On behalf of the participants in the Exhibition Research Lab (ERL) 2018, the Lectorate Art Theory & Practice cordially invites you to the opening of the exhibition ‘The Middleman’ on Friday 1 June 2018.

‘The Middleman’ is a collective exhibition project result of the Exhibition Research Lab, an interdisciplinary course reflecting on both the theoretical and the practical possibilities of exhibitions as a framework for research, experiment and re-presentation, and its potentialities in relation to artistic practices.

Participants in the ERL 2018 are students of the BA ArtScience, BA Fine Arts, BA Interior Architecture and Furniture Design, BA Graphic Design, BA Photography at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague and the MA Art of the Contemporary World and World Art Studies at Leiden University.

Is an exhibition a mere platform for presenting an artwork? Or is it an intrinsic part of the creative process? Where lies the difference and what are the implications of these different positions for the artist’s research process and artistic practice? How do various curatorial roles relate to notions of artistic autonomy? Why do artists make exhibitions anyway?

‘The Middleman’ reflects on the agency of contemporary collective and participatory exhibitions and its relation with power interplays. ‘The Middleman” is an ambiguous figure, who can be thought of as a curator, an artist, or a curious spectator. This flexible and in-between identity set the tone for the decision to include in the exhibition not only individual artworks by the ERL participants but also a collectively produced installation. The exhibition aims to become a communal and festive atmosphere generated by all of us, including the visitors, as performers of non-fixed meanings who collectively participate in this ephemeral moment of time and space. The exhibition will be accompanied by the symposium ‘A Shared Authorship: On the collective and participatory nature of exhibition-making today’, a series of conversations between the participants, invited guests and the public, which will be held on Monday 4 June at the KABK.

Exhibition Research Lab 2018 participants:

  • Lily Hudson (ArtScience)
  • Christian Roncea (Fine Arts)
  • Lisa Eva Hens (Interior Architecture and Furniture Design)
  • Violet Luu (Interior Architecture and Furniture Design)
  • Daniele Formica (Fine Arts)
  • Steven Pul (Photography)
  • Louiza Charitonidou (Photography)
  • Anastasia Kiseleva (Fine Arts)
  • Jinzi Liu (Interior Architecture and Furniture Design)
  • Eva Sigurðardóttir (Fine Arts)
  • Denisse Vega de Santiago (Art of the Contemporary World and World Art Studies)
  • Tor Schening Johannesen (Graphic Design)

Tutor: Tatjana Macic

The Exhibition Research Lab is part of the Art Research Programme of the Lectorate Art Theory & Practice at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) The Hague.