Conversational Art

The worldwide networking of the computer has led to an exchange of all kinds of messages, which, in sheer quantity, boggles the imagination. Social software services such as Facebook, Twitter, or virtual worlds such as »Second Life« generate new forms of interpersonal intercourse. Kurd Alsleben, Antje Eske and friends investigate the kinds of artistic possibilities that arise as result of these new forms of communication, and develop an art of conversation which draws on a long tradition: from the »ars sermonis« of antiquity, to the courts of muses during the Italian Renaissance, from the French salon culture of the 17th and 18th centuries through to Surrealism and Dadaism.

»Conversational Art« is an art of exchange which reaches beyond everyday communication. Here, exchange is not limited to talking: alternating media – from spoken word to image, from text to music or sign language, from pen and paper to Internet – opens new associative spaces and extend the horizon of the expressible. While not producing any work as such, »Conversational Art« facilitates the mutual, playful collection of experiences and the emergence of ideas that exceed the limits of current social common sense. »I can’t think any further myself« comprises the conversational leitmotif. An exhibition, along with conversations with visitors conducted vis-à-vis in the exhibition or on the Internet, lead to an enjoyable form of exchange, which cultivates an essential meaning: social meaning.