uqbar  – Gesellschaft für Repräsentationsforschung e.V.

The association uqbar - Gesellschaft für Repräsentationsforschung e.V. (en.: Society for Representation Research) was registered on 20 January 2004 into the register of associations in Berlin, Germany. The association is classified by the German fiscal authorities as non-profit and for public benefit.

The name “uqbar” was taken from a novel by the writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). In Borges’ novel the word “uqbar” is an entry in a fictitious encyclopaedia. The word is a construct, a letter combination without meaning, used by the author in order to show how knowledge and meaning are constructed. The problem of the constitution of meaning, signification and interpretation is central to the discussion around the term of the representation. Representation in the broadest sense means a switching procedure, which functions through references and replacement, and is an integral component of each art form.

The association aims at promoting contemporary art and culture, above all implementing, supporting and hosting projects, which dedicate themselves to the research and promotion of experimental, interdisciplinary artistic and cultural practices in the international context.

Activities of uqbar e.V. since its establishment

2009-2010
Implementation of the project Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome, initiated by curators Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel, in cooperation with Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin; E-M Arts, Naples; ICCA/CIAC, Bucharest; Meno Parkas, Kaunas; funded with support from the European Commission and Foundation of German Lottery Berlin.
The project invites artists, cultural producers, theorists, and academics from the European context to an interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange on new forms of mobility today, focusing in particular on the relationship between tourism and migration, two of the most significant social and economic phenomena of contemporary society. The project adopts a comparative perspective on tourism and migration issues in order to highlight new forms of circulation and temporary mobility, and ultimately of existence; it also considers the growing impact of economic and cultural globalization in producing new forms of leisure, working and retirement lives. The aim is to examine transitional spaces that emerge from current movements of goods and people, and immigration politics, and thereby to look at the proliferation of new types of social, political and cultural borders within various regions and metropolitan centres in Europe.
Transient Spaces is structured by means of various elements: a series of four exhibitions in Berlin (DE), Bucharest (RO), Kaunas (LT), and Naples (IT); a research section that will include artist residencies as well as site-specific projects, travel, workshops, discussions, and lectures; a summer camp in Palanga (LT) with intensive didactic and laboratory program; a website; and a final publication. The individual modules, taking place from 2009 until 2010, will be developed in cooperation with the partner institutions and in dialogue with the local contexts.

2007
partner of the 4th Ars Baltica Triennial of Art Photography Don’t Worry – Be Curious!; curated by Dorothee Bienert (Berlin), Kati Kivinen (Helsinki) and Enrico Lunghi (Luxembourg) the triennial presents works by 20 artists from the countries bordering the Baltic Sea, works that address the problems and fears resulting from upheavals in present-day society. The show is accompanied by a series of talks, lectures, work shops and residencies.
www.arsbalticatriennial.org

2005-2006
Implementation of the European exchange project How to Do Things? In the Middle of (No)where... , initiated and organized by curators Dorothee Bienert and Antje Weitzel. The project involved artists, curators and institutions from fourteen countries of an imaginary "Central Europe" derived by randomly tracing an arbitrary circle in the centre of a map. This circle includes old EU, new EU, not-yet EU and perhaps even never-to-be-EU states and thereby defies real and mental borders and raises questions regarding the geographical-territorial notion of present-day Europe and its underlying identity constructs.
For this project, UQBAR e.V. was the main co-ordinator and beneficiary of a Culture 2000 grant by the European Commission.
http://howtodothings.uqbar-ev.de

2005
partner of the conference Klartext! The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture, organized by curators Marina Sorbello and Antje Weitzel in co-operation with the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, and the Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz, Berlin. Three days conference gathering with international artists, activists, curators, and theoreticians presenting projects and positions, and discussing on the situation of artistic-political practice today. Among the participants: Roger M. Bürgel (Wien), Catherine David (Rotterdam/Paris), Chto Delat? (Russia), Fiambrera Obrera (Spain), Grupo de Arte Callejero (Buenos Aires), Hans Haacke (New York), Brian Holmes (Paris), Maria Lind (Stockholm), Chantal Mouffe (London), Jacques Rancière (Paris), Oliver Ressler (Wien), The Yes Men (USA), etc
http://klartext.uqbar-ev.de



List of cooperation partners since uqbar e.V.’s establishment

  • Allianz Kulturstiftung, Munich
  • Ars Baltica Office of Stadtgalerie Kiel
  • British Council, Berlin
  • Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Bonn/Berlin
  • Czech Center, Bucharest
  • Carturesti Bookshop, Bucharest
  • CCA – Center for Contemporary Art, Kiev
  • Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau
  • Danish Arts Council, Copenhagen
  • European Commission, Brussels
  • European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam
  • Futura Center for Contemporary Art + Events, Prague
  • Galeria Gregor Podnar, Ljubljana
  • Galeria Jana Koniarka, Tranva, Slovakia
  • General Public, Berlin
  • Globale Filmfestival, Berlin
  • Goethe-Institute, Kiev
  • Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Berlin
  • Ifa, Stuttgart
  • Interflugs, Berlin
  • International Center for Contemporary Art, Bucharest
  • Institut für Kunst im Kontext, Universität der Künste, Berlin
  • Italian Cultural Institute, Berlin
  • Kolonie Wedding, Berlin
  • Kopenhagen Kunsthal, Copenhagen
  • Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin
  • Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
  • Lithuanian Art Museum – National Gallery, Vilnius
  • Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius
  • Movin’up, Torino
  • Nikolaj – Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen
  • Piktogram, Talking Pictures Magazine, Warsaw
  • Polish Institute Kiev
  • Polish Institute Budapest
  • Raster Gallery, Warsaw
  • Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest
  • SoX36, Berlin
  • Trafó – House of Contemporary Art, Budapest
  • Umelec – International Magazine for Contemporary Art and Culture, Prague
  • Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz, Berlin