THE CURATORIAL COURSE WHAT COULD/SHOULD CURATING DO? IS GLAD TO ANNOUNCE A PUBLIC TALK BY
Dorothea von Hantelmann
The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART BELGRADE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 AT 6 PM
Art institutions are deeply connected to core socio-economic parameters of their time, which they symbolically cultivate and ritually enact. Looking at art spaces as a series of decisive moments of transformation, I will pose the question if the transformations of our epoch are asking for a new kind of ritual, after that of the exhibition. (The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration by Dorothea von Hantelmann)
In collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, the second lecture within the series of public programs organized by WCSCD will be presented by Dorothea von Hantelmann (Professor of Art and Society at Bard College Berlin, A Liberal Arts University gGmbH). The series is designed to offer new and different perspectives on the theories and practices of exhibition-making.
An esteemed theorist, scholar, writer, and curator, von Hantelmann’s work is at the forefront of conversations around the rethinking and retooling of exhibition rituals in contemporary art and the cultures of exhibition-making in general. For this occasion, von Hantelmann will deliver a lecture titled The Exhibition. A Lecture Demonstration.
As she explains: “We can, and this is the perspective of art history, understand museums and exhibitions as places, as repositories for art objects, which classify and present important treasures of a cultural heritage. Or we can, and this is a more sociological and anthropological approach, see them as institutions that derive their social function from the fact that they carry specific values and concepts into society. My lecture both explores and demonstrates certain aspects of this second perspective. It analyses the cultural format of the museum and the exhibition as a specifically modern ritual in the historical and contemporary context of Western liberalism. Art institutions are deeply connected to core socio-economic parameters of their time, which they symbolically cultivate and ritually enact. Looking at art spaces as a series of decisive moments of transformation, I will pose the question if the transformations of our epoch are asking for a new kind of ritual, after that of the exhibition.”
ABOUT THE LECTURER:
Dorothea von Hantelmann is Professor of Art and Society at Bard College Berlin. Before taking the position at Bard College Berlin she was documenta Professor at the Art Academy/University of Kassel where she lectured on the history and meaning of documenta and was involved in the constitution of a documenta research institute. Her main fields of research are contemporary art and theory as well as the history and theory of exhibitions. She is the author of How to Do Things with Art, one of the seminal works on performativity within contemporary art; co-editor of The exhibition. Politics of a Ritual; and has written on artists such as Daniel Buren, Jeff Koons, Philippe Parreno, and James Coleman. Her current book project is titled The exhibition: Transformations of a ritual, which explores exhibitions as ritual spaces in which fundamental values and categories of modern, liberal, and market-based societies historically have been, and continue to be, practiced and reflected. Her curatorial work includes such projects and exhibitions as I promise it’s political (Museum Ludwig, Cologne 2002); Elective Affinities (Vienna Festival 1999); and I like Theater & Theater likes me (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg 2001). She was a co-curator of A Prelude for The Shed, a multidisciplinary arts project that took place in the framework of The Shed, a new institution for the arts in New York City, scheduled to open in 2019.
The WCSCD curatorial course and series of public lectures are initiated and organized by Biljana Ciric together with Supervizuelna. The lecture by Dorothea von Hantelmann is made possible with the help of MoCAB and the Goethe Institute in Belgrade, with the additional support of Royal Inn Hotel and Car:Go.
COMING UP NEXT: A public talk by Antariksa, historian and co-founding member of KUNCI Cultural Studies Center (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), on Wednesday 26th September 2018 at 6pm at the MoCAB.
Project partners: The Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade; GRAD—European Center for Culture and Debate; EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial, ’Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation and Zepter Museum.
The project is supported by: the Goethe Institute in Belgrade; Istituto Italiano di Cultura Belgrado; the Embassy of Sweden; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the Embassy of Ireland in Greece; the Embassy of Indonesia; the EU Info Centre; Mondriaan Fund, the public cultural funding organization focusing on visual arts and cultural heritage; Pro Helvetia – Swiss Art Council; and galleries Eugster || Belgrade, HESTIA Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau, Center for the Promotion of Science and Zepter Hotel, Royal Inn Hotel and CAR:GO.
Media partners: EUNIC Serbia, RTS3.
*Cover photo by Ivan Zupanc