menu
search
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Pauwstraat, Utrecht, Netherlands

 Learning

11 September–30 November 2007

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht  

Experimental Curating in the Age of Mobility

As part of the Dutch contribution to the 52nd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2007, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Utrecht University initiate a new master course in Experimental Curating in the Age of Mobility. The course consists of the following three parts: eight introductory seminars, a series of (public) lectures organized by BAK and Studium Generale, Utrecht University and follow-up seminars at BAK and Van Abbemuseum. This course, a pilot project with ambitions for a long collaboration between BAK and Utrecht University, aims to connect a space for contemporary art to an institution of higher learning and vice versa, to offer the academic world a vista into the world of cultural practice that is firmly embedded in critical theoretical thinking.

The course is part of the ‘extension’ of the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It is envisioned as a platform for debating and discussing issues related to contemporary art and other disciplines by means of discussion groups, seminars, lectures and conversations. Contemporary art here is understood as a site where larger networks of cultural, political and social discourse intersect, thus creating new possibilities; a site where ideals that could potentially counterbalance problematic developments in the public sphere can be re-imagined.

Introductory seminars take students from a basic introduction into the principles of curating artistic projects that deal with social and political issues. Examples of such curatorial practice are considered, with particular focus on discursive models of public engagement and the relation between the public art space and democratic models or possibilities. The institutions of the museum and ‘kunsthal’ are scrutinized to examine their potential today. This introduction is followed by more specific analysis of two particular case studies – Citizens and Subjects, the Dutch contribution to the 52nd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and Be[com]ing Dutch, a current project organized by Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.

Maria Hlavajova, artistic director, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Charles Esche, director, Van Abbemuseum, lead the seminars and are joined by other curators and artists from the Netherlands and beyond. These include: Bart de Baere (director, MuHKA), Will Bradley (writer and curator), Annie Fletcher (critic and curator), Teresa Gleadowe (writer and curator), Aernout Mik (artist) and Mario Rizzi (artist). Participating students are asked to sketch out their own curatorial project and present their ideas in the eighth seminar. Dates: every Tuesday from 11 September till 30 October 2007, 15.15–18.00 hrs, Utrecht University.

Participating students are expected to attend the (public) lectures within the series Citizens and Subjects: Practices and Debates, organized by BAK and Studium Generale, Utrecht University in collaboration with the Treaty of Utrecht. The keynote lectures are delivered by scholars, artists and curators engaged with issues such as citizenship, immigration, the religious concerns of today’s society and the fear stemming from these issues in the contemporary social and political context of the West. Speakers include: Zygmunt Bauman (sociologist), Rosi Braidotti (philosopher), James Kennedy (historian), Aernout Mik (artist), Paul Schnabel (sociologist) and Tariq Ramadan (Muslim scholar and activist). Dates: 25 October, 1 November, 8 November, 15 November, 22 November, 23 November 2007, 20.00 hrs, Utrecht University Aula.

Finally, students attend follow-up seminars organized after the keynote lectures. In a group with invited participants from the field of art, concrete projects and issues are analysed in detail in an animated discussion group. Among those invited to present their projects and ideas are Kathrin Rhomberg (curator), Marion von Osten (artist/writer/curator), Thomas Hirschhorn (artist), Rutger Pontzen (art critic and writer) and others. Dates: 26 October, 2 November and 9 November 2007 at BAK, Utrecht, 16.00 hrs and 16 November and 30 November 2007 at Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 11 hrs.

In collaboration with

Suggestions from the archive

Learning

10 May, 12.00–12 May, 18.00 2023

Complaint Making: Setting Up Conflict-Positive Spaces for Community Building Praxis

Vishnu would like to share feminist governance tools (FGT) focused on three of many tiers in community building praxis. FGT is based on the values of equity with an emphasis on creating psychologically safe environments, drawing on the use of consent. Decision-making processes, setting up conflict-positive spaces, and complaint-making as diversity work will form the body of this three-day training. Rooted in Vishnu’s autho-ethnographic practice, this work will explore the power dynamics that impact decision-making processes.

Performative

10 May, 12.00–12 May, 18.00 2023

The Diamond Mind II

In this dance training, the people will use a one-minute film of their own movement as material for a booklet—a sixteen page signature—that distributes their presence, their gesture, as an act of EQ. 

Learning

3 May, 12.00–4 May, 18.00 2023

Too Late To Say Sorry? 

A bad apology can ruin a friendship, destroy a community, or end a career. In this workshop, we will investigate the impact of apologies on our relationships and our worlds. Why and how do we make apologies? What can giving and receiving apologies teach us about values and integrity? Should you apologize for something you don’t really feel sorry for? We will explore conflict and how we like to be in conflict with others. We will dive into our own boundaries. We will seek to understand how honoring limits becomes an act of building (or freeing) better worlds capable of holding so many, many more of us.

Learning

28 April, 12.00–29 April, 18.00 2023

Huisje, Boompje, Beestje (D.A.F.O.N.T.)

In this rare masterclass, retired teacher and artist Glenda Martinus teaches participants a thing or two about painting with Microsoft Word. Martinus shares tips, tricks, and secrets on how to use this software to its unexpected potential as a drawing tool. Participants learn how to draw three basic objects—a house, a tree, and an animal—in a seemingly innocent exercise that perhaps contains more layered social commentary. Drawing the worlds we desire does not require expensive tools or education, simply a curiosity to understand how the monster’s tools can topple the house of the master.