Dear colleagues, We would love to invite you to attend our upcoming event. Please consider joining us.
Please reserve your spots online for the symposium ( http://www.artic.edu/event/symposium-unfixed-material-challenges-contemporary-art) and evening keynote lecture ( http://www.artic.edu/event/lecture-naeem-mohaiemen). On behalf of the organizing committee, Jill Bugajski, Executive Director of Academic Engagement and Research Francesca Casadio, Grainger Executive Director of Conservation and Science Hendrik Folkerts, Dittmer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Ann Goldstein, Deputy Director, Chair and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Sarah Guernsey, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs Maria Kokkori, Stockman Family Foundation Fellow in Conservation and Science *UNFIXED: Material Challenges in Contemporary Art* *June 28, 2018, 9:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m. | Scholars’ day (open to the public)* *June 29, 2018, 9:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. | Time-based media workshop (by invitation)* *The Art Institute of Chicago* *Nichols Trustees Suite, Modern Wing* *159 East Monroe Street* The Art Institute of Chicago is delighted to present the upcoming symposium UNFIXED: Material Challenges in Contemporary Art. Bringing together renowned art historians, museum professionals, and artists, this symposium stages an interdisciplinary exchange on the challenges and questions of materiality in 20th- and 21st-century art and museum practices. Discussions on the complex materialities of recent art practices have been prevalent since the 1960s, and increasingly relevant to museums since the 1990s, as ephemeral works, including time-based media, have entered collections. Our current moment is drawing forth a generation of new perspectives, tools, and priorities that re-engage established questions and elicit new ones. Twenty-first-century advances in art conservation and science have energized a renewed focus on object-driven inquiry in the disciplines of art history and curating, expanding traditional canons and breaking conventions with an increasingly global vision. Alongside these evolutions, experimental artworks of the 20th century continue to age and create new urgencies that test the protocols and philosophies of conservation practices. As our fields take significant steps in new directions, this is an opportune moment to nurture a conversation about ontology and conceptualism, preservation, and ethics. On June 28th, leading art historians, artists, and museum practitioners will engage with questions of material complexity and contingency of recent art practices, and the evolving, ongoing care of such works in institutions. Topics will include time and action, the electronically or digitally ephemeral, body materializations, inherent vice, and other modes of dematerialization that continue to challenge scholars inside the confines of the museum and beyond. On June 29th, attendees from the time-based media regional network are invited to a workshop to expand upon the discussion around issues in acquiring, exhibiting, and preserving electronic and time-based media artworks. This event is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and hosted through the Chicago Objects Study Initiative (COSI) and the new Time-Based Media Initiative at the Art Institute. It is co-organized jointly by the museum’s departments of Academic Engagement and Research, Conservation and Science, and Modern and Contemporary Art. *Program* *June 28, 2018 | Scholars’ day (open to the public)* *Nichols Trustees Suite* 9:30 a.m. *Welcome and introduction* *Session I* 10:00 a.m. *Opening keynote* Miwon Kwon, University of California, Los Angeles 11:00 a.m. *Approaches to Materiality* Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Maria Hassabi, artist, Athens and New York Moderated discussion led by Christine Mehring, University of Chicago 12:30 p.m. Lunch *Session II* 2:00 p.m. *Collecting and Preserving the (Im)material* Kate Lewis, Museum of Modern Art, New York Annie Fletcher, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven Francesca Esmay, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Moderated discussion led by Christine Frohnert, Bek and Frohnert, LLC, and New York University 3:30 p.m. *Coffee break* *Session III* 4:00 p.m. T*he Collection as Living Archive * Rebecca Schneider, Brown University, Providence Emilie Keldie, Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, New York Adrienne Edwards, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Moderated discussion led by Sampada Aranke, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 5:30 p.m. *Break* *Session IV* 6:00 p.m. *Keynote lecture* Naeem Mohaiemen, artist, New York *this presentation will be in Fullerton Hall *June 29, 2018 | Time-based media workshop (by invitation)* *Nichols Trustees Suite* 9:30 a.m. *Welcome and introductions* Francesca Casadio, Art Institute of Chicago 10:30 a.m. *Opening address* Christine Frohnert, Bek and Frohnert, LLC, and New York University 11:30 a.m. *Working session* Discussion of case studies 12:30 p.m. *Lunch* 1:30 p.m. *Small group roundtable discussions* Special topics determined by survey responses 3:30 p.m. *Reflections and next steps* 4:00 p.m. *Reception* Please reserve your spots online for the symposium ( http://www.artic.edu/event/symposium-unfixed-material-challenges-contemporary-art) and evening keynote lecture ( http://www.artic.edu/event/lecture-naeem-mohaiemen). -- * <http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/helen-frankenthaler-prints-romance-new-medium>**Helen Frankenthaler Prints: The Romance of a New Medium <http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/helen-frankenthaler-prints-romance-new-medium>* Through September 3, 2018 The Art Institute of Chicago Top Ranked in the World by TripAdvisor—Five Years in a Row ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
