CULTURAL
CAPITAL
INTROSPECTION

COUNTERFACTUALS, Tyler Coburn

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Kliment Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Joseph Stalin walking along the banks of the Moscow-Volga Canal in April, 1937. Nikolai Yezhov has been removed from the image. Credit: F. Kislov

Counterfactuals
A four-session webinar organized by Tyler Coburn
Starting date: September 27th, 15:00-17:45
Capacity: 8-12 participants
Application deadline: September 23rd

You can fill the application here

A counterfactual is a means of speculating about the possible paths events could have taken. We commonly encounter them in sweeping historical reimaginings (What if the Third Reich had won the Second World War?), but they can also help us ask critical questions about the forms of reparation and restitution owed to communities for past wrongs. A counterfactual is not “fake news” or an “alternative fact,” but counterfactual thinking may provide some perspective on the disinformation campaigns destabilizing governments and populations worldwide.

Counterfactuals surveys this subject over four sessions. Some will address pertinent texts, artworks, and films, but the focus will be placed on gaming, with Europe as the primary context. Participants will have the opportunity to propose counterfactuals, and we will collaborate in small groups to play them out. These games, dynamic ways of working through (and reworking) history, may provide valuable critical tools for engaging our momentous present.

This project is part of Coburn’s larger research into counterfactuals, which began as a class taught at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague earlier this year, followed by a workshop at Wendy’s Subway, New York.

Bio:

Tyler Coburn is an artist, writer, and teacher based in New York. . He has presented work at Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Bergen Konsthall; Kunsthalle Wien; Hayward Gallery, London; Para Site, Hong Kong; and Art Sonje Center, Seoul. He participated in the 11th Gwangju Biennale and 10th Shanghai Biennale, among others.

The CCI program was created on the platform within the Sorry No Rooms Available residence and with the support of the US Embassy in Kyiv.