Symposium: LOSE YOURSELF!

Both “Dylaby” (1962) in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and “HON – en katedral” (1966) in Stockholm’s Moderna Museet are remarkable exhibitions in the history of curating. Walking into a large vagina, shooting paint, gazing at the stars in a planetarium, dancing the twist, plowing a path through a room filled with balloons: the exhibitions might easily be considered more as theme park attractions than serious art shows, comprising theatrical props instead of works of art.

At first glance, these two exhibition “aberrations,” resulting from the close collaboration of museum directors Willem Sandberg (Dylaby) and Pontus Hultén (HON), as well as artists Martial Raysse, Robert Rauschenberg, Niki de Saint Phalle, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and Per-Olof Ultvedt, seem to defy serious analysis, let alone contribute to the critical discourse of contemporary exhibition history.

However, these large-scale, collaborative and comprehensive exhibition installations have attracted both the expanding academic field of exhibition history and current curatorial practices. But how are we to understand the body of knowledge produced by a generation of historically conscious, self-reflexive curators and art historians alike? What (critical) models do exhibitions such as “Dylaby” and “HON” provide for contemporary curatorial, artistic, and scholarly practices?

The Symposium

During the symposium, a selection of key experts in the field address these questions and frame them in the wider context of the naissance of the modern and contemporary art museum and the role models of Pontus Hultén and Willem Sandberg, our continuous engagement with the art production of the 1960s, the place of these exhibitions in the wider artistic oeuvres of the participating artists, post-1960s labyrinthine exhibition practices at large, and the growing discipline of exhibition history.

Speakers

Among the keynote speakers are: Pamela M. Lee (Stanford University), Mark Wigley (Columbia University), Patrik Andersson (Emily Carr University of Art + Design), Noit Banai (University of Vienna), Ina Blom (University of Oslo), Eric de Bruyn (Leiden University) and museum directors Daniel Birnbaum (Moderna Museet), Beatrix Ruf (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) and Roland Wetzel (Tinguely Museum).

Young Researchers Colloquium

Preceding the symposium on 2 February 2017, a young researchers colloquium at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam explore the broader context of artistic and curatorial approaches to Setting the Conditions of Display in 20th and 21st century art.

Context

The symposium is organized in the context of the large-scale retrospective of Jean Tinguely that the Stedelijk Museum is mounting (October 1, 2016–March 5, 2017), which will be followed in 2017 by an exhibition inspired by Dylaby and showing an emerging generation of innovative artists. The project is also part of a research project conducted by the Moderna Museet that focuses on Pontus Hultén’s archive.

PROGRAMME

Friday February 3rd, 2017
Location: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Teijin Auditorium

9.00–9.30 Registration (Stedelijk Museum, Paulus Potterstraat)

9.30–9.50 WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
Beatrix Ruf, Director, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL) Margriet Schavemaker, Curator, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL)

9.50–11.00 1. KEYNOTE: EXHIBITION HISTORY
Reesa Greenberg, art historian (CA)

11.00–12.45 2. CONTEXTUALIZING THE HISTORIC LABYRINTHS
Annika Öhrner, senior lecturer in Art History, Södertörn University (SE) Janna Schoenberger, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (USA) Andres Pardey, Vice-Director, Tinguely Museum Basel (CH) Noit Banai, Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Vienna (AT)

12.45–14.00 Lunch (on your own)

14.00–15.30 3. YOUNG RESEARCHERS ON LABYRINTHINE EXHIBITIONS
Paula Burleigh, PhD Candidate, CUNY Graduate Center (US) Angela Bartholomew, PhD Candidate, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL) Camilla Larsson, PhD Candidate, Södertörn University Stockholm (SE)

15.30–16.15 Coffee-break

16.15–17.30 4. CRITICAL READINGS OF NEO-AVANT-GARDE PRACTICES AND BEYOND
Ina Blom, Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Oslo (NO) Katja Kwastek, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL) Eric de Bruyn, Assistant Professor Film and Photographic Studies, Leiden University (NL)

17.30–18.00 5. CLOSING REMARKS (DAY 1)
Mark Wigley, Professor and Dean Emeritus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (US) 18.00–22.00 Dinner (on your own) / Visit Jean Tinguely – Machine Spectacle and Ed van der Elsken – Camera in Love.

Saturday February 4th, 2017
Location: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Teijin Auditorium

9.00–9.30 Registration (Stedelijk Museum, Paulus Potterstraat)

9.30–9.45 WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
Anna Tellgren, Curator, Moderna Museet Stockholm (SE)

9.45–11.00 6. KEYNOTE: LYING IN THE GALLERY
Pamela M. Lee, Professor in American Art and Culture, Stanford University (USA)

11.00–12.30 7. SHAPING THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE
Patrik Andersson, Associate Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design (CA) Caroline Roodenburg-Schadd, Art Historian, Independent Researcher and Writer (NL) Andreas Gedin, artist and PhD in Fine Arts (SE)

12.30–13.45 Lunch (on your own)

13.45–15.30 8. CONTEMPORARY LABYRINTHINE CURATORS/ARTISTS
Raqs Media Collective Hou Hanru Hans Ulrich Obrist

15.30–16.15 Coffee-break

16.15–17.00 9. CLOSING REMARKS (DAY 2)
Mark Wigley, Professor and Dean Emeritus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (US)

17.00–17.20 10. WRAP-UP BY ORGANIZATIONS
Daniel Birnbaum, Director Moderna Museet (SE) Beatrix Ruf, Director Stedelijk Museum (NL) Roland Wetzel, Director Tinguely Museum (CH)
Interviewed by: Anna Tellgren (Moderna Museet) and Margriet Schavemaker (Stedelijk Museum)

18.00 Museum closes