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Slought Foundation ('Sl-aw-t') is a cultural organization for the 21st century. Culture means more than just preservation or presentation; it means the exchange of ideas, the creation of concepts. At Slought Foundation we facilitate this exchange by working with communities in intimate and participatory ways, exploring new forms of practice and belonging.
Each year we highlight inventive and interdisciplinary practices by collaborating with leading artists and theorists. We encourage sociability and activism through public programs that are purposely critical and provocative. As a grass-roots organization, we especially value agility and the experimental disposition. This agility has enabled us to present hundreds of programs in our first seven years and operate at the forefront of curatorial innovation in North America. This is also reflected in the name of our organization, which is derived from the word 'slough,' for wetland, and gestures towards ecological metaphors of rejuvenation and reinvention.
Our recent selection by the U.S. Department of State to represent the United States at La Biennale di Venezia (2008) is not only an enormous honor for our small West Philadelphia organization, but also recognizes a new spirit of community activism and inclusiveness across the country. See below for information on our exhibition, Into the Open: Positioning Practice, which was on display at the U.S. Pavilion during the 11th International Architecture Exhibition. In the absence of major public and private support for organizations that challenge conventional wisdom, the local site and cultural practice are becoming newly empowered. Please join us in exploring and generating new forms of sociability and activism and share information about our activities with friends and colleagues. Whether this is your first visit to our website, or you have attended past programs, consider bringing a friend to an upcoming event and making an online donation today. [Here for French, Spanish, Italian, and German Translations]
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Learn about Into the Open: Positioning Practice, the official U.S. representation at La Biennale di Venezia (2008), which highlighted the means by which architects reclaim a role in shaping community and the built environment, to expand understanding of American architectural practice and its relationship to civic participation.
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Listen to a public conversation with Werner Herzog in conjunction with "Ecstatic Truth," an exhibition exploring the film work and manifestos of the pioneering German filmmaker and the boundary between fiction and documentary practice. On the Ecstasy of Ski-Flying: Werner Herzog in Conversation, a DVD publication, now available through Slought Publications.
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Listen to Evasions of Power, a project exploring inventive and interdisciplinary approaches to literature, architecture, and geo-politics through roundtable discussions, debates, and interventions featuring over 35 international architects, curators, theorists, and artists. Evasions of Power: On the Architecture of Adjustment is forthcoming from Slought Publications.
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Listen to artist and architect Vito Acconci present his pioneering work from word to action to architecture, as part of the exhibition "Power Fields: Explorations in the Work of Vito Acconci." A DVD publication featuring the artist in conversation and selected audio works is now available through Slought Publications.
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Listen to French philosopher Alain Badiou engage with Simon Critchley in a wide-ranging discussion about the politics of resistance, the relationship between democracy and disappointment, and our collective desire for a new style of heroism. Democracy and Disappointment: On the Politics of Resistance, a DVD publication and booklet, is now available through Slought Publications.
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Watch Avital Ronell, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Aaron Levy and others celebrate French author Hélène Cixous and Ex-Cities, a Slought Publications release, at The Drawing Center, NY. Taking displacement and exile as points of departure, Ex-Cities explores the relation of art and literature to cities and their destruction, recasting cities as more than just habitats or geographical entities.
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Look for Tooth and Nail: Film and Video 1970-74 by Dennis Oppenheim, a DVD publication featuring newly released film and video by the artist alongside essays by Willoughby Sharp and Aaron Levy. In these works the artist enters into an intimate and dynamic dialogue with his body as he explores the boundaries of personal risk, bodily transformation, and interpersonal communication.
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Listen to recordings from In Defense of Sloth, a symposium and performance at The Cooper Union in New York exploring the cultural history of laziness, through an eclectic and entertaining series of presentations about that most philosophical of vices, organized in collaboration with Cabinet magazine.
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Learn about Slought for Export, a series of archival explorations into the activities and artistic collaborations of the Slought Foundation. Inaugural exhibitions and public programs at Heike Curtze Galerie, Berlin, and Zone:Chelsea, NY (2007) recently traveled to la maison rouge - fondation antoine de galbert, Paris (2008). Catalogue raisonne now available through Slought Publications.
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