Accompanying the exhibition ‘The Middleman’, the symposium aims to reflect on notions of collectivity, participation and shared authorship in contemporary artistic and curatorial practices. How can various curatorial practices, roles and social powers relate to notion of artistic autonomy? Are curators and artists giving up their authorship by creating participatory exhibitions? How can new meanings and agencies be created by collective artistic and curatorial practices? And how do these relate to changes in current global socio-economic systems?

The exhibition and the symposium are outcomes of the Exhibition Research Lab, an interdisciplinary course that offers students practical and theoretical knowledge and understanding of exhibition making in general, and of the potentialities of exhibition making in relation to their own artistic practice in particular. The course also welcomes students from Leiden University, for whom this is an opportunity to be matched with art students to collaborate with during the course.

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.

PROGRAMME

Guest speaker: Giacomo Ardesio, architect at OMA*AMO and Fosbury Architecture, Rotterdam.

Tutor: Tatjana Macic.
Moderators are students from the KABK and Leiden University.

17.50 – 18.00 – Doors open
18.00 – 18.10 – Welcome by Tatjana Macic, artist and tutor Exhibition Research Lab
18.10 – 18.30 – Presentation by Giacomo Ardesio
18.30 – 18.45 – Presentation ‘On Participation and Power’ by Denisse Vega de Santiago, Leiden University
18.45 – 19.00 – Performance/Play ‘Exhibition Research Lab - The Play’ by Lily Hudson, KABK/Central Saint Martins
19.00 – 19.10 – Performance ‘Synchronisation of Two’ by Louiza Charitonidou, KABK
19.15 – 20.00 – Public discussion with the participants of the Exhibition Research Lab and guest speaker Giacomo Ardesio
20.00 – 20.30 – Drinks