Utopia

The term utopia, ‘the non-place’, derived from old Greek ‘u-‘, non, and ‘tópos’, place, denotes a ‘nowhere’ which is untraceable and therefore projecting all longing into an unreachable beyond. Utopia is therefore an imagination which is thinkable as an idea, yet is not directly realisable. It is the great dream, concept, and vision of a world or a time with a new social, religious or technical order. UTOPIA can be traced back to the book ‘De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque nova insula Utopia Libellus vere aureaus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus (Of the best state law and of the new island Utopia, truly a golden booklet, as pleasant as it is cheerful)’ by Thomas Morus which was first published in 1516. The text alludes to positive scenarios of technical, spatial and social constructs which have not been realised. Usually, technology plays a major role in utopian phantasms. More often than not their realistic implementation is a matter of availability of technology and very often it is – especially in digital art – the starting point of a work of art. In 2008, Paraflows 08 UTOPIA will try to develop the perspective, the linguistic roots of which corresponds with last year’s exhibitions. In the context of the topic UTOPIA, we want to gather concepts of a possible future, draw perspectives, dreams and prognoses, dare take a prognostic look at the future. Directly tying in with last year’s festival topic UN_SPACE – which dealt with non-space and impossible spaces – this year we will again strive to provide a multi-layered examination involving the overwhelming architectonic and historical reality of the venue – the MAK Gegenwartskunstdepot Gefechtsturm Arenbergpark.