Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Gammel Strandvej 13 3050 Humlebæk,
Denmark, December 3 - 04, 2015
Deadline: May 15, 2015

Between the DISCURSIVE and the IMMERSIVE: A Symposium on Research in 21st Century Art Museums

Research occupies a greater and more autonomous role in the modern and
contemporary art museum than ever. No longer restricted to supporting
exhibitions and the collection, this type of knowledge production in
the museum has become an independent, often interdisciplinary form of
programming with its own curators and budget. In this regard, Paul
O’Neill talks of a “curatorialization of education” and Miwon Kwon of a
“discursive turn” in the museum sector. At the same time, a major part
of the knowledge production in the twenty-first century art museum
results in the creation of spectacular exhibitions and collection
displays, designed to offer audiences a unique and immersive
experience. Whereas didactic exhibitions and the focus of collection
preservation may have previously prevailed, museums are thus
increasingly embracing a synaesthetic dispositif, an experiential model
of curating, to engage their publics.
Moreover, what to think of the growing participation of the public in
the selection, presentation and interpretation of art in museums? And
the increasing use of new media technologies such as online video,
blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share curatorial knowledge?
In other words: knowledge production in museums of modern and
contemporary art oscillates between the discursive and the immersive.
In this landscape of changing paradigms of museum programming and
institutional outlook, the alliances between museums and universities
are solidified. In the past years, governmental policies are
encouraging, if not demanding academia to get out of its ivory tower
and ‘valorize’ itself by collaborating with partners beyond the
conventional outreach of the university.
Thus, the modern and contemporary art museum has become an increasingly
interesting partner for academic teaching and university research
programs. This is in many ways a welcome and timely development,
however, museums should consider that this does not merely lead to an
’academic turn’, in terms of measuring the research output of a museum
solely on the number of peer-reviewed articles published by its staff.
On the contrary: it should result in more knowledge about, and
development of the specific potentialities of museums to produce
knowledge at the intersection of academic discourse, artistic inquiry
and artistic research, the display of objects, and the broad publics
addressed by museums; the institutional specificities the modern and
contemporary art museum.

THE CONFERENCE

The organizers of the conference aim to stimulate a critical debate on
the potentialities of the art museum as a research-based institution –
between the discursive and the immersive. The conference will focus on
the significance of hybrid forms of research and curating in modern and
contemporary art museums, dealing with questions such as: How can
exhibitions function as mediums for research? How can artistic research
contribute to art museums? What is the research value of (immersive)
exhibitions? What is the role of the sensory experience in gathering
and disseminating knowledge in the museum? What is the function and
position of ‘public programs’ as curatorial models for research and
knowledge production? What does the public contribute to the museum’s
knowledge production?
The conference welcomes theoretically founded contributions as well as
practice-based contributions that contribute with model cases or
concrete experiments in the field.
A selection of the contributions to the conference will be shared in
forthcoming issue of Stedelijk Studies, the new online peer-reviewed
journal of the Stedelijk Museum.

CALL FOR PAPERS

In addition to key-note lectures and panel discussions, the
organization welcomes ‘Pecha Kucha-style’ papers as contributions to
this conference on the following topics:
• Theoretical versus sensorial/experiential knowledge
• Museum research and the “medium specificity” of the institution
• Research-based exhibitions: models, topics, strategies,
experiments
• Innovative ways of integrating research and collection display
• Knowledge production in the “user-generated age”
• Discursive/educational turn and growing role of
public/interpretation programs
• The impact of new media on the development and communication of
museum research
These contributions should be 8 minutes long and share an interesting
topical case study or thought based on a maximum of 16 slides.

CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Francesco Manacorda, Director, TATE Liverpool, Liverpool
Maria Finders, Creative Director and Cultural Advisory at Office for
Metropolitan Architecture
(OMA, Rotterdam)
Glenn Adamson, Artistic Director, MAD Museum of Art and Design, New
York (USA)
Anselm Franke, Head of Visual Arts and Film, Haus de Kulturen der Welt,
Berlin
Chus Martínez, Head of the Institute, FHNW Academy of Art and Design,
Basel
Johanna Burton, Director and Curator of Education and Public Programme,
New Museum, New York

These contributions should be 8 minutes long and share an interesting
topical case study or thought based on a maximum of 16 slides.

The call for papers for this conference is open to both institutional
and independent curators and researchers. For the ‘Pecha Kucha style’
papers, applicants are expected to submit abstracts of 300 words (plus
short resume of 150 words) as a word or pdf document.

Abstracts for the ‘Pecha Kucha style’ papers should be emailed before
May 15 2015 to the following e-mail address:
conference@louisiana.dk

Questions about the conference can be addressed to Irene Campolmi:
ica@louisiana.dk

A committee comprised of representatives of the organizing institutions
will assess the abstracts by the end of May 2015 and determine the
final selection.

REGIISTRATION

Registration will be possible through our website until November 25
2015. The conference fee is 350 DKK and covers lunches and coffee
breaks for the two days of conference with lunches and coffee breaks.
On December 3, the museum will host a dinner for all the participants
in the Louisiana Boat House for the price of 350 DKK. Dinner tickets
can be purchased online while registering by selecting the specific
option. A limited number of travel bursaries will be available for
people travelling from countries outside Europe. Please checked the
website or contact the organizers for more information.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Marie Laurberg, Curator at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Dr. Margriet Schavemaker, Head of Research at the Stedelijk Museum
Irene Campolmi, PhD Fellow at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Hendrik Folkerts, Curator, documenta 14
Jacob Wamberg, Professor in Art History, Aarhus University