Subjects and Objects in Exile

Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK),
School of Arts of University College Ghent
Jozef Kluyskensstraat 2
9000 Ghent
Belgium

www.internationaleonline.org

L’Internationale Online is a publishing platform for research, resources and discussion, launched in September 2014. The platform is the joint initiative of the museum confederation L’Internationale and KASK / School of Arts of University College Ghent, operating within the framework of the five­-year programme The Uses of Art – The Legacy of 1848 and 1989.

L’Internationale Online is proud to present its fifth e-publication entitled Subjects and Objects in Exile. The decision to put together this fifth e-publication was prompted by the many tragic displacements, fates and deaths of those seeking asylum in Europe and elsewhere. These enforced mass exiles are the result of civil wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The appalling and dehumanising management by European powers of this situation is having worrying economic, cultural, political and juridical implications. Several authors reflect critically on the causes and effects of this management, as well as present inspiring cases of citizens’ self-organised welcoming practices. As a European confederation of museums, we respond by considering the role of migration in culture and heritage.

In this issue, which takes its title from a conversation between Wayne Modest, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, and Margareta von Oswald, commissioned texts look at the current situation in Europe through a prism of postcolonial, geopolitical and cultural viewpoints. At the centre of this e-publication is the project Mapping Collections, the data visualisation of the collections of the museums who are members of L’Internationale. Making visible the degree to which European heritage is informed by a history of the displacement of artists and artworks, is crucial today. It demonstrates the importance of offering refuge to those in need, as the exchange is not only one of helping, but also of mutual influence. At a time when walls are being built and border security is increasingly illogical, we feel it is important to remember the complex economy of migration, the values and benefits that openness and respect bring and their defining importance for Europe.

Other contributors to “Subjects and Objects in Exile” include Merve Bedir, John Byrne, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Adrian Lahoud, Ela Meh, Carlos Prieto del Campo, pantxo ramas, Oliver Ressler and November Paynter.

L’Internationale’s thematic issues include “Representation Under Attack“ (2015), “Decolonising Museums“ (2015), “Decolonising Archives“ (2016), and “Ecologising Museums“ (2016). Thematic issues and EPUB publications related to the overall programme The Uses of Art are published in the Bookshelves section of L’Internationale Online and can be edited by the readers themselves with help of the application Make a Book. Since May 2015, the first publication produced by the confederation, L’Internationale. Post­-War Avant-­Gardes Between 1956 and 1986, edited by Christian Hölle and published by springerin in 2013, has been available online.

The Opinions section acts as the discussion platform on the site. The invited bloggers until this summer are Amy Franceschini of Futurefarmers and a transnational group of researchers related to the project African Art History and the Formation of a Modern Aesthetic.

On April 27, 2017, the member institutions of the confederation L’Internationale will open several exhibitions simultaneously, thus marking the final stage of its five-year research programme The Uses of Art. At the same time, L’Internationale Online will launch “L’Internationale Dialogues,” a series of filmed conversations that will take place until the end of the summer.

The members of the editorial board are Nick Aikens, Diana Franssen and Steven ten Thije (Van
Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), Başak Çaka (SALT, Istanbul), Carlos Prieto del Campo (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid), Nav Haq (M HKA, Antwerp), Tanya Barson and Pablo Martínez (MACBA, Barcelona), Nataša Petrešin ­Bachelez (KASK / School of Arts of University College, Ghent), and Adela Železnik (Moderna galerija, Ljubljana).

The website is designed by Project Projects.

Contact and subscriptions:
Nataša Petrešin­ Bachelez, Managing Editor L’Internationale Online
KASK / School of Arts of University College Ghent
Jozef Kluyskensstraat 2
9000 Ghent
[email protected]