FLU POWER FLU       CELEBRATION             APRIL 25th, 2009
BOOOM 
celebration / informal debate / web radio


RADIO 
the informal debate in 5 tracks
total time: 49 min. 
on YOUTUBE
1 bernardelli  2 bernardelli, hester lu  3 Esther Lu, Michele Robecchi  4 Robecchi, Esther Lu, Bernardelli  5 Robecchi, Esther Lu, Bernardelli, Cagol

     












Beursschouwburg, Brussels presents

BOOOM: FLU POWER FLU
Real and unreal fears, nationalism, economy, ART and global village.
… How art could take part in the state of things …

Celebration / informal debate / web radio

The guests:
Cis Bierinckx, artistic director Beursschouwburg, Brussels;
Francesco Bernardelli, independent curator, Turin;
Gregor Jansen, head of dept. Museum für Neue Kunst - ZKM, Karlsruhe;
Esther Lu, independent curator, Taipei;
Michele Robecchi, Phaidon Press, London and Contemporary Magazine, London.  *(the list can be updated)

The idea:
In September 2007 in the center of Brussels the 12 meters neon writing FLU POWER FLU by Italian artist, from Trentino South-Tyrol,
Stefano Cagol highlighted physical and mental influences, real and unreal fears, positive and negative points of power in the capital
of Nato and of Europe, in front of the former financial-market center, on the former casino, on the actual Beursschouwburg Art Center.

In 2009, after 574 days of never interrupted day & night light, of never interrupted message, we would like to celebrate...







The date:
Stefano Cagol decided to celebrate in Brussels just on April 25.
April 25 is a very symbolic day for Italians, an annual public holiday about the anniversary of the 1945 liberation.
The War of Liberation that occurred in Italy during World War II, also known as ...

...the War of Resistance.




The slogan:
The starting point of this panel discussion is FLU POWER FLU neon by Stefano Cagol commissioned and produced by Beursschouwburg, Brussels.

"In 2007 the Art Center Beursschouwburg in Brussels commissioned Stefano Cagol to realize a new work for the front of the classic building in the heart of Brussels.
Cagol's work FLU POWER FLU doesn't miss it's effect with the Marriot Hotel facing the Art Center, the stock exchange on the side and Brussels as house of the Nato and the European Community.
Power is a worse virus than HIV or other bad bacteria as it can't be beaten. It intimidates all forms of freedom and leads only to destruction and perversity. Power, in all it's forms, has become one of the worst influenza's which is slowly killing mankind.
Stefano Cagol's light sculpture flashes day and night as a statement, as a 'Soziale Skulptur' with a direct activist message."
Cis Bierinckx, Artistic Director Beursschouwburg Brussels

With the big neon words FLU POWER FLU emblazoned on the building, this project has continued Stefano Cagol’s investigations into contemporary influences developed through the BIRD FLU VOGELGRIPPE intervention in Auguststrasse at the 4th Berlin Biennale, and with the POWER STATION official satellite project at the Singapore Biennale 06.
The FLU POWER FLU installation, thought to be a one-year-long installation, is actually on permanence on the façade of Beursschouwburg as long term loan.



The informal debate:
The informal debate has the aim to face with a specific but at the same time wide question: “How is it possible for art to have a meaning in nowadays issues and how can artists contribute to this? (Art not as an aim in itself but as a means of addressing people).”*

For debating about this question, curators and critics and artists are involved. Everyone of them is invited to present a concise personal reflection, starting from his/her own point of view and without any a-priori frame but the title of the meeting.
Following this method of absence of frames, the results of the debate will be as open and wide as possible like it’s requested by a so extended topic.
* The question is an excerpt from the text by Angelique Campens published on Stefano Cagol. Harajuku Influences, Charta Ed. 2007.

The web radio:
The only collector of all the different keys came afloat during the informal debate and the celebration itself will be a web radio streaming.
The web radio will permit to spread out the reflections as spread out to all passers-by is the message of the public intervention FLU POWER FLU at Beursschouwburg.


What:
Celebration / informal debate / web radio

When:
April 25, 2009, 16.30 – 18.30

Where:
Stefano Cagol - Studio
Handelskaai 44 / X
Quai du Commerce 44 / X
1000 – Brussels

In collaboration with:
Hoet Bekaert Gallery, Ghent

With the support of:
Cultural Office, Autonomous Province of Trento

ArtBrussels 2009, Off programme:
http://www.artbrussels.be/events.html

Info:
info@flupowerflu.com

Beursschouwburg
http://www.beursschouwburg.be
T: 02 550 03 50  F: 02 550 03 40