Independent spaces operate not from a position of external judgment, but from within a state of simultaneous empowerment and disempowerment—knowing the problems of precarity, instrumentalization, and self-exploitation while continuing to work anyway. Drawing on Irit Rogoff’s distinction between critique and criticality, this discussion proposes that independent spaces embrace spontaneity and unpredictability not merely as necessity but as methodology, refusing conventional metrics and measurement systems. The question is not how to achieve stability, but how to inhabit precarious conditions differently and produce knowledge from within them.

Panelists:
Natalija Paunić (Autokomanda, Belgrade)
Attilia Fattori Franchini & Christina Linher (Kunstverein Gartenhaus, Vienna)
Gina Merz (Kunstverein Kevin, Vienna)