November 25–27, 2017
Dear all Humans of the Institution,
You are invited to join a discussion on the shifting contours of the global and the local, and how this shift influences the working conditions and obligations of freelancers today. Organised around the experiences of curators, Humans of the Institution will be a nuanced debate important to freelancers and institutions alike, seeking dialogues of consequence to change “industry standards” in the arts and further afield.
Humans of the Institution is an international gathering in Amsterdam, and part of the Amsterdam Art Weekend and DAI Roaming Assembly. It will take place as a two-day symposium at Veem House for Performance. The programme will be broadcast and archived online by Curatorial Practice (UiB). The weekend will be followed by one day of Working Groups each producing a series of statements published with L’Internationale online.
This is an open call to an international network of Delegate Partners to connect with this debate by supporting the participation of freelance curators from their own and associated regions. Institutions, patrons and funding bodies wishing to become a Delegate Partner, and individuals wishing to become a Delegate, please e-mail humansoftheinstitution [at] uib.no before October 15, 2017 with “Delegate” in the subject line.
Weekend and Working Groups
The Saturday programme, entitled Whose Global, Whose Local?, will hone in on the freelancer as a mobile agent whose presence and experiences may help chart the shifting pressures and frictions of a changing international order.
The Sunday programme, entitled Precarious Practices, will open up the mutable, unfixed and increasingly unstable categories of institutions and individuals, along with the emergence of cybernetic systems.
Buy tickets to the weekend programme here.
On Monday the programme will shift to a set of thematic and practically oriented Working Groups—forums for concrete action, fact-finding, awareness raising and solidarity. The groups will be of 12 to 20 participants each. This is an open call for interested participants. Please e-mail a short statement of motivation for the Working Group of your interest to humansoftheinstitution [at] uib.no before October 15, 2017 with “Working Group” in the subject line.
Archives & Individuals convened by Michelle Wong with the Van Abbemuseum, hosted by New Urban Collective
Biennials & Guest Work convened by Natasha Ginwala with Marieke van Hal, hosted by Manifesta Foundation
Boycott & Mobilisation convened by Joanna Warsza with Lara Khaldi and Rachel O’Reilly, hosted by De Appel
Censorship & Strategy convened by Ekaterina Degot with Katia Krupennikova and Heejin Kim, hosted by Framer Framed
Critical Regionalism convened by Anne Breure with Reem Fadda and Maria Hlavajova, hosted by the Stedelijk Museum
Fees & Conditions convened by Platform BK and The Norwegian Association of Curators with W.A.G.E., hosted by Frontier Imaginaries
Anthology
An edited anthology of English translations of significant texts on curatorial practice will be published following Humans of the Institution. The aim is for the texts to be published in their original language as well as English, accompanied by contextualising short essays. This is an open call for existing and published texts (any format; essays, reviews etc.) that are important to curatorial practice globally, but that are not yet accessible in English.
To suggest texts, please e-mail
–a synopsis of the text in English (max 100 words)
–the reason for its importance to curatorial practice (max 200 words, in English)
–a scan or image of the original text (or online link)
–publication information
–your full contact information
Submissions via e-mail to: translatethis [at] uib.no by December 15, 2017.
Co-presented by Frontier Imaginaries and Curatorial Practice (UiB), in partnership with the DAI Roaming Assembly, Veem House for Performance, Amsterdam Art Weekend, De Appel, the Working Group hosts, and core funders Mondriaan Foundation and The Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK). Spatial design provided by Uglycute. Humans of the Institution has been initiated through dialogue between curators Anne Szefer Karlsen and Vivian Ziherl.
