The practice of Natalya Pershina-Yakimanskaya (Gluklya) closely orbits the notion of utopian agency as a strategy to critique power, and to awaken sensitivity to everyday oppression and its normalising effects.

In projects such as “Carnival of the Oppressed Feelings”, “Museum of Utopian Clothes” and “Utopian Unemployment Union” the notion of distance from reality plays a crucial role in destabilising the institution and its hierarchies, which naturally tend towards closing down potentialities for change and reform, or of any deviations from the chosen path; and in the construction of new forms and structures - such as communist pyramids, composed of human bodies - which might function as deviant engines for rebellion or change.

PPV invites Gluklya for an evening of utopian, perverted and pyrammidal reflections on the agency of resistance in her continuous artisic practice, which create heterotopic public spaces, agoras in times of extreme (hidden, invisibilised and therefore normalised) alienation, capitalisation and commercialisation.

Gluklya's artist talk will be followed by an interactive workshop where the audience will be invited to become co-authors of the growing perverted community (perhaps rhizomatic, perhaps pyrammidal) of utopian institutions challenging the static, everlasting nature of the political status quo.

🥒18.00 - 18:30: artist talk by Gluklya (moderated by PPV convenors)

🥒18.30 - 18:45: Q&A with the audience

🥒18.45 - 19:15: utopian institutionalism co-creation workshop

🥒19:15 - 20.00: reception

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PPV#10 is organised in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Art at the UCL Department the History of Art.

Jun 1, 2019

PPV #9: Defining the Elephant in the Room 🐘🔬

Updated: Jul 5, 2019

12.6.2019, The Forum, Institute for Advanced Studies, UCL, 5-8pm

Unedited audio-recording available here. Scroll down for photos.

Defining the Elephant in the Room

🐘🔬

For the final event in this academic year, PPV invites you to join us for an experimental reading and talking group.

Each participant is invited to bring along a book, a chapter, a page from a text, an object, a picture of an artwork, a screenshot of a video, an event poster - or any other material that influenced their way of defining (or perverting) power. The object/text in question may have helped to arrive at a shorter, more concise, or more precise definition; or allowed it to become a more accurate or truthful (from participant’s perception) representation of the multi-fanged and many-headed phenomenon of power, which is at the centre of PPV’s inquiry.

The convenors of the seminar will commence the discussion with the introduction of their inspirations, followed by participating researchers. The results of this experimental workshop will be used as the foundation of the ever-growing Dictionary of Power compiled by PPV.

Prior to the workshop, the convenors of the seminar and horizontal-vertical governing body of FRINGE centre will present “The Palace of Ritual”, the first instalment of the PPV participation in the carnival of the Venice Biennale preview week as well as future plans for Palazzo Perverso in Serenissima (Ab Aeterno).

This event is targeted at (but not limited) to PhD students and early career researchers based at UCL and elsewhere in London.

Please send expressions of interest (no more than 100 words) and a brief bio (no more than 50 words) by June 7th to politicalaesthetics@gmail.com. Registration will be limited to 20 participants.

🥒17.00 - 17.30: Welcome aperitif 🍹

🥒17.30 - 18.00: Presentation of “The Palace of Ritual” in Palazzo Dona Brusa during the preview days of 58th Venice Biennale “May You Live in Interesting Times” with Alena Ledeneva, Peter Zusi, Michal Murawski, Maria Mileeva & Denis Maksimov 🏰🔮

🥒18.00-19.15: Perverting Power: Reading Round Workshop 🍆🍑🌺

🥒19.15 - 19.30: Closing remarks

🥒19.30-20.30: Reception 🧀🍷

The event will be held on June 12, Wednesday from 17.00 - 20.00. Drinks and food will be served in a festive, Venezia-inspired mood.

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May 9, 2019

PPV #8: The Palace of Ritual

9-11.5.2019, Palazzo Dona Brusa, Venezia

Dear beings and peoples of the global east, dear trans-socialists, we invite you to our Venetian Palace of Ritual (a.k.a. the Palace of the Perverted Vertical)

👑🖖🧶🙈🐍🍌🥒👑

Have we resigned ourselves to the inevitability of power's unbreakable and eternal verticality?

No! In fact, we have been busy scheming with comrades Arts Territory, Avenir Institute and the Post-Asian School of Alternative Rites to cobble together a multi- pronged programme of palatial Venetian perversions.

🍌The PALACE of RITUAL🌶 Palazzo Donà Brusa, Camp San Polo, Venice, May 9th-11th, 2pm-6pm

Unofficially referred to by some of its courtiers as the Palace of the Perverted Vertical, the Palace of Ritual will open its doors on Thursday 9th May. Please join us on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, between 2pm-6pm, for an intense programme of not only perverted and palatial but also ritualistic and ameliorative performances, screenings and symposia; featuring, among many others Jasmina Cibic, Isadorino Gore, Enam Gbewonyo, Florence Keith-Roach, Alena Ledeneva, Karolina Łebek, Lynn Lu, Maria Mileeva, Nissa Nishikawa, Jeanne Pansard-Besson, Sabina Sallis, Sarah Wilson, Zorka Wollny, Khadija Von Zinnenburg Carroll and Mengting Zhuo

Curated by Annie Jael Kwan, Denis Maksimov, Michał Murawski and Kasia Sobucka.

Made possible thanks to the support and partnership of UCL SSEES, The FRINGE Centre for the Study of Social and Cultural Complexity, the UCL Institute for Advanced Studies, The Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Istituto Polacco in Rome.

The full programme of the Palace of Ritual is available on the website of Arts Territory.

Full video and audio documentation will be available shortly.