Meet a vital bunch of experts in the Bridging Art + Text seminar – where they will share their response with all of us – but not (only) in the traditional form of an academic paper, nor an artistic improvisation: Presentations and performances are based on thorough group preparation in three thematic workshops leading up to the seminar.

Prepare to get a mind-blowing input of thought, sound and visuals, which can hopefully provide valuable reflection for your own practice, whether this takes place in an independent or institutionalized setting.

Questions
Are transnational competences overrated in the art world?
What did Castro do to black artists and writers in the 70ties?
When did the Caribbean become Sci-Fi? – And what about rest of us?
Why is the name of a Swiss mountain important to Sasha Huber?
Why doesn’t Gillion Grantsaan feel comfortable selling pieces of his Blakart in Denmark?
Do the cleaning personnel in Danish art institutions have higher intercultural skills than their employers?
Why is it that one has to go to Addis Ababa to be on top of the music and film Scene?
How did Fanø pick an excellent Algerian writer right from under our nose?
What happens when you mix up Santeria, Winti, Shamanism, Obeah and Vodun?

The artists invited to participate are:

Pepon Osorio (Born in Puerto Rico, living and working in US),
Tirzo Martha (Born, living and working in Curaçao),
Mario Benjamin (Born, living and working in Haïti),
Jean-Ulrick Désert (Born in Haiti, living and workingin in Germany) en
Remy Jungerman (Born in Suriname, living and working in The Netherlands).

As a foretaste of their theatrical piece Water Under The Bridge on the industrial history of Curaçao, the duo mother and son Glenda Martinus and  T. Martinus will reflect on the Artist talk presenting a poetry summary and a live drawing.

The talk will be held in Eglish

This symposium seeks answers to this challenging situation, presenting a range of institutional practices and scholarly insights to examine a specific aspect of these practices: the exhibition itself and the exhibition strategies that go alongside it. The program starts with a brief history of exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum in which the issue of (post)coloniality has played a role – some of which were made during colonial times – as well as more recent examples of the museum’s ventures into art outside the “centers.”

Renowned anthropologist Johannes Fabian will talk about his book Time and the Other (1983) and the historic moment in which the timeframe of the modernist West became divided from the timeframe of the “Other.” A subsequent interview will address its topicality for contemporary art exhibitions.

Dutch artist Wendelien Van Oldenborgh will discuss her work, which addresses colonial histories and their legacies in everyday life today. The symposium will also give voice to several institutions that try to incorporate the critical instruments of postcolonialism. Their strategies take into account the recent shifts in history-writing and geopolitical theories, and reflect upon the uneven development of modernity around the globe in order to reconstruct its discordant histories.

In her concluding statement, Irit Rogoff, professor of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, will question the possibilities of periodization of colonialism and address the mobility of the concept itself. Is the postcolonial a model that can be utilized across different cultures? Should the task of the “postcolonial museum” be to think beyond issues of compensation and redress?

The symposium’s main ambition is to tackle key issues facing art institutions now that a new art world cartography has emerged. How do they translate their awareness of new geographies into exhibition policies? What histories are curated and what new narratives constructed? And ultimately, what is a “postcolonial exhibition?”

Speakers and Program

10:00 am Word of Welcome
-Ann Goldstein, Director, Stedelijk Museum

10:10 am Mapping the Field
-Elena Sorokina, art historian and freelance curator: Introduction to exhibiting the postcolonial
-Jelle Bouwhuis, Curator, SMBA: Brief note on the Stedelijk’s global art history
-Johannes Fabian, anthropologist: Introduction to Time and the Other, followed by a public interview

11:30 am Positions 1
-Wendelien van Oldenborgh, artist, Amsterdam
-Chris Dercon, Director, Tate Modern, London
-Kofi Setordji, the Nubuke Foundation, Accra

1:30 pm Lunch Break

2:30 pm Positions 2
-What, How and for Whom (WHW), curatorial collective
-Abdellah Karroum, L’Appartement 22, Rabat, co-curator of Intense Proximity
-Jesús María Carrillo Castillo, head of Cultural Programs, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid

4:15 pm Tea Break

4:30 pm Wrap Up
-Irit Rogoff, Professor of Visual Culture, Goldsmiths College, London

5:30 pm Closing Remarks and Drinks

Note: Each session will be followed by a Q&A with the audience