[rohrpost] Call for applications: IMAGINARY PROPERTY

[Till Nikolaus von Heiseler]

Call for applications:
IMAGINARY PROPERTY

Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht
http://www.janvaneyck.nl

Imaginary Property, a new research project of the Design department,
initiated by Florian Schneider, aspires to explore new potentials for
design practices across various registers. The project is set up as a
realm of experimentation at the intersections of design-theory and
image-production. It is a laboratory where emerging concepts and
terminologies are set to a series of tests.

What challenges emerge from the paradoxes that research into 'imaginary
property' has given rise to? How could these potentially generate new
rules of production, bearing in mind that property relations are
constantly exchanging meanings? Against this background: do we have to
rethink and re-evaluate the notion of 'design' as such?

The research project Imaginary Property consists of three parts that are
inextricably linked up with each other and are to be addressed
simultaneously rather than consecutively.

The first part is analytical in nature and traces the primarily
non-juridical impact as well as the practical implications of the
concept of 'imaginary property' through various disciplines such as
philosophy, psychoanalysis, economics, cybernetics, architecture, new
media and design theory. The analytical part will start off with a
symposium (on 6 June) that shows the scope of the project and its impact
on contemporary design practices. The symposium will bring about an
interview and lecture series in which guest speakers partake.

The second part consists of a series of evaluations and examinations of
experimental design, 'counter-design' or 're-design' projects. Specific
proposals for new models of ownership based on open-source and free
circulation of networked images will be developed and realized.
Supposing that images are the products of struggles for imagination, this
part examines in a practical way how social relationships are configured,
designed and performed in connection with the images that are supposed to
be owned, used and displayed as one's property.

Imaginary Property deals with the imagination and the redrawing of social
relationships with people who could also use and enjoy images, modify or
alter images, play images or play with images. Is it possible, practically
and conceptually, to (reverse) engineer 'imaginary
property'? How to show highly valuable images and visualize processes in a
way that anticipates and allows for modulations, modifications and
unpredictable proliferation? Can a museum redesign a show and make it or
even parts of its collection freely accessible through the digital public
domain? Is it possible for a political campaign to go fully 'open source'?
How can such a public release be realized and what would it actually look
like?

Thirdly, the results of the analytical part and the examinations will be
documented more or less in real-time and made accessible on a multimedia
website. The idea is further to make a publication in print as well as a
collaborative, networked video project.

The research project Imaginary Property is looking for design
practitioners who wish to tackle fundamental issues and query
conventions of disciplines such as film, multimedia, web design,
networking and architecture. It further seeks to involve theory-minded
researchers who are not afraid of 'an image'.

Symposium: 6 June 2008, 4 PM Speakers: Franco Berardi, Anselm Franke,
Florian Schneider

Candidates interested in this project can apply with a research
proposal. Selected candidates gain the position of researcher at the
Design department of the Jan van Eyck Academie.

Deadline applications: 15 June 2008.

The project will start as of Fall 2008.

For application details and form, see:

http://www.janvaneyck.nl/_devices/frames_applications.html
or contact
leon.westenberg at janvaneyck.nl

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