Cork Caucus (20 June 2005 to 11 July 2005) was an interdisciplinary meeting of 60 to 80 artists, thinkers, writers,

philosophers A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and other creative individuals, held in Cork, Ireland. The caucus investigated

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

istic issues.

Organisation

The Cork Caucus project was devised by the National Sculpture Factory as part of

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

's tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2005, and was curated by

Charles Esche Charles Esche (born 1962, in England) is a museum director, curator and writer. His focus is on art and how it reflects, provokes and influences changes in society. He lives between Edinburgh and Eindhoven. Career Since 2004, he has been director o ...

, Annie Fletcher, and Art/not art (David Dobz O'Brien and Fergal Gaynor). In addition to lectures and exhibitions, the organisers also coordinated two outdoor public events.

Participants and supporters

The origins of the project date to at least early 2004 when

, director and curator of the

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wanted ...

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,SoundEye Festival The SoundEye Festival of the Arts of the Word is an annual festival of poetry and other related art forms. It is held annually in Cork City over several days in either late-June to mid-July, with over 20 poets reading at the 2017 event. Events ta ...

and the 2009 festival ''The Avant: Ten Days of the Progressive Arts''. Other participants in the Cork Caucus events included

Vito Acconci Vito Acconci (, ; January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017) was an influential American performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His foundational p ...

Maria Eichhorn Maria Eichhorn (born November 19, 1962, in Bamberg) is a German artist based in Berlin. She is best known for site-specific works and installations that investigate political and economic systems, often revealing their intrinsic absurdity or the ...

, Bik Van der Pol,

Sarat Maharaj Sarat Maharaj (born 1951 in Durban, South Africa) is a writer, researcher, curator, and professor. Maharaj's family was part of the large group of Indians who migrated to the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the nineteenth century. The grandfather o ...

Chantal Mouffe Chantal Mouffe (; born 17 June 1943) is a Belgian political theorist, formerly teaching at University of Westminster. She is best known for her contribution to the development—jointly with Ernesto Laclau, with whom she co-authored her most fre ...

and

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Lite ...

. Cork Caucus was funded by organisations including the

European Cultural Foundation The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) is a Netherlands-based independent cultural foundation. Its mission is to “make a tangible impact on civil society, citizen initiatives, public opinion and policy proposals to combat the fragmenting forces ...

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

and

Danish Arts Council The Danish Arts Foundation (Danish: Statens Kunstfond) is the principal Danish government funded arts foundation founded by a special Law on 27 May 1964. Statens Kunstfond alongside the :da:Statens Kunstråd (English sometimes State Arts Council n ...

's Committee for International Visual Art.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * (Graphic editors Can Altay and David (Dobz) O'Brien).

External links

Original Cork Caucus site (archived 2011)

Corkcaucus.ie website
{{Cork City Culture in Cork (city) Irish artist groups and collectives 2005 in Ireland June 2005 events in Europe July 2005 events in Europe Arts events Events in the Republic of Ireland