutions in her practice.
Agata Bar is a Polish born and Amsterdam based editor, publications producer and cultural worker with a focus on photography, contemporary art, and culture.
Agata has been part of the organization and production teams of Photomonth in Krakow and Unseen Amsterdam, and previously managed the production and global distribution of Foam Magazine. In the past years, she worked with Noor Images as an Editorial Director where she shaped visual storytelling strategies and managed a range of editorial projects. She has also led the coordination of publications for the Manifesta Biennale, further deepening her engagement with critical and cross-disciplinary art discourse.
In 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Agata co-founded the publishing initiative Growing Pains. Next to her freelance practice, she also works at Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam.