International Conference of the Curators’ Intensive Taipei 24

Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is pleased to announce that the International Conference of the Curators’ Intensive Taipei 24 (CIT24), taking place from October 19 to 20, will once again reignite meaningful dialogue at TFAM. The 2-day international conference is organized by TFAM in collaboration with TheCube Project Space under the theme of Evolving Landscape—Contemporary Curating in the Age of ‘Crisi-tunity’, invites 7 speakers from different regions of the world to share their brilliant insights and observations about the evolution of art institutions, regional perspectives, and curatorial ideas in the contemporary scene. Along with 15 local art professionals, we hope to build cross-regional dialogues and exchange networks, while also promoting and deepening local curatorial education.

In the current climate of drastic change, how can curating serve again as an effective method for knowledge production and cultural rumination, and meanwhile become a cutting-edge praxis which stimulates cultural creativity? Besides, what crucial issues does curating touch upon as it is confronted not only with the alterations in contemporary people’s spiritual realm and perceptual mechanism but also with the strikes of disasters and variances be they natural or anthropogenic? The International Conference of the CIT24 seeks to address the aforementioned urgent issues, outline again the momentum that curating should have, and examine the evolving landscape of curatorial praxis at the turn of times.

In 2019, when “contemporary curating” as a profession had been developing in Taiwan for around 20 years, Taipei Fine Arts Museum and National Culture and Arts Foundation co-organized the Curators’ Intensive Taipei 19—International Conference and Workshops to explore the curatorial history and methodology in geographical relations as well as the societal functions and roles of curators based on Asian cultural and historical contexts. In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic ushered the whole world in a state of emergency. Dynamic changes and tensions arose among previous social relationships. As a part of civilization, art production was not spared such an unprecedented challenge.

In retrospect, people seem to be able to regard the pandemic’s massive impact as a cycle of radical replacement of the old with the new, thereby reacquainting themselves with others, things, and the world. However, the accelerating world manifests itself in the complex fluctuations in nature, culture, ecology, politics, technology, and even the emergence and extinction of different species in the environment, which is currently redefined and examined as fresh momentum through curating in the post-globalization era.

“Upon misfortune, it is good fortune that rests; and around good fortune, it is misfortune that lurks.” This quote from Laozi (Daodejing) implies that every crisis has a silver lining. To continue the context of the CIT19, the International Conference of the CIT24 comprises three main axes of discussion: how curating, as a method, (1) contemplates the present and the future; (2) responds to the paradigm shifts of creation and display caused by technological revolutions; and (3) revisits the approaches of cultural and artistic praxis in geopolitics. The three axes are not so much discrete themes as the bifurcation and intersection of discussions under general observation.

The International Conference of the CIT24 is now open for online registration. For detailed information and agenda, please visit TFAM official event webpage or CIT24 webpage. The documentary of the event will be uploaded to TFAM’s official website as well. Please visit TFAM’s official website, TFAM Facebook and Instagram for further information.

Organizer: Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Co-Organizer: TheCube Project Space
Sponsors: National Culture and Arts Foundation "Act for the Future"
Special thanks: Winsing Arts Foundation