Encuentro Internacional de Medellin (MDE11)
September 1–December 10, 2011
www.mde11.org
www.museodeantioquia.net
To Teach and To Learn. Places of Knowledge in Art.
The focal point of the Encuentro Internacional de Medellín (MDE11) centers on the different ways of shaping and creating knowledge within art, while also raising questions on the limits and challenges of pedagogical experimentation in institutional, artistic and community practice. MDE11 aims to bring to the fore the tension between regulated, institutional and academic knowledge and more experimental forms of knowledge based on collective, community and self-managed practices. These heterogeneous approaches connect players and resources in the art circuit with projects and experiments that go beyond that circuit and have resonance in other contexts.
Aware that the art experience always operates in the terrain of the unknown and is subject to experimentation, doubt and indeed ambiguity, MDE11 proposes an ongoing, open dialogue with art practices, research within and outside the confines of academia, and community strategies and pedagogies that are critical of visual arts that provide alternatives to artistic environments and traditional learning processes.
Based on an initial proposal put forward by José Roca, the curatorial team made up of Nuria Enguita Mayo, Eva Grinstein, Bill Kelley Jr. and Conrado Uribe, has structured the concept of MDE11 around three focal points: Laboratory, Studio, and Exhibition, which in turn are subdivided into various “areas of activation”. The emphasis is on process-based, collaborative work aimed at proposing issues and possible forms of producing knowledge through art practices by various authors, communities, collectives and students both from Medellín and elsewhere. This approach stems from working methodologies focused on processes designed to shed light on matters that have been passed over, hidden or not studied by traditional disciplines, i.e., on forms of organizing information that can lead to new ways of viewing and understanding our surroundings.
The Encuentro Internacional de Medellin (MDE) is an ongoing project conceived and conducted by the Museo de Antioquia. The MDE challenges the conventional approach to biennials not only in terms of its sustained presence, but also due to its interest in reaching out to internal agents and strengthening the local cultural playing field. Through MDE11, art events will take place throughout the city in the form of conferences, exhibitions, workshops, concerts, conversations and other activities designed to promote a continuous, open dialogue with art practices conducted in various sights of learning. The first MDE, held in 2007, focused on spaces of hospitality—an effort that gathered more than 280 artists and speakers in Medellín—and among other activities featured exhibitions, round tables and film festivals; it was attended by some 300,000 people.
Length: September 1 to December 10, 2011
Curators: Nuria Enguita Mayo (Spain), Eva Grinstein (Argentina), Bill Kelley, Jr. (USA) and Conrado Uribe (Colombia).
Places: Museo de Antioquia and other spaces in Medellin
Supported by: Alcaldía de Medellín
More about the event and schedule: www.www.mde11.org
