1<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title>FORMER WEST â About</title><meta content="width=1280" name="viewport" /><meta content="IE=edge,chrome=1" http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" /><link href="/assets/application-39f07be9843de25c9cc47f1d32b69b38.css" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
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1<meta content="authenticity_token" name="csrf-param" /> 2<meta content="lzJOHCJnqxK4j26mFzI+if69/QR6079suBHFe2/E5ks=" name="csrf-token" /> 3 4 5 <!-- 6 7 8 9 About 10 Version 13 of 13 11 Standard page 12 Revised by Myrthe Nagtzaam on March 06, 2017 14:05 13 14 15 16 --> 17 18 19 20</head><body data-path="About"><div class="modulor modulor_page master_page public not_edit_mode" data-id="5130e6a17b9f9986db000082" data-path="Admin/MasterPages/Menu" data-permalink="Menu" data-version-number="12" id="modulor_page_5130e6a17b9f9986db000082"><ol class="web_modules"><li class="web_module column_module master_page public col_3" data-id="513308f27b9f99a63400000c" id="column_module_513308f27b9f99a63400000c"><div class="modulor container column_module"><div class="modulor column_module content"><ol class="web_modules"><li class="web_module menu_module master_page public" data-id="5130ebec7b9f9986db00019c" id="menu_module_5130ebec7b9f9986db00019c"><div class="modulor container menu_module"><div class="modulor menu_module content"><div class="depth d_0"><ol class="pages fw"><li class="page fw"><a href="/">FORMER WEST</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/About">About</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/Chronicle">Chronicle</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/Publication">Publication</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/PublicEditorialMeetings">Public Editorial Meetings</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/DocumentsConstellationsProspects">Documents, Constellations, Prospects</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/ResearchCongresses">Research Congresses</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/ResearchExhibitions">Research Exhibitions</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/ResearchSeminars">Research Seminars</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/EducationPlatform">Education Platform</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/ResearchLibrary">Research Library</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/ResearchInterviews">Research Interviews</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/ResearchLectures">Research Lectures</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/Team">Team</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/Contributors">Contributors</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/Partners">Partners</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/Funders">Funders</a></li></ol><ol class="pages"><li class="page"><a href="/GetInvolved">Get Involved</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/Press">Press</a></li><li class="page"><a href="/Contact">Contact</a></li></ol></div></div></div></li></ol></div></div></li><li class="web_module column_module master_page public col_8" data-id="5133091d7b9f99a634000014" id="column_module_5133091d7b9f99a634000014"><div class="modulor container column_module"><div class="modulor column_module content"><ol class="web_modules"><li class="web_module yield_module master_page public" data-id="5130e6bc7b9f9986db000089" id="yield_module_5130e6bc7b9f9986db000089"><div class="modulor container yield_module"><div class="modulor yield_module content"><div class="modulor modulor_page standard_page public not_edit_mode" data-id="5130e8bd7b9f9986db00010f" data-path="About" data-permalink="About" data-version-number="13" id="modulor_page_5130e8bd7b9f9986db00010f"><ol class="web_modules"><li class="web_module header_module not_edit_mode public" data-id="5130e8c17b9f9986db000115" id="header_module_5130e8c17b9f9986db000115"><div class="modulor container header_module"><div class="modulor header_module content"><h1>About</h1></div></div></li><li class="web_module text_module not_edit_mode public" data-id="5130e8dd7b9f9986db00011a" id="text_module_5130e8dd7b9f9986db00011a"><div class="modulor container text_module"><div class="modulor text_module content"><div class="body"><div><b><strong>FORMER WEST</strong></b> is a long-term, transnational research, education, publishing, and exhibition project in the field of contemporary art and theory. The project grapples with the repercussions of the political, cultural, and economic events of 1989 for the contemporary condition. It does so in the search for ways of <i>formerizing</i> the persistently hegemonic conjuncture that is âthe Westâ; to be able instead to simply refer to âthe west,â and with it, suggest the possibility of producing new constellations, another world, other <i>worldings.<br></i><br>Through the propositional imaginary âformer West,â the project brings forth a means by which to assess the contemporary at the intersection of two temporal constructions of âthe Westâ: one equated with the âfirst worldâ of a post-WWII, tripartite Cold War arrangement; the other, synonymous with the notion of Western <i>ultra</i>modernity.<br><br>If the âformer Eastâ emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War in 1989, its western geo-political counterpartâblinded by the (seemingly default) victory of neoliberal capitalismâhas widely failed to recognize the impact of these massive changes upon itself. The so-called West has continued to think and act, symbolically and realistically, as âfirstâ among what were supposed to have become equal if heterogeneous provinces of one world. One wonders precisely <i>why</i> then, when there is a âformer East,â there is no âformer Westâ?<br><br>Yet, not in spite of their differences, the Cold War ideological rivalry of communism and capitalism could also be viewed as a competition between two variants of grand modernity, with both investedâunder the guise of developmentalismâin constructing economic, technological, political, and epistemological infrastru
20cture of power, and forcing such agendas upon others through domination and exploitation. Here, in this second temporal construction, the proposition âformer Westâ confronts such a colonial, imperialist <i>ultra</i>modernity, seeking ways of undoing the resilient universalization of Western narratives.<br><br>As a research undertaking, <strong><strong>FORMER WEST</strong></strong> included a series of educational activities, individual research projects, research seminars and symposia, research exhibitions, and major public Research Congress events. The constantly evolving process of this research trajectory has been registered and made publicly accessible through the online platform formerwest.org.<br><br>In its culminating phase (2014â2016), the project works towards a major publication <i><strong><strong>FORMER WEST</strong></strong>: Art and the Contemporary after 1989</i>, edited by <a href="http://www.formerwest.org/Team/MariaHlavajova"><a href="/Team/MariaHlavajova"><a href="/Contributors/MariaHlavajova">Maria Hlavajova</a></a></a> and <a href="http://www.formerwest.org/Team/SimonSheikh"><a href="/Team/SimonSheikh">Simon Sheikh</a></a> (2016). This process evolves through a series of Public Editorial Meetings held in various geographical and discursive contexts, including Berlin (2013), Utrecht (2014), London, Budapest, and Warsaw (2015), and is realized by means of a collaborative effort between the projectâs densely-knit web of individual and institutional partners from around the world. The publication can be ordered via <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/former-west">The MIT Press</a>.</div><div><br></div></div></div></div></li></ol></div></div></div></li><li class="web_module footer_module master_page public" data-id="514267087b9f998d7c000004" id="footer_module_514267087b9f998d7c000004"><div class="modulor container footer_module"><div class="modulor footer_module content"><div class="body"><div>This site is the web platform of the FORMER WEST project. The project is organized and coordinated by <a href="http://www.bak-utrecht.nl">BAK, basis voor actuele kunst</a>. BAK is responsible for the website content.</div></div></div></div></li></ol></div></div></li></ol></div>
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