Institutional Attitudes
Conference
24 – 25 April 2010
Location:
De Beursschouwburg
Rue Auguste Ortsstraat 20 – 28
Brussels, Belgium
Institutional Attitudes looks at a founding premise of the Comité van Roosendaal: the shared conviction that contemporary art institutions may be an important voice in society. Within this premise, key questions include: What kind of contemporary society must be envisioned, given the recent economic crisis and the ecological state of emergency? How can existing art institutions adjust to the current paradigm shifts? In full confidence that institutions are not only products of their society, but also constitute active agents capable of shaping society in return, what novel public potential exists for the art institution? These research questions are stimulated by recent proposals engaging with notions of commons and of the commonwealth, such as Italian philosopher Paolo Virno’s call to consider a non-representative democracy that might be expressed through “a galaxy of foundations, a network of institutes.”
The Comité van Roosendaal has invited a range of esteemed art professionals and academics, as well as public figures from outside the art world, to critically evaluate recent events and sketch scenarios for the near future and beyond, in a program of three chapters.
Chapter 1: Institutional Domains
Bart De Baere, Miroslaw Balka, Alex Farquharson, Ann Goldstein, Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy, Marc Jacobs, Simon Sheikh, Frans Timmermans
Chapter 2: Beyond Criticality
Bassam El Baroni, Ann Demeester, Nataša Ilić, Marta Kuzma, Julia Moritz, Vanessa Joan Müller, Irit Rogoff, Michael Turner
Chapter 3: Dismeasurement and Public Responsibility
Zdenka Badovinac, Manu Claeys, Charles Esche, Pascal Gielen, Anselm Franke, Maurizio Lazzarato, Dieter Lesage, Dieter Roelstraete, Nicolaus Schafhausen
The full program will be available on the website
Practical Information:
Dates&Time: Saturday 24 April, 3.00 – 6.30 p.m., Sunday 25 April, 10.30 – 7.00 p.m.
Location: de Beursschouwburg, Auguste Ortsstraat 20 – 28, Brussel.
Language: All talks will be held in English, with exception of the lecture by Maurizio Lazzarato, which will be given in French with English subtitles.
Tickets: Bookings are exclusively managed by the Comité van Roosendaal via the website. For inquiries contact Nathalie Hartjes, info@comitevanroosendaal.eu.
Follow us online
Please see our website for program updates and news. Institutional Attitudes will be documented for later reference. The website will include video and audio recordings of the public program and additional text material.
Partners & Sponsors
Institutional Attitudes is developed by de Appel, MHKA and Witte de With for the Comité van Roosendaal in collaboration with de Beursschouwburg, deBuren, FARO and Research Group Arts in Society, with support of the Dutch Embassy in Brussels, the European Cultural Foundation, the Mondriaan Foundation and the Triodos Fund.
ABOUT COMITÉ VAN ROOSENDAAL
The Comité van Roosendaal is a platform involving some of the leading contemporary art institutions in the Benelux/Rhineland area. The Comité van Roosendaal has been functioning for some years as a reflective meeting platform to discuss policy questions for public contemporary art institutions. With this conference, the Comité van Roosendaal creates an opportunity to discuss issues at the heart of the group’s main interests – our relationship to the increasingly privatized public sphere; our role in articulating cultural politics; our specific engagement in both global and local positions; and our response to the dominant modes of consumption.
The Comité van Roosendaal members are de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam; BAK, Basis voor Actuele Kunst, Utrecht; BPS 22, Charleroi; Kunst- und Austellungshalle, Bonn; Extra City, Kunsthal Antwerpen; Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Mudam, Museum of Contemporary Art Luxemburg; M HKA, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Wiels, contemporary art centre, Brussels; Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam.
