THE CONCEPT:
In 2012 Rum46 is investigating the notion outsourcing. As part of this investigation they visit PASAjist in Istanbul from the 22th of March.
Rum46 will literally be outsourcing their artistic practice by moving their exhibition space to guest the street in front of the Pasajist for 14 days. The physical project space of rum46 will be reconstructed and outsourced from its Danish street-address, number 46, to the PASAjist location in Istanbul.
For two weeks, this staged physical plateau of rum46 will be hosting workshops, talks and suppers. The topic will revolve around the notion of cultural valuation, as rum46 will be examining what cultural value they, as a non-profit exhibition space, can gain from the outsoucing process.
Economic outsourcing
A kind of international solution where “in-house” products, problems or operations become external and are produced in another place. The fact that a part of, or the whole production is outsourced and produced in another place can have economic advantages.[1] These advantages can, however, be calculated in many different ways: When rum46 outsources its non-profit activity, it is not with the intention of gaining economic rewards. The outsourcing would be placed within a cultural, aesthetic and social platform with the intention of researching what kind of value one can gain through cultural outsourcing.
Cultural outsourcing
A refined outsourcing term that 1) concerns cultural worth rather then economic profits, 2) involves all participants in the outsourcing process, and 3) measures the output not based on a one way profit-system and its quantitative economical profit, but on a qualitative two-ways model based on cultural valuation and exchange.
With cultural outsourcing it is the cultural rather then the economic output that is calculated and transformed. This model is based on circular and participatory communication where all the parties are actively involved rather than a linear one-way communication. In this way cultural outsourcing is understood as a dialogue where both the outsourced activity and the cultural “other” can attain an increased level of intercultural value from the overall outsourcing process.
With this in mind outsourcing is a relative notion: Here the importance of the social and interorganisational exchange is an important dimension in the outsourcing processes from the point of view that exchange of resources (material and social) is a basic human interaction form.
The project consists of 3 elements – Exchange, Dine, Talk:
The Exchange:
We ask people to bring an object or a term that represent a cultural value for them. These will be objects for an investigation of cultural growth in a close dialogue with people who bring the objects and people in the streets. The investigation will take place in a crossover between the local culture of the people we meet in Istanbul and the local culture we bring along. In order to strengthen the discussion on what cultural outsourcing is we will add elements and modify the objects and terms we receive.
We will be at our platform in front of PASAjist from:
Friday March 23 – Sunday March 25 between 2-7 pm
Wednesday March 28 – Friday March 30 between 2-7pm
Please join us with your ideas, thoughts and objects!
The Dinner:
We ask people to bring an ingredient specific to their culture and/or a recipe. We bring ingredients and recipes specific to our local culture. Together we will cook a dinner and serve a meal for people passing by.
The recipes and photos documenting the event will be published at our Blog.
The Talk:
We invite a number of people who in one way or the other are professionally occupied with economic and cultural outsourcing. We do a number of informal talks/interviews.
These conversations will be transcribed and published at our Blog.
Back in DK we continue the discussion in a row of seminars and talks. Besides from this we will host events and exhibitions within the notion of outsourcing.
