Against the Canon: Artistic and Historical Narratives on the Two Sides of the Iron Curtain (1960-1990)

The seminar “Against the Canon: Artistic and Historical Narratives on the Two Sides of the Iron Curtain (1960-1990)” (9 July) aims to recover the notion of “canon” as a rationality or way of thinking. This seminar will present projects that revisit experiences rooted on both sides of the Iron Curtain, rehearsing other ways of thinking contemporaneity – its discourses, its practices, its relations, its institutions – but also the experience of working with the MoDe(s) project database, a tool for the exploration of these historiographical alternatives.

Looking at us head-on: Spain, Portugal and their images

“Looking at us head-on: Spain, Portugal and their images” will take place on June 23 and 25. This seminar is proposed as a dialogue between scholars of politics, anthropology, art, film and visual culture from Spain and Portugal, two states that have had a tense historical relationship, almost parallel dictatorial periods, and have had their backs to each other for far too long.

Archipelago Puerto Rico: [im]possible Abstractions

The 1st Conference on Art, Research and Multidisciplinary Creation entitled “Archipelago Puerto Rico: [im]possible Abstractions” (11 and 12 June) aims to critically explore the contexts that have driven or affected the creation and reception of abstraction, in order to open a space for collective reflection and conversation on new historiographical approaches and new theoretical frameworks.

Multimedia updates – Pierre Gaudibert : militant, critique, sociologue de l’art, expérimentateur de musée

The video recordings of the symposium “Pierre Gaudibert : militant, critique, sociologue de l’art, expérimentateur de musée” (INHA, 24 – 26 February 2021) are now available. This international symposium proposed to revisit this key figure of the post-war French art scene and the intellectual and political contexts of which his career is revealing.

Counter – Archive

The Internationa Symposium “Counter – Archive” will take place on 29 and 30 April 2021 at ICI Berlin. Some questions analyzed during the symposium will be how can counter-archives connect the testimonies and legacies of past struggles with the victims of today’s oppression and what kind of power struggles are produced by counter-archives, and how do they manage to draw attention to what has been lost, overlooked, reduced, suppressed, or omitted from national archives and established historiography.

From private to public. Issues and strategies in the presentation of private collections of modern and contemporary art in public institutions

Organized within the framework of the exhibition “Giorgio Morandi. Luigi Magnani’s collection” at the Musée de Grenoble (December 12, 2020 – April 18, 2021), this one-day conference aims to bring together recent reflections about strategies for the presentation of private collections of contemporary art (20th-21th centuries) in French and international museums and private institutions.

Symposium – Pierre Gaudibert : militant, critique, sociologue de l’art, expérimentateur de musée

On February 24 to 26, the online symposium Pierre Gaudibert: militant, critique, sociologue de l’art, expérimentateur de musée will take place. Taking into account Pierre Gaudibert’s theoretical and institutional heritage, his commitments but also his disenchantments, impasses and limits, the symposium aims to consider the possible avenues that his work has opened to the link between art and democracy, to a practice that opens up institutions, to a plurality of cultures and artistic practices.