Thursday, June 15, 2017

Call for Papers: Decolonizing Art Institutions (Basel, 20-21 Jun 17)

De Colonizing Art Institutions (Basel, 20-21 Jun 17)
Kunstmuseum Basel, June 20 - 21, 2017
Registration deadline: Jun 19, 2017
Concept: Prof. Dr. Dorothee Richter & Ronald Kolb (MA) in cooperation with Søren Grammel
Contact: ronald.kolb@[at]zhdk.ch

The globally active art world nowadays cultivates an exchange that transcends the boundaries between cultures and continents through so-called global museums or globally operating art biennials and festivals, at least for a certain audience able to travel around the globe. Yet, this should not blind us to the fact that in the end a certain perspective of the Western history of art and culture claims primacy over global contemporary art and especially its market. Museums and art institutions all over the world therefore tend to have a uniform appearance. In format and content alike, they cater to and follow "Western" examples.

The question thus arises of how art institutions and museums could work differently by not taking a supposed, globally prevalent “guiding” culture as their orientation but instead continuing to search for new formats. How can an art institution be conceived? What might a de-colonized institution challenge?

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