Rather than a conventional book presentation, the event will use Marco Baravalle’s recent publication, The Battleground of Art: Radical Curating in the Crisis of Neoliberalism, (Verso Books, 2026) as a starting point for a broader conversation about radical curating, counter-institutions, commoning and the political possibilities of cultural work.

In the publication, Baravalle examines how artists, curators and cultural workers have developed alternative institutional forms in response to the neoliberalisation of art and culture. Drawing on Operaismo, decolonial theory and two decades of radical curatorial practice, he explores "alter-institutions": collective and autonomous infrastructures that challenge dominant forms of cultural and economic organisation. The book moves between histories of radical art and contemporary practices, including independent cultural spaces in Venice and cultural resistance in Palestine. It opens onto questions of institutional autonomy, collective organisation, cultural labour, decolonisation and the commons.

These questions provide a productive starting point for a conversation with Kate Cooper, Dr. Aria Spinelli and Dr. Mikki Stelder, whose practices and research engage, in different ways, with institutions, collective practice, cultural politics and commoning.

17:00–18:30 Book Launch and Collective Conversation

18:30–19:30 Drinks and snacks

University of Amsterdam, location Buishuis/Oost-Indisch Huis
Room F1.14

Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam

The event is made possible with the collaboration of ASCA – Amsterdam School of Critical Analysis, NICA – Netherlands Institute of Cultural Analysis, and de Appel Amsterdam.