2017 Para Site International Conference
October 17–19, 2017
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For this year’s edition of our international conference, we are taking a step back to ask some fundamental questions about the nature of art’s ability to interfere with social processes, inquiries prompted by today’s political climate. Can art help reimagine or at least safeguard the existing social relationships dismantled by the rising chorus of right-wing populism and global fascisms? Is there something to learn from the lessons of the past and appropriate for our current times? Or have we been fooling ourselves in regards to our own abilities all along? If yes, is there a virtue in entertaining such an illusion further on? If not, what kind of institutional mobilization and languages could we summon to rise to the full extent of our potential?
The three-day conference will engage other thinkers and art practitioners in debating these ideas and their consequences together.
International Conference
Asia Society Hong Kong, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty, Hong Kong
October 17
Miller Theatre
2–2:20pm Introduction by Freya Chou (Curator of Education and Public Programmes, Para Site, Hong Kong) and Cosmin Costinas (Executive Director/Curator, Para Site, Hong Kong)
2:20–3pm Raphael Chikukwa (Chief Curator, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare)
3–3:40pm Maia Nuku (Associate Curator for Oceanic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
4–4:40pm Zdenka Badovinac (Director, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana)
4:40–5:20pm Niels van Tomme (Director, De Appel, Amsterdam)
5:20–6pm Kathrin Rhomberg (curator and writer, Vienna)
6:15–7pm Panel discussion moderated by Pauline Yao (Lead Curator, Visual Art, M+ Museum for Visual Culture, Hong Kong)
October 18
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Hall
2–2:40pm Chen Kuan-Hsing (writer and cultural theorist, Taipei)
2:40–3:20pm Marian Pastor Roces (curator and writer, Manila)
3:40–4:20pm Xin Wang (art historian, New York)
4:20–5pm Tejaswini Niranjana (Professor & Head of Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong)
5:20–6pm Moses Serubiri (writer, curator and researcher, Kampala/New York)
6–6:40pm Candice Hopkins (Curator of documenta 14, Kassel/Athens)
6:40–7pm Panel discussion moderated by John Tain (Head of Research, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong)
October 19
Miller Theatre
2–2:40pm Christine Eyene (art historian, curator, and research fellow, University of Central Lancashire, Lancashire)
2:40–3:20pm Manray Hsu (curator and writer, Taipei)
3:40–4:20pm Natasha Becker (curator and art critic, New York)
4:20–5pm Ying Kwok (curator and writer, Hong Kong)
5:20–6pm Su Wei (Senior Curator, Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing)
6–6:40pm Patrick D. Flores (Professor of Art Studies, Department of Art Studies, University of the Philippines, Manila)
7–8pm Panel discussion moderated by Sophie Goltz (Deputy Director, Research and Academic Programmes, NTU CCA, Singapore), and plenary discussion
The 2017 edition of the international conference is conceived by Freya Chou and Cosmin Costinas.
Free admission. Limited capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register in advance here.
Free-live streaming will be available during the conference, please visit Para Site's Facebook page. Video documentation will be published online after the event on Para Site’s website.
Workshops for Emerging Art Professionals
October 14–21, 2017
For the third year in a row, Para Site is working with a group of emerging art professionals from across the region and the world, running a series of free-of-charge workshops for 8 days, alongside the international conference. This unique program for the region includes a group of participants selected from an outstanding international pool of over 80 applicants this year. The program is designed to provide learning opportunities that are mediated by speakers from Para Site’s conference as well as by art practitioners from across Hong Kong’s diverse institutional landscape. Working with topics covered in the conference, the program provides a laboratory for experimentation, posing fundamental questions and ideas that challenge various models of curatorial practice.
For the first time, Para Site is also offering a number of scholarships to support flights and accommodation for select participants.
The selected participants include Cristina Bogdan (Romania), Jens Cheung (Hong Kong), Angel Chun Man Kuen (Hong Kong), Rahila Haque (UK), Fatma Hendawy Yehia (Egypt), Radoslav Istok (Slovakia), Mark Louie L. Lugue (Philippines), Maria Alicia A. Sarmiento (Philippines), Adriana Tranca (Romania), Catherine Wang (Korea/USA), Illia Yakovenko (Ukraine), Tiange Yang (China), and Marcus Yee (Singapore).
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