“Curating after the Global: Roadmaps for the Present”

“Curating after the Global: Roadmaps for the Present” is organized by LUMA Foundation with Paul O’Neill and Tom Eccles (CCS Bard), in partnership with Kjell Caminha, Andrea Phillips, Mick Wilson (Valand Academy of Arts, University of Gothenburg); Charles Esche, Alison Green, Lucy Steeds (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London); Simon Sheikh, (Department of Art, Goldsmiths, University of London); Niels Van Tomme, Guus van Engelshoven (De Appel, Amsterdam); Mélanie Bouteloup (Villa Vassilieff and Bétonsalon, Paris); and Lotte Arndt (École supérieure d’art et design Valence). 

Confirmed participants include: Antariksa, Lotte Arndt, Marwa Arsanios, Athena Athanasiou, María Berríos, Mélanie Bouteloup, Ntone Edjabe, Guus van Engelshoven, Charles Esche, Liam Gillick, Alison Green, Céline Kopp, Prem Krishnamurthy, franck leibovici, Emmanuelle Lainé, Nkule Mabaso, Qalandar Bux Memon, Morad Montazami, Paul-Emmanuel Odin, Paul O’Neill, Andrea Phillips, Vijay Prashad, Kristin Ross, Rasha Salti, Sumesh Sharma, Simon Sheikh, Joshua Simon, Emily Smith, Hajnalka Somogyi, Lucy Steeds, Niels Van Tomme, Françoise Vergès, Mick Wilson, and others, with an installation by Emmanuelle Lainé.

Following on from the success of “How Institutions Think” (LUMA, Arles, 2016), and “The Future Curatorial What Not and the Study What? Conundrum” (CCS Bard, 2014), the LUMA Foundation will host this third symposium in the series, which extends our questioning of the dynamic relations between curatorial education, research, practice, and their institutions. ”Curating after the Global” aims to address curating with respect to questions of locality; geopolitical change; the reassertion of nation states; and violent diminishing of citizen and denizen rights across the globe.

It has become commonplace to talk of a globalized artworld, with specific circulations of discourses, commodities, and individuals, and even to speak of contemporary art as a driver of globalization. This universalization of what art is, or can be, is often presumed to be claimed at the cost of local traditions and any sense of locality and embeddedness. But what exactly does it mean to be global, or to be local in the context of artistic, curatorial, and theoretical knowledge and practice? 

These issues will be discussed in three ways that together seek to create a roadmap of our actuality:

–The first full day will look at “options,” in which routes for future globalisms are mapped out.

–The second day will turn to a consideration of the “road blocks” in the form of new physical, economic, and psychic nationalisms, and the apparent lack of alternative forms of international solidarity, specifically within the arts and as exemplified in some prominent curatorial practices.

–The third day will examine “pathways” for curating and instituting posited after the global, that is after the historical emergence and possible demise of a particular globalism.

“Curating after the Global: Roadmaps for the Present” will comprise presentations, dialogues, and panel discussions. Each day will begin with a Daily Open Group Workshop facilitated by the symposium team exploring the main theme of each day.

“Curating after the Global” is the fifth symposium presented by the CCS Bard and the LUMA Foundation, in an ongoing collaboration between the two institutions. Previous symposia were: “The Human Snapshot” (LUMA Arles, 2011), which looked back at the Family of Man exhibition as a starting point to discuss what has become of humanism and universalism in contemporary art and photography; “The Flood of Rights” (LUMA Arles, 2013), which addressed the photographic image and human rights; “The Future Curatorial What Not and the Study What? Conundrum” (CCS Bard, 2014), dealing with questions on the future of curatorial education; and ”How Institutions Think” (LUMA, Arles, 2016), which focused on different concepts of institution and forms of institutional practice. Accompanying publications for all symposia are available.

Admission is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required, you can do so here.

Video of the symposium will be made available on www.bard.edu/ccs and www.luma-arles.org, please check back regularly. A follow-up publication will be released in 2018. For more information on the conference please write ccs [​at​] bard.edu.