Seminar/Conference

Artistic Research Week 2027: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters

Monsters, produced by the sleep of reason — sometimes while dreaming. Monsters may be enemies of our emancipation, or its very embodiment. We can imagine them as a transgression of the norm, or as the death throes of fascism, colonialism, sexism, and racism — that murderous past we may not survive before the future arrives.

In recent years, we have come to realise that the world order established after the Second World War has come to an end. We can no longer distinguish between friends and enemies; fascism is on the rise; culture is losing ground, and public institutions — which once guaranteed freedom of expression — are now penalising dissent. Europe has forfeited its claim to moral authority following the genocide in Gaza, while the arms industry and surveillance multiply their profits. We are living through what Gramsci described as an interregnum: the old is dying and the new cannot be born — and monsters appear.

In Norway, we appear to enjoy an exceptional situation when it comes to freedom of expression, and arts funding does not yet depend on political conformity. But that does not exempt us from being aware of what is happening around us; on the contrary, we should feel responsible for changing the course.

Art practices extend beyond the gates of art schools. They emerge and operate within society — repeating, reclaiming, rupturing — reminding us of what we would prefer to forget, and of what we should celebrate, love, and fight for.

'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters' serves as the framework for Artistic Research Week 2027, exploring how art and education can act as resistance to the challenges we face today — fascist ideologies, technofeudalism, and ecological crises. 

How should we approach this as a research, educational, and artistic community?