23 September–14 October 2012
Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art
People’s Park
231 Nanjing West Road
Shanghai, 200003, China
Application period: 15 July–1 September 2012
Contact: [email protected]
Please note in the email subject the workshop for which you apply.
The 2012 Shanghai Biennale emphasizes the critical role of education. Thus, curatorial team decided to place seminars, lectures, and other communication events into the framework of a short-term training program. By replacing the usual forum and lecture with the means of short-term training program this autumn, we pursue a kind of efficiency and production of communication.
The program is named “the Academy of Reciprocal Enlightenment,” as “Academy” refers to a Platonic-style community of wisdom and criticism. It embodies our educational philosophy: education is as self-governing action by learner communities, which serve as a platform of exchanges and dissemination of opinions.
Curators of 2012 Shanghai Biennale: Qiu Zhijie, Boris Groys, Jens Hoffmann, Johnson Chang
Organized by: 2012 Shanghai Biennale and Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art
1. Art Writer/Journalist Workshop
As one of important factors in the process of art production, contemporary media have to reconsider its function in the contemporary world when the former dominant way of observation and expression are no longer suitable to the new trend. How the traditional mass media transform its responsibility and function when everyone can distribute his/her opinion and have privilege to take part in the public discussion on internet.
“Art Writer/Journalist Workshop” plans to invite media experts from all over the world to approach round-table discussions, lectures, and site visits. The young international media workers could have an opportunity to communicate and practice with teachers who work for global influential media and agencies such as New York Times, Time Magazine, Xinhua News Agency, ARTINFO, Modern Painters, e-flux journal, BOMB Magazine, The Third Text, and so on. Meanwhile, students will have opportunities to have interactions with the curators and artists of the Biennale as well as Shanghai art scene.
2. Curatorial Workshop
In collaboration with the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco and China Academy of Arts (CAA) in Hangzhou, the 9th Shanghai Biennale calls for application for its 1st edition of the Curatorial Workshop which consist of two parts, each organized by faculty from CCA and CAA respectively.
The first part, titled “Typologies,” will provide the participants with an overview of basic exhibition formats as well as examine some of the fundamental forms and terms of curating and their contemporary conditions.
The second part, titled “The Next Biennale,” will focus on the future of the biennale, addressing the issues of art and its relationship to local institutions, traditions, social engagement, etc. The lectures are given by international curators experienced with Asia and transnational cultures. Based on a focused study of biennales across Asia, participants are required to work out their own curatorial proposal for the next edition of Shanghai Biennale.
3. IMMERSION – Art | Technology Workshops
IMMERSION is an experiment, a free state of mind between real and unreal where human consciousness is drawn away from the physical world to reach non-linear time and space. In the artistic field, IMMERSION specifically refers to Virtual Art (VR) in a three dimensional environment, using interactivity to immerse the viewer into a world based on aesthetic-technological logic and expression.
Our program gathers a group of international key figures that greatly contributed the research on IMMERSION to deliver a series of lectures combining theoretical studies and workshops. Students and art/technology practitioners can apply for participation to the program. Participants are expected to have a solid understanding of the history of IMMERSION, and handle the basic technical skills at the end of the program. They will also have the opportunity to interact with the Biennale’s major artists and curators as well as other important personalities in China.
Image above:
Courtesy of Shanghai Biennale 2012; © Shanghai Biennale 2012.
