Academy of the Arts of the World discussions
BEYOND GLOBAL CURATING
Thursday, 16 April 2015
With: Yilmaz Dziewior, Galit Eilat, Bassam el Baroni, Monika Szewczyk moderated by: Ekaterina Degot and David Riff
ART COLOGNE, Messeplatz, Köln
The last decades have seen the full-fledged globalization of contemporary art. there is always the danger of a homogenizing international mainstream arising where jet-set curators implement their vision of global conditions. there exists a false ethnographic diversity of exotic identities cherished by the market, and there are those positions deemed not diverse enough and therefore excluded. But, there are also horizontal collaborations of critical agents across the planet that function counter to the implicitly colonial image often offered up by big global art exhibitions.
What is the role of the curator in all of this and what are the options today? how can a “global” curator approach a local art scene, and how can a curator with a strong local commitment become globally understandable? What are the benefits of an outside view onto a locality, what are the local reactions, what are the problems involved? in Beyond Global Curating Prominent curators of recent or upcoming global exhibitions talk about their practices, and how they see themselves beyond the flattened and relativistic notions of “global curating.”
14:00
Bassam el Baroni the theory of Abstraction-non-Contradicition, or, curating after Globalization as we once knew it.
14:45
Galit Eilat the Sao Paulo Case. Curatorial case methods and conflicts
15:45
Monika Szewczyk to be announced
16:30
Final discussion with Yilmaz Dziewior
Yilmaz Dziewior is a curator and director of the museum ludwig in cologne, as well as curator of the Austrian pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Previously he was director of Kunsthaus Bregenz (2009–15) and the Kunstverein in hamburg (2001–08). he worked as an independent curator in severeal projects and has taught art theory at hfBK, the hamburg university of fine Arts (2003–08).
Galit Eilat is an independent curator, writer and the founding director of the israeli center for digital Art in holon (2001–10). she was the cofounder and chief editor of Ma’arav, an online arts and culture magazine (2004–10), research curator at the Van Abbemuseum in eindhoven (2010–13), and President of the Academy of the Arts of the World, cologne (2012–13). recently she co-curated the 31st Bienal de são Paulo and the exhibition Rainbow in the Dark at salt istanbul.
Bassam el Baroni is a curator and writer based in Alexandria. he teaches theory at the dutch Art institute’s mfA program in Arnhem and is a Phd candidate in curatorial/Knowledge at Goldsmiths, university of london. He was co-curator of manifesta 8 (murcia, 2010) and liAf, the lofoten international Art festival (2013), and eVA international, ireland’s Biennial of contemporary Art (limerick, 2014).
Monika Szewczyk is a writer, curator, and educator. Before joining the curatorial team of documenta 14 in January 2015, she was the Visual Arts Program curator at the reva and david logan center for the Arts, university of chicago. Previously she was head of Publications at the Witte de With center for contemporary Art in rotterdam (2008–11). she has taught at the emily carr university of Art + design in Vancouver.
The Academy of the Arts of the World is a new cultural institution and production platform in the city of cologne, as well as a loose virtual collective of art practitioners from different continents and disciplines. its mission is to activate an intercultural and decolonial politics of art in Germany and specifically cologne, its intellectual commitment is in a discursive approach to all arts, with an aesthetic focus on exploring an uncertain interdisciplinary terrain beyond strict definitions of artistic ‘professions.’
Since 2014, the Academy has been organizing the Pluriversale, a twice-a-year constellation of nomadic events in a variety of locations in the city of cologne – film screenings, exhibitions, concerts, discussions and public space projects. The Academy’s Webzine provides documentation and engaged commentary, while the Youth Academy is an alternative educational program that takes place independently.
In April 2015, the Academy is also opening its new location Academy Space, Herwarthstraße 3, 50672 Köln, hosting regular screenings, discussions, and exhibitions, bringing together many of its activities in one physical venue. www.academycologne.org
Image: Drawing Local / Global, Dan Perjovschi, 2003. Courtesy Academy of the Arts of the World.