Inter institutional research conversations. SKH meets The Centre for Art and the Political Imaginary (CAPIm) a partnership between The Royal Institute of Art and HDK Valand, University of Gothenburg.
WAYS OF KNOWING - SKH MEETS CAPIm
For this inter-institutional research seminar CAPIm (The Centre for Art and the Political Imaginary) artist and researcher Michele Masucci and curator, arts writer and co-chair of CAPIm, Professor Natasha Marie Llorens will through a study of artistic-political organizational forms introduce the center’s aims and mission.Mer om evenemanget/More about the event
History never ended
Founded in 2024 and funded by the Swedish Research Council, CAPIm is a joint initiative between the Royal Institute of Art and HDK-Valand at the University of Gothenburg co-chaired by Prof. Mick Wilson and Prof. Natasha Marie Llorens. CAPIm is the first research environment with a mandate to develop education and research conditions for artistic research, with a focus on art and the political imaginary.
At the core of CAPIm’s mission is the understanding that art plays a critical role in confronting political determinism—the widespread belief that there are no alternatives to the current political and economic order. This idea, often reinforced through media, policy, and spectacle, is central to the consolidation of fascist and neo-authoritarian power. When imagination is stifled, so too is the capacity to collectively envision futures beyond fear, control, and competition.For this inter-institutional research seminar artist and researcher Michele Masucci and curator, arts writer and co-chair of CAPIm, Professor Natasha Marie Llorens will introduce the centre's structure, aims, and current research practices. Departing from the title “History never ended” and drawing on thinkers such as Spivak, Castoriadis, Federici and Moten, this seminar will explore how art inherently is a practice to the closure of the political imaginary, offering ways to rehearse, embody, and imagine futures that remain otherwise unspeakable within the dominant logic.
Masucci will present Territories of Imagination, a research project investigating how artist collectives and autonomous spaces act as infrastructures for counter-hegemonic organization. From the 1943 anti-fascist revolt in Maschito to contemporary autonomous centres, the project develops a collaborative archive of artistic-political organizational forms. These include for example reenactments of staffette—anti-fascist couriers during WWII—reimagined as contemporary carriers of collective memory, care, and resistance.