Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects in the 1980s and 1990s
Conversations from some of the most complex and yet underresearched European and US–American public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s.

Through conversations with curators and participating artists, this book revisits some of the most groundbreaking yet under-researched European and US public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s: “Konstrukcja w Procesie,” an artist-driven collaboration with the Solidarność movement in Łódź, 1981; “Die Endlichkeit der Freiheit,” initiated by artists Rebecca Horn and Jannis Kounellis and playwright Heiner Müller on both sides of the former Berlin Wall in 1990; “Culture in Action,” curated by Mary Jane Jacob in Chicago in 1993; “Sonsbeek 93” in Arnhem, curated by Valerie Smith; “Fem trädgårdar,”curated by Carlos Capelán in Simrishamn and Ystad in 1996; “INSITE,” an ongoing series of exhibitions in San Diego and Tijuana launched in 1992; “U-media,” curated by VAVD Editions in Umeå in 1987; and Ida Biard’s “La Galerie des Locataires,” which, from 1972 until today, has used the window of a Parisian apartment as an exhibition space.

Assuming Asymmetries focuses on questions central to all these projects: How can art productively navigate political tensions? How have artists and curators addressed the ethical asymmetries of the border condition, of inside and outside, working across walls and fences—whether physical, political, or social? Why is participation so hard to catalyze and conduct? How have artworks come to constitute a practice of “situated knowledge,” engaging with the contexts in which they are produced or exhibited? And finally, what can we learn from the exhibitions discussed here when developing new, respectful forms of curating today?
1141497589
Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects in the 1980s and 1990s
Conversations from some of the most complex and yet underresearched European and US–American public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s.

Through conversations with curators and participating artists, this book revisits some of the most groundbreaking yet under-researched European and US public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s: “Konstrukcja w Procesie,” an artist-driven collaboration with the Solidarność movement in Łódź, 1981; “Die Endlichkeit der Freiheit,” initiated by artists Rebecca Horn and Jannis Kounellis and playwright Heiner Müller on both sides of the former Berlin Wall in 1990; “Culture in Action,” curated by Mary Jane Jacob in Chicago in 1993; “Sonsbeek 93” in Arnhem, curated by Valerie Smith; “Fem trädgårdar,”curated by Carlos Capelán in Simrishamn and Ystad in 1996; “INSITE,” an ongoing series of exhibitions in San Diego and Tijuana launched in 1992; “U-media,” curated by VAVD Editions in Umeå in 1987; and Ida Biard’s “La Galerie des Locataires,” which, from 1972 until today, has used the window of a Parisian apartment as an exhibition space.

Assuming Asymmetries focuses on questions central to all these projects: How can art productively navigate political tensions? How have artists and curators addressed the ethical asymmetries of the border condition, of inside and outside, working across walls and fences—whether physical, political, or social? Why is participation so hard to catalyze and conduct? How have artworks come to constitute a practice of “situated knowledge,” engaging with the contexts in which they are produced or exhibited? And finally, what can we learn from the exhibitions discussed here when developing new, respectful forms of curating today?
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Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects in the 1980s and 1990s

Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects in the 1980s and 1990s

Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects in the 1980s and 1990s

Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects in the 1980s and 1990s

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Overview

Conversations from some of the most complex and yet underresearched European and US–American public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s.

Through conversations with curators and participating artists, this book revisits some of the most groundbreaking yet under-researched European and US public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s: “Konstrukcja w Procesie,” an artist-driven collaboration with the Solidarność movement in Łódź, 1981; “Die Endlichkeit der Freiheit,” initiated by artists Rebecca Horn and Jannis Kounellis and playwright Heiner Müller on both sides of the former Berlin Wall in 1990; “Culture in Action,” curated by Mary Jane Jacob in Chicago in 1993; “Sonsbeek 93” in Arnhem, curated by Valerie Smith; “Fem trädgårdar,”curated by Carlos Capelán in Simrishamn and Ystad in 1996; “INSITE,” an ongoing series of exhibitions in San Diego and Tijuana launched in 1992; “U-media,” curated by VAVD Editions in Umeå in 1987; and Ida Biard’s “La Galerie des Locataires,” which, from 1972 until today, has used the window of a Parisian apartment as an exhibition space.

Assuming Asymmetries focuses on questions central to all these projects: How can art productively navigate political tensions? How have artists and curators addressed the ethical asymmetries of the border condition, of inside and outside, working across walls and fences—whether physical, political, or social? Why is participation so hard to catalyze and conduct? How have artworks come to constitute a practice of “situated knowledge,” engaging with the contexts in which they are produced or exhibited? And finally, what can we learn from the exhibitions discussed here when developing new, respectful forms of curating today?

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9783956796128
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 11/15/2022
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.56(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

CuratorLab is a curatorial course at Konstfack University of Arts, in Stockholm, which is expanding the ideas of curating and the curatorial beyond the exhibition format, exploring radical approaches to engagement, debating pertinent issues of our times, having collective fun, and practicing horizontal learning.

Table of Contents

Introduction Joanna Warsza 10

Perfect Harmony: On Asymmetries in Collaborative Processes Sofia Wiberg 14

Asymmetrical Lessons: Pregnancy, Horses, and BDSM Jonna Bornemark 16

Konstrukcja W Procesie (Construction in Process), Lódz, 1981 Edy Fung Marc Navarro Hanna Nordell Tomek Pawlowski Jarmolajew

The Making of Konstrukcja w Procesie 26

Eight Frames per Second 31

A Conversation Marielle Nitoslawska

Nightwatch Marielle Nitoslawska 40

Für die Frauen von Lódz 44

A Conversation Rune Mields

Rune Mields, Für die Frauen von Lódz, Script (1981) 49

Sharing Nothing, Causing Something 50

A Conversation Viola Krajewska

Artists Support Solidarnosc 58

A Conversation Ryszard Wasko

U-Media Umeå, 1987 Vasco Forconi Maria Lind

U-media: A 1987 Experiment in Public Art in Northern Sweden 68

Challenging the Nordic Exhibition Tradition 70

A Conversation Måns Wrange

Die Endlichkeit Der Freiheit (The Finitude of Freedom), Berlin, 1990 Julius Lehmann Marc Navarro Erik Sandberg

Amid the Shifts 84

A Reading of Traces: Selected Documents 97

Now or Never: Opening New Spaces 106

A Conversation Wulf Herzogenrath Sarah Alberti

Regallager 121

Reflecting on Symmetries Barbara Bloom

Separations and Invisible Walls 130

A Conversation Christoph Tannert

The Surface and the Trace 141

On Via Lewandowsky's Zur Lage des Hauptes

Culture in Action Chicago, 1993 Anna Mikaela Ekstrand Giulia Floris Simina Neagu

Narratives and Counter-narratives 148

Trying to Prove Itself Useful: The Art World's Social Turn 158

A Conversation Naomi Beckwith

Public Art Was Definitely Gendered Male 169

A Conversation Suzanne Lacy

Is Art about Art or about Life? 179

A Postscript on Culture in Action Mary Jane Jacob

Sonsbeek 93 Arnhem, 1993 Julius Lehmann Giulia Floris

In Search of Publicness and Common Ground 186

Nothing to Lose 194

Stephan Dillemuth in Conversation with Valerie Smith, June 1993

Excerpt from the Documentary Sonsbeek 93 195

Looking Back at Sonsbeek 93 199

A Conversation Valerie Smith

Square of Permanent Reorganization 210

Andreas Siekmann on Making Art about Public Space

A Letter from Andreas Siekmann to Valerie Smith, August 1993 213

The Impossibility of Public Art 216

A Conversation Andreas Siekmann

Voices and Records: Mapping Sonsbeek 93 221

Public Sphere & Public Response

Curating the Archives 230

Two Statements on Archiving Sonsbeek

Bridging Exhibitions Roundtable on Culture in Action, Project Unité, Sonsbeek 93, and sonsbeek20→24 Anna Mikaela Ekstrand Giulia Floris 233

Fem Trädgårdar (Five Gardens), Simrishamn and Ystad, 1996 Giulia Floris Edy Fung Hanna Nordell

Garden Trouble: Cultivating Collectivity, Disrupting Topography 242

Map of the Exhibits 244

Curatorial Ideas behind Fern Trädgardar 246

Excerpt from an Interview Carlos Capelán

When the Institution Is Porous 247

Excerpt from an Interview Susan Bolgar

Seeing Through the Garden Mentality 249

Excerpt from an Interview Max Liljefors

Streaming Thoughts and Amplifying Sounds 252

Excerpt from an Interview Carlos Capelán

Alienating Society 256

Excerpt from an interview Madeleine Tunbjer

Rotten Apples and Emerging Discourse 261

Excerpt from an Interview Sissel Tolaas

Haunted Gardens, Political Landscapes 267

Remembering Ronald Jones's Caesars kosmiska trädgard

Twisting Heads and Reviving Processes 276

Carlos Capelán on Åke Hedström's Documentation

La Galerie Des Locataires (The Tenants' Gallery), Paris and Other Places, 1972-Present Marc Navarro

Communications: Ida Biard and the Question of the Public 282

No Walls: The Poetics of Dissemination 288

A Conversation Ida Biard

The Trip-Simplon Express 307

Insite San Diego-Tijuana and Mexico City, 1992-Present Anna Mikaela Ekstrand Julius Lehmann

Beyond the Borders 314

Pushing Boundaries 319

A Conversation Carmen Cuenca Michael Krichman

Damn, I Should Have Done a Commencement Speech 328

A Conversation Andrea Fraser

Migrating Cultures 336

A Conversation Betsabeé Romero

Tensions and Continuity: Curating INSITE 97 and INSITE 2000 342

A Conversation Sally Yard

Osmosis and Excess 350

A Conversation Aernout Mik

Contributors 354

Acknowledgments 366

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