Out of the Foxhole: Toward a Precarious Art History (original) (raw)
Related papers
Del pozo, Romaní and Villaplana (2016). “Conversing the Action, Narrating History, Eliciting the Present: Notes on Artistic Mediations and Practices Outstripping the Museum’s Usual Functions” in Nick Aikens, Thomas Lange, Jorinde Seijdel and Steven ten Thije (Eds): The Uses of Art. Constellations of Art, History, and Knowledge. A Critical Reader. Published by Valiz (Amsterdam) in collaboration with Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven). ISBN: 9789492095121
Free and open to all. Advanced booking required via: http://newartdialogues.eventbrite.co.uk This one day conference brings together the next generation of art history scholars to present and discuss their ongoing research. Papers will predominately focus on Italian and Northern Renaissance Art (c.1400–1600) and will encompass diverse media including tapestry, painting, engraving and stained glass. The conference will comprise five sessions. In the first four, two PhD students (or recent graduates) will present on topics that are united by common themes such as patronage, attribution and materiality. The final session, entitled ‘Opening New Dialogues’, will feature a paper by Professor Michelle O’Malley (Deputy Director and former PhD student at The Warburg). In order to foster the intellectual exchange central to ‘New Dialogues in Art History’ , the key paper(s) of each session will be followed by 20 minutes discussion. All enquires should be addressed to Genevieve Verdigel and Lydia Goodson at: NewArtDialogues@gmail.com
Yao-Fen You: The past year has proved to be incredibly challenging for museums as we continue to navigate the dual pandemics of a deadly virus and corrosive racism. How has your curatorial vision shifted in the last few years as museums seek to attract new audiences and remain relevant while contending with outdated hierarchies and value systems? What kinds of tensions do you perceive in your curatorial ambitions? Alejandro Vergara: Tensions between a curator's goals and the audience's expectations, as well as those of the institution, always inform exhibitions. I felt this very clearly with Vélazquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer: Miradas afines en España y Holanda [Vélazquez , Rembrandt, Vermeer: Parallel Visions], which included major loans from the Rijksmuseum, including Rembrandt's The Syndics and Vermeer's The Little Street, among others. The exhibition was initiated by the directors of the Rijksmuseum and the Prado to celebrate the Prado's two hundredth anniversary, and the selection of works was not governed by a central premise but rather a desire to share extremely important works of art central to the respective histories of Dutch and Spanish art to our eager audiences. But what kind of integrated story could I, as the exhibition's curator, create with these crowd-pleasing masterpieces so inherent to the construction of national identities? Take, for example, The Little Street by Vermeer and the Villa Medici landscapes by Velázquez. Although they are close in appearance, in size, and in date, we've never thought to put them side-by-side because Vermeer is inherently "Dutch" and Velázquez very "Spanish." But what do those concepts mean, and what would we have achieved by hanging them separately, on opposite sides of the room? By pairing them together, I wanted to push back against this enduring
With thanks and gratitude to the author for permission to post this important article. Challenging the Myths of Art History: A Symposium in Honor of Linda Seidel,’ was held at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus, February 13, 2011; co-sponsored by Center for Medieval Studies and Department of Art History and Music, Fordham University; Division of Humanities, University of Chicago; Department of Art, DePauw University. Thanks go to Anne F. Harris, Cecily J. Hilsdale, Dawn Odell, Elizabeth Rodini and Rebecca Zorach for organizing the event, comprised of twenty-two short communications by former students of Seidel and four longer papers by senior colleagues. This essay expands on my lecture for that occasion. In what follows, all translations are mine except where otherwise indicated.
Untie to Tie: On Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies (ifa Digital Platform), 2017
Gallery reflections is a series of public discussions on art, institutions, and curatorial practices convened by anthropologist Jonas Tinius. The encounters take place in the ifa-gallery Berlin once per chapter, crisscrossing the overall themes and decentring the focal points of the one year programme ‘Untie to tie: Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies’ (2017-2018) curated by the gallery’s director Alya Sebti. This second column in the series reflects on how traces, legacies, and futures - as concepts and as practices - allow us to think about the relation between anthropology, art, and temporality.