utopia project 2009: Neverland

Utopia as an expression of unlimited imagination and desire is a concept that has always fascinated artists. Art can see in utopia a means to lift the restrictions of reality and accomplish the free expression of its visions. Starting from this connection and its various instantiations in the history of art, this workshop deals with the multiple significations, implications and dimensions of utopia. In everyday discourse the term ‘utopia’ is usually connected with an ideal future, with what seems impossible within the confines of reality, and is thus bound to create margins for many and often contradictory interpretations. Utopias are the places of dreams and hopes for a better life, which provide an escape from an always incomplete and constraining status quo. Sometimes they involve grandiose metaphysical schemata, other times they take the form of ephemeral shelters distanced from detailed sociopolitical reflection. Always, however, their creation is based on the criticism of established (political and aesthetical) institutions and social structures. Inspiring antithetical political and artistic practices, praised but also criticized, utopia has been a focus of debate for many disciplines and approaches. By blending theoretical discussion, aesthetic reflection and the artistic work of the participants, this workshop aims at critically exploring the various interconnections between theory and praxis, vision and reality, desire and finitude, utopia and dystopia.

Utopia and Youth

Within the context of the generalised youth protests that rocked Greece last December – also gaining widespread international recognition – this year’s workshop focuses on the relation between utopian discourse and youth. A historical study of youth movements reveals that youth has always functioned as a nodal point of resistance against the socio-political status quo of the day, advancing radical political transformation and social change. This is not to say, however, that all youth mobilization has a progressive orientation; on the contrary, it has also been lured by utopias of exclusion such as the Nazi Utopia of Racial Purity. Hence, the workshop will deal in depth with youth creativity and youth violence, will examine the role of youth subcultures in social and political mobilization, focusing on both the creative as well as the destructive dimensions of youth activism.

07 July, 2009

Neverland

Neverland (also spelled Never Land or expanded as Never Never Land) is a fictional world featured in the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them. It is the dwelling place of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and others. Although not all people in Neverland cease to age, its best known resident famously refused to grow up, and it is often used as a metaphor for eternal childhood (and childishness), immortality, and escapism.

Nature of Neverland. The novel explains that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children, and that although each is 'always more or less an island', and they have a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John Darling's 'had a lagoon with flamingos flying over it' while his little brother Michael's 'had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it'. The novel further explains that the Neverlands are compact enough that adventures are never far between. It says that a map of a child's mind would resemble a map of Neverland, with no boundaries at all.

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Proposed Bibliography on Youth

Amit-Talai V. and Wolff H. (1995), Youth Cultures: A Cross Cultural Perspective, London: Routledge.
Angel W. (1990), Youth Movements of the World, Harlow: Longman.
Boren M.E. (2001), Student Resistance-A History of the Unruly Subject, London and New York: Routledge.
Brown S. (2005), Understanding Youth and Crime, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Cavalli A. and Galland O. (1995), Youth in Europe, London: Pinter-A Cassel Imprint.
Chisholm L. and Kovacheva S. (2002), Exploring the European Youth Mosaic, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Cohen P. (1997), Rethinking the Youth Question, Basingstoke: MacMillan Press.
Coleman J. and Hendry L. (1996), The Nature of Adolescence, London: Routledge.
Craig S. and Bennet S.E. (1997), After the Boom-The Politics of Generation X, London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Epstein J. (ed) (1998), Youth Culture: Identity in a Post-modern World, Malden Mass: Blackwell.
Fornas J. and Bolin G. (eds) (1995), Youth Culture in Late Modernity, London: SAGE.
France A. (2007), Understanding Youth in Late Modernity, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Frank T. (1997), The Conquest of Cool, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Hall S. and Jefferson T. (eds.) (2006), Resistance Through Rituals, Abingdon: Routledge.
Hodkinson P. and Deicke W. (eds) (2007), Youth Cultures: Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes, London: Routledge.
MacDonald R. (ed) (2000), Youth, the ‘Underclass’ and Social Exclusion, Abingdon: Routledge.
Miles S. (2000), Youth Lifestyles in a Changing World, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Mizen P. (2004), The Changing State of Youth, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Muncie J. (2006), Youth and Crime, London: SAGE.
Nava M. (1992), Changing Cultures-Feminism, Youth and Consumerism, London: SAGE.
Roche J., Tucker S., Thomson R. and Flynn R. (eds.) (2005), Youth in Society, London: SAGE.
Savage J. (2007), Teenage-The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, London: Chatto & Windus.
Wallace C. and Kovatcheva, S. (1998), Youth in Society-The Construction and Deconstruction of Youth in East and West Europe, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

CAROLINE DE LANNOY

Caroline de Lannoy studied at Athens School of Fine Arts, the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, Central St Martins College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. She lectures at the Slade School of Fine Art, Byam Shaw School of Art, Central St Martins College of Art - University of the Arts London, and West Dean College. Caroline de Lannoy is predominantly engaged with the properties of colour, light, space and time. She works across a range of media including painting, drawing, text, sound, video and large-scale installations, often in public and site-specific locations, exploring location and site specificity, forcing a re-examination of space. Her current research activities include work that extends the language of painting, placing painting within an expanded field. She is particularly concerned with issues such as place and translation, investigating the perception of space to other dimensions whether real, virtual or imagined. She has taken part in many exhibition projects worldwide, museums, festivals and private galleries. Her works is in public and private collections in the UK and abroad.

YANNIS STAVRAKAKIS

Yannis Stavrakakis is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is the author of Lacan and the Political (London: Routledge, 1999), chapter 4 of which is devoted to a critique of utopian discourse, and The Lacanian Left (Edinburgh and New York: Edinburgh University Press and SUNY Press, 2007). He is also co-editor of Discourse Theory and Political Analysis (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), Lacan & Science (London: Karnac, 2002), Aspects of Censorship in Greece (Athens: Nefeli, 2008 – in Greek) and The Political in Contemporary Art (Athens: Ekkremes, 2008 – in Greek).

DORA GIANNAKI

Dora Giannaki is a political scientist. She holds a first degree in Political Science and History from Panteion University and a Master’s degree in Political Theory from Essex University. She has worked, as special advisor, at the Greek General Secretariat for Youth and as research associate at the National Accreditation Centre for Continuing Vocational Training. Dora has been a correspondent for Greece at the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy for two years and has taken part in a variety of European research projects on Youth. She is co-author of ‘The Socio-economic Scope of Youth Work in Europe’ (2007), a study commissioned by the Youth Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe.

ALEXANDROS KIOUPKIOLIS

Alexandros Kioupkiolis is a political theorist who lives and works in Athens. He holds a first degree in Classics from the University of Athens, a Master’s degree in Political Theory from Essex University and a DPhil in Political Theory from Oxford University. He has taught political philosophy at the University of Cyprus and has been recently elected lecturer in Contemporary Political Theory at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has also translated numerous books on political theory from English and French. He has recently co-organised a series of discussions on utopia as part of the art project ‘Et in Arcadia ego’, which is exhibited in the 2nd Athens Biennale 2009. His research interests and publications are focussed on contemporary theories of justice, radical democracy, new social movements, critical analyses of power and enacted utopias.

VASSILIS VLASTARAS

Vassilis Vlastaras is a visual artist and lecturer at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He lives and works in Athens, Greece. He studied graphic design and animation in Τ.Ε.Ι. of Athens, film direction in the faculty of cinema Ε. Chanzikos of Athens and painting in Athens School of Fine Arts. He continued his studies acquiring M.Sc. Interactive Multimedia in the University of Westminster of London and MFA in the National Technical University of Athens, School of Architecture, titled Planning - Space - Culture.