Exuberant Politics is a yearlong programming initiative examining recent intersections of art and activism around the world. Organized by Exubernaut Collective, a group of faculty, graduate students, and community members, the series enjoys sponsorship from across community and campus, including the Obermann Center.

Where have we experienced exuberance in protest and affinity?

Grassroots political actions have increasingly used creative, performative means not merely to communicate a message but to create transformative, aesthetic experiences that prefigure a more just and democratic world. Exuberance means joyfulness, liveliness, even superabundance, but at its Latin root it is also ‘fruitful’ and ‘productive.’ Where have we experienced exuberance in protest and affinity? What has it produced, and how?

Focusing on the period roughly bookmarked by the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle and varied initiatives stemming from Occupy Wall Street (Occupy Sandy, Strike Debt, etc.), the program will bring together numerous campus and community groups for a series of screenings, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and panel discussions in the 2013-2014 school year.

Fall 2013 Highlights

• Josh MacPhee is a printmaker, curator, writer, and activist who uses art to inject protest politics into public discourse. As an Ida Beam Visiting Professor, he will give two talks, September 23 and 24, in addition to several workshops.
• Zenzic Press in downtown Iowa City will  host a month-long exhibit of the Justseeds' Artists Cooperative exhibit, "Migration Now," with a reception on September 28.
• Three thematic film programs will be screened throughout the fall.

For more details on these events and the series visit: http://exuberantpolitics.art.uiowa.edu