International Symposium on Contemporary Art Theory
April 15–16, 2016, 10am
Mexico City,
Mexico
"Nadie es inocente (No One is Innocent)" is directed to an artistic community where we all play a role and share responsibility. Mexico is undergoing a structural change with the concurrent creation of a Ministry of Culture and the surge of numerous independent initiatives that include both exhibition spaces as well as educational and social outreach projects. Therefore, the group in charge of planning SITAC decided to devote the XIII Edition to discussing questions that—while commonly discussed worldwide—become particularly relevant in the local context. These questions include the limits between public and private; the role of the State in contemporary production and distribution; the weakening of the borders between market and cultural interests; and the role of the media in the public perception of artistic practice. While we all have different perspectives regarding these issues, they clearly deserve our collective concern and consideration.
Our three core subjects are:
1. The politics behind state cultural management with Boris Groys, Nina Möntmann, Magalí Arriola, George Yúdice, Claudio Lomnitz, Carlos Bravo Regidor, Alejandro Hernández, Déborah Holtz, Luis Vargas Santiago, Heriberto Yépez; coordinated by María Minera and Rafael Lemus.
2. A culture of common good? with Melanie Bouteloup, Christian Viveros-Fauné, Dolores Béistegui, Ana Tomé, Simon Njami; moderated by Osvaldo Sánchez.
3. The production of art value with Pascal Gielen, Marina Vishmidt, Brenda Caro, Dave Beech, Stewart Martin, Benjamín Mayer, Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba, Alejandro Gómez Arias, Sandra Sánchez; coordinated by Pilar Villela.
SITAC XIII is to be developed in three phases: phases one and three are conferences in Mexico City and Puebla, separated in time (May to September) by an intermediate discussion and project-development phase called Nodos. SITAC invites institutions and persons interested in extending the discussion on the topics of SITAC, to organize their own Nodo, in the format of diverse activities (seminars, public talks, video presentation series, etc.) and to deliver a resulting statement in a platform created to unite these diverse opinions and propositions, on our website.
The Puebla conference program (September 30 and October 1) will be based on the outcome of the previous months’ discussions and debates. This phase will present in-depth reflections as well as concrete proposals relating to the issues and questions of the first phase.
SITAC seeks to transcend its previous format of a three-day symposium, to position itself as a platform to detect areas of conflict and enable the sharing of positions and opinions in Mexico’s current contemporary arts context.
Contact info: Patronato de Arte Contemporáneo or pac [at] pac.org.mx
