deBuren

The recession forces us to rethink the relation between the private and the public domain. There are voices that theorise about a renaissance of the state; a stop to privatisation and a revitalisation of an almost deceased nation state. Which new interests are important for (inter)national art policy? What role do art institutions play in these developments? And what does this mean in the practice of everyday life?

Conference program

Saturday 24th of April
Chapter 1 - Institutional Domains
Institutional Domains takes stock of existing institutions, considering their status both as material or physical entities and as immaterial bodies of authority. Practices such as new institutionalism, institutional creativity and experimental institutionalism emphasize a shift from the material to the immaterial institution. What does this mean for the current decade? Keynote lecture by Alex Farquharson.

03:00 pm   Word of welcome by Ann Demeester & Nicolaus Schafhausen
03:20 pm   Miroslaw Balka (artist), Between you and me 
03:40 pm   State of Affairs: Marc Jacobs (FARO)
04:00 pm   Keynote lecture: Alex Farquharson (Nottingham Contemporary), Institutional mores
05:15 pm   Conversation: Simon Sheikh (theorist), Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy (Museo Tamayo), Dirk Snauwaert (Wiels), Frans Timmermans (Former Minister of European Affairs of the Netherlands, PvdA), moderated by Bart De Baere (M HKA)

Sunday 25th of April
Chapter 2 - Beyond Criticality
Beyond Criticality assesses the limits of practices posited on performative and ongoing acts of self-reflection. The notion of criticality has had great resonance for various forms of experimental institutional practice. The impetus of this chapter is to consider the historicity of the term, its manifold readings, and a vision for it to continuously activate places, projects and artists. Keynote lecture by Irit Rogoff.

10:30 am   State of Affairs: Julia Moritz (art historian)
10:45 am   Keynote lecture: Irit Rogoff (Professor of Visual Culture at Goldsmiths College, London University)  On being serious in the art world 
12:00 pm   Conversation: Nataša Ilić (What How & for Whom), Bassam El Baroni (Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum), Vanessa Joan Müller (Kunstverein Düsseldorf), Marta Kuzma (Office for Contemporary Art), Michael Turner (author), moderated by Ann Demeester (de Appel)
 
Chapter 3 - Dismeasurement and Public Responsibility
Dismeasurement and Public Responsibility puts the notion of values up front and underlines the urgency of the conference. If the current crises are to be understood as social constructs instigated by a logic of production and exponential growth, is there a new unit of measure that may be imagined in reference to intellectual labor? And what institutional structures are needed as engines of social transition? Keynote lecture by Maurizio Lazzarato

03:00 pm   State of Affairs: Pascal Gielen (sociologist, research group Arts in Society)
03:15 pm   Keynote lecture: Maurizio Lazzarato (philosopher), Does the "anartist" (Duchamp) need an "an-institution"?
04:30 pm   Conversation: Dieter Lesage (philosopher, writer & critic),  Zdenka Badovinac (Moderna Galerija Lubljana), Anselm Franke (Extra City), Dieter Roelstraete (curator & philosopher), Manu Claeys (writer & activist), moderated by Nicolaus Schafhausen (Witte de With)
06:00 pm   Closing Remarks byBart De Baere & Charles Esche (Van Abbemuseum)

All talks will be held in English, with the exception of the lecture by Maurizio Lazzarato, which will be given in French with English subtitles. Every chapter will conclude with a Q&A with the audience.

07:00 > 09:00 pm   Closing reception at Wiels, contemporary art centre, Av. Van Volxemlaan 354, 1190 Brussels

A project of Comité van Roosendaal in collaboration with deBuren