CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Contemporary Research Intensive
Organized by The Contemporary Condition research project & Contemporary Aesthetics and Technology research programme, Aarhus University, & Exhibition Research Lab, Liverpool John Moores University, in partnership Venice Faculty for Arts and Design, University of Architecture IUAV, Uniarts Helsinki and the Research Pavilion in the context of the 57th Venice Biennale
The workshop addresses the topic of contemporary research. We are interested in the concept of ‘contemporaneity’, the temporal complexity that follows from the coming together of different temporalities in the same present. We ask how these temporal qualities can be made known in the context of contemporary art research and particularly through practices that involve exhibitionary forms.
The temporal structure of current large scale exhibitions such as Documenta or Venice Biennale make excellent case studies for how contemporaneity can be seen to be produced through such events and the ways we might reflect on the various forms of knowledge production in operation. We are also interested to explore how researching the contemporary and contemporary forms of research might come together to generate new ways of thinking. Participants in the workshop share and discuss their ideas, write texts and work together to produce a publication.
The profiles of the main organizing institutions inform further discussion.
The Contemporary Condition is a research project at Aarhus University, to investigate contemporaneity as a defining condition of our historical present. It identifies three broad lines of inquiry for investigation: the issue of temporality, the role of contemporary media and computational technologies, and how artistic practice makes epistemic claims. http://contemporaneity.au.dk/
The Exhibition Research Lab at Liverpool John Moores University supports research and practice in the field of curating and its most dominant form, the exhibition. It points to the understanding of exhibitionary formats and curatorial practice as a form of critical inquiry and knowledge production. https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/research/centres-and-institutes/exhibition-research-lab
Selected from the open call, participants will be asked to distribute texts (or equivalent, if images) in advance of the workshop. At the workshop, each participant makes a short presentation to the group and receives focussed feedback. The workshop then becomes more practical in orientation and the group proceed to work on an open access publication. The publication is directed by the workshop participants.
The workshop is closed to the public, but on the first evening there will be a public event that feeds into the workshop and publication.
Although the workshop is primarily aimed at international PhD researchers, it is also open to artists and curators who are pursuing research without institutional support.Applicants are asked to propose ways in which their current research relates to the above ideas. Selection will be from an open call (although a limited number of places will be reserved for researchers from the organizing partners). The workshop will be for approx. 15 participants in total.The workshop is free but applicants (or their institutions) are expected to cover their own costs. PhD students can be awarded 3 ECTS for their full participation. The deadline for applications has now passed.
Participants:
Mara Ambrožic, Anastasia Chaguidouline, Nicola Guastamacchia, Anne Kølbæk Iversen, Camma Juel Jepsen, Johanne Løgstrup, Clarissa Ricci, Camilla Salvaneschi, James Schofield, Trine Friis Sørensen, Sevie Tsampalla, Marianna Tsionki, Andy Weir.
Research Intensive Faculty:
Jacob Lund (The Contemporary Condition, Aarhus University); Geoff Cox (The Contemporary Condition, Aarhus University / Plymouth University); Joasia Krysa (Professor of Exhibition Research, Director Exhibition Research Lab, LJMU, in partnership with Liverpool Biennial); Michael Birchall (LJMU, in partnership with Tate Liverpool); Simon Sheikh (Goldsmiths); Angela Vettese (University of Architecture IUAV).
Geoff Cox & Jacob Lund. The Contemporary Condition: Introductory Thoughts on Contemporaneity and Contemporary Art. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2016. [The Contemporary Condition book series will be made available at the workshop.]
Simon Sheikh. “Towards the Exhibition as Research.” In: Paul O'Neill & Mick Wilson, eds. Curating Research. London: Open Editions, 2013.
Tom Holert. “Art in the Knowledge-Based Polis.” e-flux journal, no. 3 (2009).
Nina Möntmann. “Plunging into the World: On the Potential of Periodic Exhibitions to Reconfigure the Contemporary Moment.” Edited by Nanne Buurman & Dorothee Richter. On Curating, the documenta issue, Issue 33 / June 2017.
Link to notes on travel and accommodation.
Organized by The Contemporary Condition research project & Contemporary Aesthetics and Technology research programme, Aarhus University & Exhibition Research Lab, Liverpool John Moores University, in partnership Venice Faculty for Arts and Design, University of Architecture IUAV, Uniarts Helsinki and the Research Pavilion in the context of the 57th Venice Biennale. A special thanks to Mara Ambrožic for organisational help.
