On Standby is back

“On Standby” is a project started by the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. It comprises lectures by representatives of different academic areas. Initially, the cycle was devoted to the deconstruction of convenient patterns of perception and the illusions of infinite possibilities of acquiring, exploring and consuming. The lectures were inspired by the pandemic-forced deceleration and reduction of productivity. In this context, the reboot of our routines inspired us to ask new questions and draw conclusions from the recent race.

The next series of lectures shifts the focus from the state of watchful observation to a readiness for action. From this viewpoint, the stand-by condition becomes a preparation of the ground for an intensified critical activity, allowing us to read the contemporary reality through new filters and from other perspectives. As attempts to launch the imagination with the use of divers research methods, the lectures become a point of departure to the reconfiguration of established conventions and habits of discussing nature.

On the one hand, they aim to examine history, applying a critical approach to the dominant narratives and questioning the Enlightenment vision of a separate and self-sufficient human being: a coloniser. On the other hand, they focus on the current problems, seeking ways to reveal the mechanisms of social indifference and to create the need for a common agency. In this context, they are a collection of navigation strategies formulated in the era of late anthropocene, a way to draw attention to the relations between human and non-human beings, a call for empathy and for action. As exercises in sensitivity, they are meant to function as an expanding archive of practices which inspire us to take responsibility for the public sphere.