”Strategies for Survival – Now!” is a selection of 32 original writings submitted at the IAAC Congress in Stockholm and Malmö September 22 – October 1, 1994, including key note addresses, reports from the workshops and papers of the delegates, most of them revised after the event. The book covers a wide scope of attitudes to the theme of the Swedish Congress. It includes texts from all continents, from east and west, from south and north.
STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL – NOW! STOCKHOLM, 1995.
IAAC has over recent years increasingly oriented itself towards the reality of today in different parts of the world. The edition ”Strategies for Survival – Now!” will, we believe, reveal that this subject is not just a private concern. As the theme of last year´s Congress met with such great enthusiasm both inside and outside our organization, the Swedish section of IAAC felt that it could be of much interest to publish a book, which should be for sale to non-IAAC members as well. Thus after considering different editorial possibilities it was decided by the General Meeting of the section to publish a book for the commercial market instead of a strict documentation for internal use, which has been done after some previous congresses. The anthology was presented by the editor and the co-editors John Peter Nilsson and Karsten Thurfjell at the General Assembly on September 28 in Macao.
Before the Congress in Sweden the section published a small book on current art in our country, ”Swedish Samples”, written by five art critics. ”Strategies for Survival – Now!” is our second edition related to the Congress. It is true that the publishing and the sale of theoretical books in connection to the IAAC congresses will strengthen the credibility of our organization.
”Strategies for Survival – Now!” is a selection of 32 original writings submitted at the IAAC Congress in Stockholm and Malmö September 22 – October 1, 1994, including key note addresses, reports from the workshops and papers of the delegates, most of them revised after the event. The book covers a wide scope of attitudes to the theme of the Swedish Congress. It includes texts from all continents, from east and west, from south and north. Some of the essays are written by very famous art critics, authors and artists; other contributions are formulated by young pathfinders. But we refused a couple of texts, which did not keep to the announced theme. Some of them were too monographic, others did not refer to the survival situation ”Now!”
”Strategies for Survival – Now!” focuses on art in relation to economic and ecological chaos and is an important document for the understanding of similarities and differences in our global village. The anthology handles topics such as power, race and culture, questions of identity and nationality and the increasing influence of the mass media. Further, keywords like mainstream, diaspora, the other, ethnicity and multiculturalism, nomadism and multiple identity are on the agenda.
The book is divided into three main chapters:
Breakdown of Artistic Systems: Julia Kristeva, Ole Bouman, Audun Eckhoff, Mark Kremer, Ilya Kabakov. Halina Taborska, Katalin Keserü, Ants Juske, Akbar A. Khakimov and Alexander Yakimovich.
Ethnicity: Gerardo Mosquera, Ina Blom, Kaija Kaitavuori, Neery Melkonian, Ery Cámara, C. Joseph Adande, M.A. Greenstein, Kim Levin, Corinne Robins, Jimmie Durham, Annette van den Bosch and Akiko Tsukamoto.
Body: Apinan Poshyananda, Hilary Pyle Carey, Liam Kelly and Marlies Levels. A fourth part of the anthology includes Congress talk, reports from the workshop groups – an activity which turned out a great success – written by: Thomas McEvilley, Alicia Haber, Grace C. Stanislaus, Ery Cámara, Helena Demakova, Zelimir Koscevic and Apinan Poshyananda. In addition the book provides an introductory essay by Christian Chambert.
Christian Chambert,
President Swedish AICA.