Our globalized contexts are structured by an unequal social distribution of labour and wealth, increasingly moulded by speculative market-based economics. Many of today’s cultural manifestations are large-scale events that are too often either directed at a generic public or a restricted elite. This reduces and neutralizes the concrete ethical and political reach of art, as well as its potential for fostering discussion and inspiring other ways of working, thinking, relating, and living.
Our intention is to build situations and develop strategies that provide a concrete and actual alternative to this state of affairs. Our program is designed to reflect the cross-disciplinary character of contemporary aesthetic practices, by working with artists and thinkers whose endeavours articulate the theoretical world with artistic presentations in several formats and dynamics and for different audiences. By challenging the actual state of culture, economy and education, our primary function will embrace self-organized, artist-run, participatory and collaborative modes of action as a fundamental part of the content and structure of its activities.
Such initiatives can only be developed over time, by means of the simultaneous activation and advancement of various forms of exchange, distribution, and production. Our intention is to remain responsive and fluid throughout this process, adjusting our strategies, tactics, and aims as we develop. An integral aim of our program is to continually expand our platform of exchange, by bringing in new participants and interlocutors, fostering relationships with different institutions and organizations, as well as by deepening our ties and relationships with established collaborators.
CAPACETE acts at the intersection of various social and professional fields, thus requiring the selected participants to fully embrace an open and “horizontal” dialogue, and to actively engage in program activities by instigating projects that can in turn act as platforms for disseminating information, promoting active responses, and generating public debate.