Transakzio denbora: The Timing of Transaction, the Donostia/San Sebastián summit, was held from May 5 to 9, 2003, at Miramar Palace. With the aid of a written document called “supradoc”, drawn up prior to the summit, debates behind closed doors and another written document called “post doc”, following the summit, the 30 participants in the meeting reflected on the role of new aesthetic practices by laying down a new map of relations between art and civil society today.

Those invited to participate, “parallel thinkers” who vary in nationality and profession, are: Senegalese artist and writer Issa Samb, cultural engineer Abdou Bâ, Scandinavian artist Åsa Sonjasdotter, art historian Ina Blom, Basque and Catalan creators Asier Pérez González, Ibon Aranberri, Martí Guixé and Carles Guerra, directors of institutions of renown concerned with transformation and adaptability: Catherine David, director of the Witte of Rotterdam, Manolo Borja Villel, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, Charles Esche, director of Rooseum art centre of Malmö, Lisette Smits of Cascoprojects, Alexis Vaillant from the Toastin Agency, Peio Aguirre and Leire Vergara of DAE. Dutch designer Felix Janssens, Greek architect Cristos Papoulias, sociologist Mauricio Lazzarato, publisher Christoph Keller, theorist Geert Lovink, curators Barnaby Drabble and Adam Szymczyk and artists, Karl Holmqvist, Phyllis Kiehl, Gardar Eide Einarsson and Haegue Yang.

Intervention on the part of Ibon Aranberri, Martí Guixé and Phyllis Kiehl resulted in a visibility platform aimed at the city’s residents. Fictitious press articles written by Phyllis Kiehl to announce the summit, the summit’s official photo created by Ibon Aranberri and published in the media and “the Donostia/San Sebastián summit pintxo”, interpreted and developed by different establishments in the city following the instructions of its inventor, designer Martí Guixé, which could be savoured during the whole week.

Included in the multiple manifestations of continuity deriving from Transakzio denbora: The Timing of Transaction, the Donostia/San Sebastián summit, is the production of a publication.

Produced by Arteleku (Regional Council of Gipuzkoa) in collaboration with consonni and with the support of the Basque Government and the AFAA, French Society for Artistic Action.