Kunstmuseet som dannelsesinstitution i en digital tidsalderMerete Sanderhoff
Foredrag på sommerkurset "Globalisering og demokrati" http://www.grundtvigs.dk/uge-32-globalisering-og-demokrati på Grundtvigs Højskole, Hillerød, 6. august 2015.
Presentation [in Danish with international references] at the summer course "Globalization and Democracy" at Grundtvigs Højskole, Hillerød Denmark, 6 August 2015.
Kunstmuseet som dannelsesinstitution i en digital tidsalderMerete Sanderhoff
Foredrag på sommerkurset "Globalisering og demokrati" http://www.grundtvigs.dk/uge-32-globalisering-og-demokrati på Grundtvigs Højskole, Hillerød, 6. august 2015.
Presentation [in Danish with international references] at the summer course "Globalization and Democracy" at Grundtvigs Højskole, Hillerød Denmark, 6 August 2015.
Thierry Geoffroy Colonel: A Propulsive Retrospective.Book Format Art | Awaren...Emergency Art
This 608 pages book Thierry Geoffroy Colonel: A Propulsive Retrospective took 4 years hard work to accomplished and has been printed yesterday day-night more details here https://lnkd.in/eHpiYuX2 .
------------------------------------------------------------------
Format Art | Awareness Muscle | Emergency Art | Ultracontemporary | Biennalist | Moving Exhibitions | Critical Run | Delay Museum | Apathy Lab | Extracteur
Michael Buhrs (Editor) and Christian Ganzenberg (Editor) for Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
Publication Date: April 2024
Publisher: Snoeck Publishing Company
ISBN: 9783864423956
608 pp., ca. 1.000 color illustrations
Format: 24.5 x 31cm
This monography presents 22 Art Formats, including the Emergency Room, Critical Run and Biennalist, which have been realized in institutions across the globe. Geoffroy defines Format Art as his artistic response to globalization, providing individuals with a replicable format for expressing themselves, thereby enabling them to respond to emergencies and real-world issues in the now.
Art historians and long-term collaborators of the artist offer in-depth analyses of Geoffroy’s artistic praxis: its mobility, flexibility and its constant quest to be “in advance” of accidents and his time. Accompanied by over 1.000 images.. A comprehensive chronology of Geoffroy’s oeuvre, detailing his many exhibitions and interventions at countless institutions and events, reveals the breadth and scope of the artist’s long-term efforts to awaken individuals to their true potential to act in the face of crises.
Geoffroy’s prolific output, so driven by a sense of urgency, has nevertheless persistently sought to inspire conviviality, generosity, and above all a sense of harmony. His work is strategic, frontal, poetic, humoristic, self- and institutionally-critical, but also deeply personal. His irrepressible energy has fueled an art movement centered around “Emergency Art,” which questions the state of delay which characterizes contemporary art and the world around it.
The subtitle of this monograph, “A Propulsive Retrospective,” refers to the “forward-looking” nature of this publication, condensing and analyzing the past, and thus advances his work in its mission of fighting apathy. The publication of the monograph will be accompanied by a series of international presentations and seminars intended to foster, explore and deepen the propositions, which can be found in Geoffroy’s oeuvre.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
With texts by Sebastian Baden , Michael Buhrs, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Carsten Friberg, Morten Friis, Christian Ganzenberg, Elena Hansen, Séamus Kealy, Tijana Mišković, Susana Puente Matos, Marie-France Rafael, Johanne Schrøder, Inka Schube.
Further contributions by Mikkel Bogh, Raphael Chikukwa, Julia Draganović, Mascha Faurschou, Richard Julin, Åsmund Boye Kverneland, Christopher Lew, Madeleine Park , Holger Reenberg.
Welcome Film Festival. New festival concept .Copenhagen DenmarkEmergency Art
About the Welcome Film Festival
The Welcome Film Festival was founded by French-Danish conceptual artist Thierry Geoffroy, and will have its first edition from November 01-20, 2024. The festival is a new emergency format, with the emergency being the need to express oneself on important matters - political or private - as well as to connect and exchange ideas with friends and strangers alike.
During the duration of the film festival, a number of "foreigners"- artists with migrant backgrounds, residing in Denmark - will invite guests into the intimate settings of their homes to screen their own films. Questions will be raised, such as, what are the new experimental movements in film today? What is a film festival? This avant-garde event will allow audiences to familarize themselves not only with a different kind of film, but with topics that concern artists with diverse backgrounds. Along with these insights, guests will be able to experience different cultural forms of hospitality and conviviality as they travel from one private setting to the next. The festival is, therefore, as much about enjoying film as a medium, as it is about exploring the many different contexts provided by its multi-cultural hosts.
Welcome to the Welcome Film Festival!
Keep an eye out for updates on specific screening dates, and please be in touch if you are interested in joining either as a filmmaker or as a volunteer.
As a volunteer, you will have the opportunity to meet culturally diverse participants, spread the word about the film festival, work on press and documentation, help organize the festival program, social media outreach, conduct interviews with the filmmakers, as well as participate in film screenings and important discussions that might arise from them.
"THE CURATOR LIFTING RUNNING COMPETITION". Venice Biennale 2003 .pdfEmergency Art
Danish/French artist Colonel’s video from the Venice Biennale 2003 will be shown at Nikolaj’s Cinema. It presents the staging of a competition in which artists raced each other while carrying a curator on their backs. The prize was an admission ticket to the most prestigious party of the Biennale. During a major art event as the Venice Biennale, both artists and curators are subject to hidden rules and mechanisms which must be adhered to in order to obtain a good position in the hierarchy of the art world. With his energetic and humorous video Colonel focusses on these mechanisms and unveils a lobbyistic game which is not merely about creating exhibitions but also about preserving certain privileges.
On the plane:
It begins on the plane from Denmark where the art industry clique has booked the same flight. Colonel hands out flyers, already well underway with his campaign to recruit contestants for the competition.
New film concept:
Colonel uses people who simply happen to be there to film the situations which arise. In so doing they become both witnesses to and participants in the processes of uncovering the hidden mechanisms of the cultural event.
The press:
In Venice Colonel intensifies his endeavours and now involves the journalists so that they may help him spread the word about the upcoming event.
Participants for the competition:
In Venice Colonel goes on to invite artists as well as curators to be a part of the great race.
The party:
Colonel chases invitations to the most coveted parties in order to use them as the first prize of the curator lifting running competition.
The competititon:
During the competition the artist both symbolically and literally becomes the curator’s arms and legs.
For more information on this project, please visit www.colonel.dk or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Geoffroy ,http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Ultracontemporary artformats like Biennalist EmergencyRoom Critical Run Aware...Emergency Art
Thierry Geoffroy, 1961
Thierry Geoffroy/COLONEL (FR/DK) develops art formats such as EMERGENCY ROOM, Biennalist and Critical Run.
Geoffroy has exhibited at P.S. 1/ MOMA, New York, ZKM Museum Karlsruhe, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Plazzo Delle Arti Napoli. He has also participated in biennales such as Venice Biennale (the Maldives Pavilion), Liverpool Biennale, Manifesta Biennale in Murcia and Cairo Biennale. Thierry Geoffroy is Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work is presented in museums such as the HEART Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sprengel Museum, the National Museum of Photography and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark.
Thierry Geoffroy Colonel overvieuw : Artformat,Biennalist;Emergencyroom,Artw...Emergency Art
Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel (FR/DK) is an artist that works since 1988 in the Now, and through his art works, he reflects upon urgencies.He creates what he calls “Emergency Art Formats“ , and “Emergency Art Works”.
For example, Emergency Room is a special designed space that has been activated in museums and art institutions where artists can express every day about what they consider to be the most important emergencies. It has been activated in 10 countries, the longest period was at the MoMA / PS1 with an everyday changing exhibition.
Sometimes,Thierry Geoffroy does expression on tents in public space or in dialogue with museum collections.
Thierry Geoffroy has exhibited at MoMA / PS1, New York /ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe / Moderna Museet, Stockholm / Palazzo Delle Arti, Napoli / Kunsthalle Mannheim / Sprengel Museum, Hannover, and Vejle Kunst Museum.
He has also participated in biennales such as Venice Biennale,, Liverpool Biennale, Manifesta Biennale in Murcia, Cairo Biennale, and Casablanca Biennale.
Thierry Geoffroy is Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His art works are part of museums such as the HEART Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sprengel Museum, the National Museum of Photography ,the Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde, and Mannheim Kunsthalle.
www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Documenta Kassel / Revieuw by Mette Sandbye for weekendavisen ( Kassel and Ve...Emergency Art
About artist Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Geoffroy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Room_(art)
http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
http://www.colonel.dk/
Format art by By Johanne Schrøder 07.02.2021Emergency Art
Towards a Definition of Format Art.
On the artistic process as catalyst for movement and change in Thierry Geoffroy’s art formats.
By Johanne Schrøder MA in Art History
http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Towards a Definition of Format Art. On the social, political and critical eff...Emergency Art
Towards a Definition of Format Art.
On the social, political and critical effects of Thierry Geoffroy’s art formats.
Text By Johanne Schrøder
More about art formats :
http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Thierry Geoffroy Colonel: A Propulsive Retrospective.Book Format Art | Awaren...Emergency Art
This 608 pages book Thierry Geoffroy Colonel: A Propulsive Retrospective took 4 years hard work to accomplished and has been printed yesterday day-night more details here https://lnkd.in/eHpiYuX2 .
------------------------------------------------------------------
Format Art | Awareness Muscle | Emergency Art | Ultracontemporary | Biennalist | Moving Exhibitions | Critical Run | Delay Museum | Apathy Lab | Extracteur
Michael Buhrs (Editor) and Christian Ganzenberg (Editor) for Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
Publication Date: April 2024
Publisher: Snoeck Publishing Company
ISBN: 9783864423956
608 pp., ca. 1.000 color illustrations
Format: 24.5 x 31cm
This monography presents 22 Art Formats, including the Emergency Room, Critical Run and Biennalist, which have been realized in institutions across the globe. Geoffroy defines Format Art as his artistic response to globalization, providing individuals with a replicable format for expressing themselves, thereby enabling them to respond to emergencies and real-world issues in the now.
Art historians and long-term collaborators of the artist offer in-depth analyses of Geoffroy’s artistic praxis: its mobility, flexibility and its constant quest to be “in advance” of accidents and his time. Accompanied by over 1.000 images.. A comprehensive chronology of Geoffroy’s oeuvre, detailing his many exhibitions and interventions at countless institutions and events, reveals the breadth and scope of the artist’s long-term efforts to awaken individuals to their true potential to act in the face of crises.
Geoffroy’s prolific output, so driven by a sense of urgency, has nevertheless persistently sought to inspire conviviality, generosity, and above all a sense of harmony. His work is strategic, frontal, poetic, humoristic, self- and institutionally-critical, but also deeply personal. His irrepressible energy has fueled an art movement centered around “Emergency Art,” which questions the state of delay which characterizes contemporary art and the world around it.
The subtitle of this monograph, “A Propulsive Retrospective,” refers to the “forward-looking” nature of this publication, condensing and analyzing the past, and thus advances his work in its mission of fighting apathy. The publication of the monograph will be accompanied by a series of international presentations and seminars intended to foster, explore and deepen the propositions, which can be found in Geoffroy’s oeuvre.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
With texts by Sebastian Baden , Michael Buhrs, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Carsten Friberg, Morten Friis, Christian Ganzenberg, Elena Hansen, Séamus Kealy, Tijana Mišković, Susana Puente Matos, Marie-France Rafael, Johanne Schrøder, Inka Schube.
Further contributions by Mikkel Bogh, Raphael Chikukwa, Julia Draganović, Mascha Faurschou, Richard Julin, Åsmund Boye Kverneland, Christopher Lew, Madeleine Park , Holger Reenberg.
Welcome Film Festival. New festival concept .Copenhagen DenmarkEmergency Art
About the Welcome Film Festival
The Welcome Film Festival was founded by French-Danish conceptual artist Thierry Geoffroy, and will have its first edition from November 01-20, 2024. The festival is a new emergency format, with the emergency being the need to express oneself on important matters - political or private - as well as to connect and exchange ideas with friends and strangers alike.
During the duration of the film festival, a number of "foreigners"- artists with migrant backgrounds, residing in Denmark - will invite guests into the intimate settings of their homes to screen their own films. Questions will be raised, such as, what are the new experimental movements in film today? What is a film festival? This avant-garde event will allow audiences to familarize themselves not only with a different kind of film, but with topics that concern artists with diverse backgrounds. Along with these insights, guests will be able to experience different cultural forms of hospitality and conviviality as they travel from one private setting to the next. The festival is, therefore, as much about enjoying film as a medium, as it is about exploring the many different contexts provided by its multi-cultural hosts.
Welcome to the Welcome Film Festival!
Keep an eye out for updates on specific screening dates, and please be in touch if you are interested in joining either as a filmmaker or as a volunteer.
As a volunteer, you will have the opportunity to meet culturally diverse participants, spread the word about the film festival, work on press and documentation, help organize the festival program, social media outreach, conduct interviews with the filmmakers, as well as participate in film screenings and important discussions that might arise from them.
"THE CURATOR LIFTING RUNNING COMPETITION". Venice Biennale 2003 .pdfEmergency Art
Danish/French artist Colonel’s video from the Venice Biennale 2003 will be shown at Nikolaj’s Cinema. It presents the staging of a competition in which artists raced each other while carrying a curator on their backs. The prize was an admission ticket to the most prestigious party of the Biennale. During a major art event as the Venice Biennale, both artists and curators are subject to hidden rules and mechanisms which must be adhered to in order to obtain a good position in the hierarchy of the art world. With his energetic and humorous video Colonel focusses on these mechanisms and unveils a lobbyistic game which is not merely about creating exhibitions but also about preserving certain privileges.
On the plane:
It begins on the plane from Denmark where the art industry clique has booked the same flight. Colonel hands out flyers, already well underway with his campaign to recruit contestants for the competition.
New film concept:
Colonel uses people who simply happen to be there to film the situations which arise. In so doing they become both witnesses to and participants in the processes of uncovering the hidden mechanisms of the cultural event.
The press:
In Venice Colonel intensifies his endeavours and now involves the journalists so that they may help him spread the word about the upcoming event.
Participants for the competition:
In Venice Colonel goes on to invite artists as well as curators to be a part of the great race.
The party:
Colonel chases invitations to the most coveted parties in order to use them as the first prize of the curator lifting running competition.
The competititon:
During the competition the artist both symbolically and literally becomes the curator’s arms and legs.
For more information on this project, please visit www.colonel.dk or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Geoffroy ,http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Ultracontemporary artformats like Biennalist EmergencyRoom Critical Run Aware...Emergency Art
Thierry Geoffroy, 1961
Thierry Geoffroy/COLONEL (FR/DK) develops art formats such as EMERGENCY ROOM, Biennalist and Critical Run.
Geoffroy has exhibited at P.S. 1/ MOMA, New York, ZKM Museum Karlsruhe, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Plazzo Delle Arti Napoli. He has also participated in biennales such as Venice Biennale (the Maldives Pavilion), Liverpool Biennale, Manifesta Biennale in Murcia and Cairo Biennale. Thierry Geoffroy is Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work is presented in museums such as the HEART Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sprengel Museum, the National Museum of Photography and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark.
Thierry Geoffroy Colonel overvieuw : Artformat,Biennalist;Emergencyroom,Artw...Emergency Art
Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel (FR/DK) is an artist that works since 1988 in the Now, and through his art works, he reflects upon urgencies.He creates what he calls “Emergency Art Formats“ , and “Emergency Art Works”.
For example, Emergency Room is a special designed space that has been activated in museums and art institutions where artists can express every day about what they consider to be the most important emergencies. It has been activated in 10 countries, the longest period was at the MoMA / PS1 with an everyday changing exhibition.
Sometimes,Thierry Geoffroy does expression on tents in public space or in dialogue with museum collections.
Thierry Geoffroy has exhibited at MoMA / PS1, New York /ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe / Moderna Museet, Stockholm / Palazzo Delle Arti, Napoli / Kunsthalle Mannheim / Sprengel Museum, Hannover, and Vejle Kunst Museum.
He has also participated in biennales such as Venice Biennale,, Liverpool Biennale, Manifesta Biennale in Murcia, Cairo Biennale, and Casablanca Biennale.
Thierry Geoffroy is Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His art works are part of museums such as the HEART Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sprengel Museum, the National Museum of Photography ,the Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde, and Mannheim Kunsthalle.
www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Documenta Kassel / Revieuw by Mette Sandbye for weekendavisen ( Kassel and Ve...Emergency Art
About artist Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Geoffroy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Room_(art)
http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
http://www.colonel.dk/
Format art by By Johanne Schrøder 07.02.2021Emergency Art
Towards a Definition of Format Art.
On the artistic process as catalyst for movement and change in Thierry Geoffroy’s art formats.
By Johanne Schrøder MA in Art History
http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Towards a Definition of Format Art. On the social, political and critical eff...Emergency Art
Towards a Definition of Format Art.
On the social, political and critical effects of Thierry Geoffroy’s art formats.
Text By Johanne Schrøder
More about art formats :
http://www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
Text by Johanne Schrøder : format art ( Emergency Room case ) (2018)
Weekendavisen documenta
1. Af METTE SANDBYE
Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel: Always Question
the Structure #documentasceptic. Sabsay,
Store Strandstræde 19, til 24. juni. Ti.-fre.
12-18, lør. 11-15. http://www.emergencyrooms.
org/documenta_sceptic.html
D
et er det helt store europæiske
biennaleår i år. Fire af de
vigtigste krydser deres cirkulært
genkommende tidsbaner med
hinanden i år, som når planeter hvert 100. år
står på lige linje og får astronomer i ekstase.
Kunstfolket får travlt denne sommer.
Biennale betyder en festival, der finder sted
hvert andet år, og ret beset er nogle af somme-
rens store »biennaler« sjældnere forekommende.
Venedig Biennalen og Istanbul Biennalen
følges ad hvert andet år. Venedig åbner 13.
maj, Istanbul først 16. september.
Hvert femte år har vi så Documenta i
Kassel, som åbner 10. juni, men tyvstar-
ter med »Del 1« i Athen, som åbner næste
weekend. Siden 1977 har Münster Skulptur
Projekte fundet sted som en stor, internatio-
nal, fortrinsvis udendørs skulpturfestival i den
tyske by Münster. Den afholdes hvert tiende
år, og det er således kun hvert tiende år, der
tegner så biennalestressende som i år for det
internationalt orienterede kunstpublikum.
De fleste af disse »biennaler« er på papi-
ret opstået ud fra et ønske om fred og mel-
lemkulturel forståelse gennem kunsten i en
verden præget af nationalisme og sommetider
derpå følgende krig. Men de har alle samtidig
udviklet sig til uhyre betydningsfulde magt-
faktorer, tungt lastede med både kulturel og
pekuniær kapital.
At få lov at fylde en af de nationale pavil-
loner i Venedig eller bare at deltage i den store
fælles gruppeudstilling der, at blive inviteret
til at vise sin kunst på Documenta, det kan
skyde en kunstners karriere opad med rekord-
fart. De fleste klapper, skåler i prosecco,
cirkulerer, suger til sig, spiller med og får det
bedste ud af det hele.
Men så er der en kunstner som den
danskboende franskmand Thierry Geoffroy
(f. 1961). Under kunstnernavnet Colonel
har han i nu mere end 25 år utrætteligt og
ihærdigt sat spørgsmålstegn ved og ironiseret
over »biennalen« som magtfænomen og
monsterstruktur, som ifølge ham skaber
apati frem for egentlige møder, eftertanke og
handling. Frekventerer man disse biennaler,
vil man med stor sikkerhed støde på ham,
enten iført sin beige Columbotrenchcoat og
butterfly samt lyseblå FN-hjelm, eller i hvid
skjorte og et ninjalignende pandebånd, hvor
der med rød skrift står »Emergency«. Colonel
sætter spørgsmålstegn ved den forestilling
om gensidigt befrugtende kulturmøder og
politisk og socialt engagement, som præger
biennalearrangørernes selvforståelse. Og ved
pengene og magten, som vi ikke taler om.
Han anvender avisudklip og researcher en
masse på nettet, men han arbejder ikke som
en kritisk, undergravende journalist.
»Jeg er ingen Michael Moore,« siger han
selv. Det er snarere som en »trickster«, en nar,
en ironisk og sommetider irriterende Spørge-
Jørgen, at han med sit Columbooutfit
ikke ulig denne halvfjerdserdetektiv stiller
»dumme« og sommetider pinlige spørgsmål
på pressekonferencerne, deler løbesedler ud
eller inviterer til kritisk debat i de små gule
telte, som han altid medbringer, påmalet
slogans som »Always question the structure«
og »Are biennales dangerous?«.
I denne uge har Colonel haft særligt travlt,
for han er på vej til Athen, hvor Documentas
første del åbner d. 8. april. I går slog han
dørene op til det, der skal være »hovedkvarter«
for hans kritiske biennalearbejde centreret
om Documenta og Venedig i de næste tre
måneder, galleriet Sabsay i en baggård lige
bag Nyhavn. Lige nu viser han en fuldt
færdig udstilling med værker af papir, pap,
gips, fotokopier og nogle readymades, men
meningen er, at udstillingen skal forandres
løbende, især når han vender hjem fra hver
ny biennaleåbning med fornyet kritisk
ammunition. Udstillingen i Sabsay har
lige nu fokus på Kassel, hvor der ligger en
stor fabrik for konstruktion af krigstanks,
KMW, lige op ad Kultur-Bahnhof, hvor
Documenta finder sted. Fabrikken har en
stor søsterfabrik, HDVS, lige uden for Athen,
og på udstillingen trækker Colonel en masse
associativt forbundne, kritisk spørgende
linjer fra Kassel til Athen, hvor han bringer
fabrikkens tankmodel med navnet »Leopard«
i spil. En lille plasticleopard bærer en ugle,
Documenta-Athens logo, på ryggen. Uglen,
der traditionelt forbindes med visdom, stirrer
tomt op i luften. Et stort banner stiller åbne
spørgsmål til, hvorfor Documenta 14 har
valgt en aflægger i Athen. Kriseturisme?
Øge våbensalget? Og hvorfor ligger
Documentahovedkvarteret – i Colonels øjne
helt ureflekteret – i det gamle militærdiktaturs
politihovedkvarter?
I begyndelsen opererede Colonel via flyve-
blade, fotos og fotokopier, i dag er internettet
hans vigtigste platform. Under søgeordene
#documentasceptic og Emergency Room vil
han fra Documentastarten i Athen næste uge
og de kommende måneder bedrive sin struk-
turkritiske konceptkunst. Og fylde fysiske
ting ind i Sabsay – som allerede nu bestemt er
et besøg værd.
Biennalekritik. I mere end 25 år har kunstneren Colonel kritiseret de store kunstbiennaler. I år får han ekstra travlt.
Documentaskeptikeren
Biennaler er monsterstrukturer, som skaber apati, mener kunstneren Thierry Geoffroy/
Colonel. Her hans værk Thoughtful – The lost blue helmet.
Kunst. I sidste uge skrev den tysk-tyrkiske kurator Gürsoy Doğtaş, at kunstnere og kuratorer bør være mere kritiske, end de er, når de får en
indbydelse til lande som Tyrkiet, der i år afholder Istanbul Biennalen kurateret af Elmgreen og Dragset, som her svarer på kritikken.
Engagement eller boykot
REPLIK
Af MICHAEL ELMGREEN
L
ige efter 15. juli sidste
år, hvor det mislykkede
kupforsøg førte til
undtagelsestilstand i
Tyrkiet, valgte Ingar og jeg at lægge
det kuratoriske arbejde på is for en
stund og i stedet tage til Istanbul for
blot at mødes med akademikere,
oppositionspolitikere, journalister
og folk, der var direkte berørt af
regeringens hårdhændede reaktion,
massefyringer og arrestationer.
Det var først og fremmest vigtigt
for os at vide, om man i Istanbul
ønskede, at biennalen skulle finde
sted i et sådant politisk klima eller
ej. Vi mødtes med folk, der enten
selv havde været i fængsel eller
havde nære relationer til nogen, der
havde været det. Vi mødtes med
historikere og journalister, der havde
oplevet at være på gun point den
nat, hvor kupforsøget fandt sted. Vi
mødtes også med nobelpristageren
Orhan Pamuk, som sagde til os:
»Don’t chicken out!« (»Lad jer ikke
skræmme væk«, red.). Uanset hvem
vi snakkede med eller mødtes med
i de uger lige efter kupforsøget,
så gav de klart udtryk for, at de
bestemt ikke syntes, at en boykot
af biennalen ville være nogen god
løsning. Derfor bestemte vi os for
at fortsætte vores arbejde. Sandt at
sige ville det have været ulig meget
nemmere at vende ryggen til det
hele og droppe ud. Men problemet
er jo netop, at rigtigt mange i
Europa i dag vender ryggen til
Tyrkiet – begræder situationen, men
samtidig bliver væk og vælger ikke at
engagere sig.
Det er jo ret nemt at have helt
rene hænder, hvis man så at sige
beholder dem i lommen og sidder
med sine helt rigtige meninger i
München, hvorfra verden nok ser
lidt anderledes ud.
Det er i dag i stigende grad blevet
sværere at indtage den eksklusive
position kun at lave udstillinger
under absolut optimale politiske
forhold. Med en sådan holdning
afskærer man sig også let fra at vise
kunst, der hvor der måske netop
er brug for den – i kriseområder,
hvor kunstens evne til at formidle
åbensindede holdninger, virkelig
tæller. Det er et postulat, at der er
bred modstand imod biennalen
blandt Istanbuls intellektuelle. Jeg
tror, vi har brugt mere tid i Istanbul
i det sidste år, end Gürsoy Doğtaş
har, og føler, at vi har en ret god
fornemmelse for, hvilken opbakning
der er specielt lige nu. Naturligvis vil
der altid være nogle, der er kritiske,
men som helhed ønsker og behøver
den lokale kunstscene biennalen.
Men selvfølgelig er vi
superbekymrede for den mere og
mere tilspidsede situation i Tyrkiet
og kan sandt at sige ikke engang
tage det for givet, at vi kan åbne
i september. Håber det, for ellers
har de, der ønsker at begrænse den
kunstneriske frihed i Tyrkiet, også
vundet over biennalen.
LAYOUT: LINDA BALLE KORREKTUR: LISBETH RINDHOLT
Kultur # 13 31. marts 2017 3Weekendavisen