Curating on the Minefield
Symposium, exhibition finissage, and catalogue presentation
Panel 1: Curating across Borders
Panel 2: Curating Difficult Legacies
Panel 3: Curating under Political Pressure
A War in the Distance, exhibition view (Kateryna Lysovenko, I’m Impossible Without You, 2022, detail; Zhanna Kadyrova, Harmless War, 2022), Neue Galerie Graz / Universalmuseum Joanneum, photo: Dietmar Reinbacher
For the finissage of the central exhibition of its 2022 edition, A War in the Distance, steirischer herbst is pleased to announce a one-day symposium and catalogue presentation.
→ Schedule
Still on view through 12 February, the exhibition at Neue Galerie Graz / Universalmuseum Joanneum invites visitors to engage with historical and contemporary works directly or indirectly about wars past and present. Confronting lesser-known 19th- and 20th-century paintings from Neue Galerie Graz’s collection with new works, most of them newly commissioned, it uncovers hidden stories from the uncomfortable past.
Before the exhibition ends, a day-long symposium on 10 February discusses the political pressures on curating today. What is Austria’s relation to its neighbors, especially in the Balkans, and how can the postcolonial pitfalls of curating across borders be avoided? What challenges do curators of contemporary art face with the rise of right-wing populism, and what alternative forms can succeed under increasingly authoritarian governance? How to deal with problematic legacies? How to reread histories of oppression in treasures of the past? These and similar questions are the focus of an afternoon of panel discussions with Zdenka Badovinac, Günther Holler-Schuster, Hou Hanru, Andreja Hribernik, Renan Laru-an, Matteo Lucchetti, Małgorzata Ludwisiak, Hajnalka Somogyi, and What, How & for Whom / WHW.
The symposium also includes a first look at the exhibition and festival catalogue. The richly illustrated publication, designed by Grupa Ee and published by Hatje Cantz (ISBN 978-3-7757-5476-7), documents the program of steirischer herbst ’22. Edited by Ekaterina Degot, David Riff, and Christoph Platz, it contains contributions by Alice Crary, Gudrun Danzer, Heimo Halbrainer, Tom Holert, Günther Holler-Schuster, Éva Kovács, Daniel Muzyczuk, and an interview with Manfried Rauchensteiner.
10.2., 11:00–18:00
Neue Galerie Graz (Auditorium)
Joanneumsviertel, 8010 Graz
If you wish to attend the symposium, we kindly ask you to register until 8 February at registration [at] steirischerherbst.at.
Registration for the performance and Eat and Greet with Navaridas & Deutinger via education [at] steirischerherbst.at
The panel discussions (11:00–16:45) will be livestreamed here on this page.