point of departure for the Faculty of things that can’t be learned programme

Like all partners in We don’t want to be stars, FR~U invites for this new undertaking three artists that are active in Estonia, the Netherlands and North Macedonia and who come from different socioeconomic and political contexts. Together with these artists we will, once again, engage with questions concerning the public space and its diminishing due to the global capitalist relations. The artists will depart and draw from the already conceived research regarding the main square in the city centre of Skopje. The collective research will tackle the envisioned content of Kenzo Tange’s plan from 1965, and connect these ideas to posthuman theories related to community building.

As a very prominent place and with a lot of potential, from the idea of the Square Marshal Tito and the connecting Square Freedom, being active only Square Marshal Tito and later renamed Square Macedonia currently Square of the Kitsch, ¹ it forgot its history but also destroyed not only the public debate but the people that live or circulate there and essentially the connecting thread – the public space. After the formation of Square Filip II, ² in the new millennium, instead of the revival of Square Freedom, a new square was erected – Skanderbeg Square.

With this project, we will develop a research-based traject that proposes ideas for a more humane and caring city, different from the nationalistic, religious and profit-oriented frameworks that are dominant now. The square(s) and public space(s) deserve more care, attention and critical reflection. These approaches would lead towards politicization and a continuation of our engagement in resolving SK14 and all its metastases. Using posthuman urbanism, as a significant concept for changing the meaning of urban space, the research poses the question: how we can change ourselves to change the way we live with others, both human and non-human, in a rapidly urbanising world. Engaging with the concepts of Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing we will tackle Anthropocene as a theme in order to envision distinct political models and different conditions for multiple species that enable their participation in society.

This text carries a broad curatorial frame for the artists-in-residence, it is a prelude to new (artistic) research. For this we will invite artists who engage in research-based collaborative projects.