Abstract/Summary

What if we consider the recent pandemic, and the crisis mode that it engenders, as a disruption in an aesthetic-political constellation--one that severely curtails movement and momentum, unleashes paranoia, and morphs the ways in which we can act, perform, and perceive the world around us? Through such a reading, can we explore current curatorial practices as a method to voice urgencies in new ways? As curators working with contemporary artists internationally, how can we stimulate a renewed understanding of the world during this moment of crisis and as the ground beneath us is shaking? The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly amplified the challenges facing societies worldwide: inequalities have increased in a severe way, accelerating acute gaps in class, race, and labor, and creating immense needs in healthcare and social services; the media, big tech, and other algorithm-based modes of communication have stirred up significant social fragmentation, creating divided communities that can no longer find a common language; human activities have provoked disastrous climate change that is wreaking havoc on our lived environment; alienation and singularization have become magnified. The need for serious and systemic change in the order of things seems both palpable and out of reach. Where do contemporary artists and art institutions find themselves at this very moment? What other contemporary dilemmas and conflicts might be identified and understood through curatorial practice, which would otherwise be hidden in plain sight? How can curatorial platforms re-organize social space or re-articulate knowledge during times of crises? Curating on Shaky Grounds is a symposium and curatorial workshop that investigates ways in which new forms of curating can evoke ideas on subjectivity and situated knowledge. Exploring the social and political dimensions of curatorial practice, the workshop will address ways in which the presentation of art can contribute to the reorganization of a public in times of crises. Questioning traditional hierarchies of knowledge and power structures, Curating on Shaky Grounds will look at the possibility of transferring conflictual aesthetics to a curatorial realm, and examine the problematics of curating in taming political criticality and its potential to unleash radical positions. Through research and case studies, participants will be invited to think through the role and responsibility of curators as critical mediators, with an emphasis on curating that addresses the pace and tone of contemporary experience.