bb9 workshop

‘Handfuls thrown into air and scattered over earth’, was a four-day workshop on the theme of the exhibition as a site, agent and object of research. The workshop was originally conceived as a face-to-face encounter in Bucharest convened by Mick Wilson in response to an invitation from Henk Slager, curator of the Bucharest Biennale 9: “Farewell to Research.” In the context of the Covid19 pandemic the event was realised online. See the schedule here.

Speakers included: Noor Abed, Nick Aikens, Noura Al Khasawneh, Anselm Franke, Ola Hassanain, Cătălin Gheorghe, Maxime Gourdon, Georgina Jackson, Lara Khaldi, Laima Kreivytė, Steven Henry Madoff, Paul O’Neill, Noura Salem, Berit Schuck, and Chahrazad Zahi. See the speakers profiles here.

The workshop was the first event in the development of a special issue of PARSE Journal On the Question of Exhibition (released in 3 parts June, September and October 2021).

research exhibition?

This workshop invited several programmes and centres of curatorial study, research and education to explore the contemporary art exhibition as both (i) an object of study and (ii) as a site, an agent and a mode of knowledge/knowing/not-knowing/enquiry in its own right. The workshop is structured so that each day focuses on a specific axis of enquiry.

thematic days

discussion points

These three possible discussion points were proposed for open discussion sessions during the programme.

some readings proposed

participants

Participants included doctoral researchers, institutionally-based and independent curators, artists, educators, art historians, film-makers, visual anthropologists, students at various stages of their studies, and people engaged in building, or leading, different arts infrastructures, venues and projects. Geographically, they were based in a wide range of countries including: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, Greece, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, The Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Slovenia, South Africa, Scotland, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and the USA.

farewell to research

“Farewell to Research” is the 9th iteration of the Bucharest Biennale, and is curated by Henk Slager. The concerns of the overall programme are glossed in the following manner:

“In a manner similar to how Paul Feyerabend once questioned the dominance of rational knowledge in Farewell to Reason … will in turn question the dominant trend of academicized research that has reigned now for at least ten years. Could a farewell to such research produce novel forms of articulation while proceeding from the perspective of visual art? Could we formulate a proposition based on a recomposition of three conceptual spaces (creative practice, artistic thinking, curatorial strategies) that intersect when artistic research takes place? These thoughts will underline the curatorial narrative of the 9th Bucharest Biennale, where an experimental, process-based trajectory will be developed, consisting of a series of keynote presentations, research labs, performative events, curatorial research seminars, symposiums, and publications.” Further discussion here.

organizing partners

The event was produced in partnership with the Goethe Institute in Bucharest; QAYYEM—Amman | Alexandria | Tangier; the “Art & Politics” summer course; and PARSE Journal University of Gothenburg; and HKU University of the Arts, Utrecht. The event took place online via video-conference.