11 Jun 2012

International symposium: Curating Exchange - press to exit project space

press to exit project space is pleased to invite you to Curating Exchange, the international symposium, which will take place at the GEM club in Skopje (Macedonia), from the 13th until the 16th of June 2012.

Guest lecturers: Slavco Dimitrov (Macedonia), Sofija Grandakovska (Macedonia), Antonia Majaca (Croatia), Suzana Milevska (Macedonia), Dorothee Richter (Switzerland), Basak Senova (Turkey), Marko Stamenkovic (Serbia) and Yane Calovski (Macedonia) as moderator.

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Curating Exchange is designed as a weeklong symposium addressing local and regional need for an insightful and qualitative exchange of experience and knowledge in terms of artistic research, curatorial practice and education.

The symposium program is open to the public as a forum envisioned to address questions of social, political and cultural identification of recent curatorial and research practices with guests from Macedonia, the Balkan region and beyond. The format of the symposium allows for four evening sessions in which two guests each evening present and discusses recent curatorial and theoretical research projects. Topics covered include changing ideas about art theories and current institutional practices, the status of the curator as a critical instigator and educator, the different perceptions about the socio-political role of the curator, the identity of the curatorial practice as an academic discipline open to renovation, etc. Participants include: Suzana Milevska (Macedonia), Basak Senova (Turkey), Antonia Majaca (Croatia), Marko Stamenkovic (Serbia), Sofija Grandakovska (Macedonia), Slavco Dimitrov (Macedonia), Dorothee Richter (Switzerland) and Yane Calovski (Macedonia) as moderator.

As a project, Curating Exchange will emphasize the need to reassess the role of the curator in these complex socio-political times and to question the potentiality of the curator to be a catalyst for socio-political and cultural change. We hope to provide insight into the collective regional and international perspectives in the field of curatorial practices and integrate new knowledge and expertise in the context of events in Macedonia.

The program includes workshop for young curators, with an intent to produce exchange and development of critical, interdisciplinary and hybrid knowledge in the field of curatorial practices and contemporary visual art and culture.

The workshop, open to aspiring curators in Macedonia and the region, is lead by Dorothee Richter, Head of Postgraduate Program in Curating, Institute for Cultural Studies in Arts, Zurich University of the Arts. It is intended to help the participants gain insight into the methodological, theoretical and organizational strategies via presentations, discussions, and development of individual and collaborative curatorial projects. Since there is a lack of curatorial training opportunities, we feel that the workshop will be of great importance for those who are interested but are not in position to experience such educational programs abroad. Assisting Ms. Richter in the workshop will be Ivana Vaseva, member of press to exit project space and current participant in the Curatorial Programme of de Appel arts centre in Amsterdam.

Curating Exchange is realized as part of the 'Visiting Curatorial Initiative'(VCI) program, initiated in 2005, in order to stimulate and support researches and implementation of new curatorial projects from young and emerging international and local curators.

With the support of: Pro Helvetia - The Swiss Cultural Programme and additional partners.

The program takes place in the GEM club – a resurrected space in the Old bazaar in Skopje (address: Karaorman bb, Skopje), that connects cultural workers, artists and activists to share ideas and projects.

To keep up with news and events related to press to exit project space, follow www.presstoexit.org.mk/ . For all other enquiries, please contact Yane Calovski, director of the project, at both presstoexit@gmail.com and yanecalo@gmail.com.

Programme:

Wednesday June 13th

• 10h – 13h 1st session of workshop (Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)
• 19h-20h Dorothee Richter: Development of Curating and Mediating Contemporary Art (Public presentation)
• 20.30h-22h Marko Stamenkovic: The Contested and Condemned; and
Slavco Dimitrov: Emotional Archive of Queer Experiences (Public presentations)

Thursday June 14th

• 10h – 13h 2nd session of workshop (Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)
• 20:30h -22h Basak Senova: Lost in Memory: Uncovered; and
Sofija Grandakovska: The Jews from Macedonia and the Holocaust (Public presentations)

Friday June 15th

• 10h – 13h 3rd session of workshop (Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)
• 20h – 21:30h Suzana Milevska: Curating Roma Protocol; and
Antonija Majaca: Can you speak of this? The Exhibition as a Classroom of Difficult Questions (Public presentations)

Saturday June 16th

• 10h – 13h 4th session of workshop
(Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)
• 20h – 21:30h – Group presentation: workshop participants w/ Dorothee Richter