The “explicit material” approach wishes to advance a way of thinking about the materiality of objects as they enter our collections and undergo a transformation from their previous context(s) to a museological one. This session invites an interdisciplinary dialogue to explore the relationships between curatorial and conservation philosophies across a range of institutions, focusing on the ways in which these apparently divergent fields shape thinking about—and the practices of—collecting, exhibiting, and caring for objects. The presentations cover a wide range of subject matter: from perishable media to medieval manuscripts, and from self-effacing photographs to films on museum collections, and myths about abstract expressionists. The conservators, scholars, curators and artist on the panel are in dialogue about questions of materiality, value, uniqueness, endurance and decay, and attempt to give a more nuanced voice to different forms of documentary evidence.
For more information about the conference, click here.
In the 1960s, the art world and its objects began to experience a dramatic shift in what and how art can be. New modes of artistic expression articulated through Fluxus activities, happening, performance, video, experimental film and the emerging practices of media art questioned the idea of a static object that endures unchanged and might thus be subject to a singular interpretation. Different from traditional visual arts, the blending genres and media in art since the 1960s began to transform not only curatorial and museum collecting practices, but also the traditional function and mandate of conservation, now augmented to accept the inherent dynamism and changeability of artworks.
Can Fluxus be musealized? How to conceive of the afterlives of performance? How to negotiate the continuity of experimental film in between the visual and cinematic cultures? How to locate new media beyond the paradigmatic singularity and uniqueness of traditional “objects”? Can the notion of conservation be sustained? Engaging in what might be called an expanded curatorial and conservation discourse, this symposium brings together international scholars in visual and performing arts, film, media, curatorial and conservation studies to debate aspects of continuity and change in artworks on the occasion of the Focus Gallery exhibition Revisions—Zen for Film.
Revisions—Zen for Film was developed during a two-year Andrew W. Mellon “Cultures of Conservation” Fellowship at Bard Graduate Center.
Streamed live on Sep 21, 2015 from Bard Graduate Center’s Lecture Hall, 38 West 86th Street, New York
11:15–11:25am
Introduction
11:25am–12:00pm
Hanna Hölling
2013-2015 Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professor, Cultures of Conservation, Bard Graduate Center
Visiting Scholar, MPIWG, Berlin
“Zen for Film: Object, Event, Performance, Process”
12:00–1:30pm
Lunch
1:30–2:05pm
Glenn Wharton
Clinical Associate Professor, Museum Studies, New York University
“Between Objects and Performance: Translating Artworks at the Contemporary Art Museum”
2:05–2:40pm
Hannah Higgins
Professor, Chair of Art History, University of Illinois, Chicago
“Reperformance: A Typology”
2:40–3:15pm
Coffee break
3:15–3:50pm
Sarah Cook
Reader and Curator, University of Dundee
“Restart: A Curatorial Perspective on Generative and Variable Media Art Works”
3:50–4:25pm
Andrew V. Uroskie
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, MA/PhD Program in Modern Art History, Criticism & Theory, Stony Brook University
“Philosophical Toys: Marcel Duchamp, Robert Breer and the Problem of the Moving Image for Institutions of Postwar Art”
On September 21, a group of international scholars presented papers at the Bard Graduate Center symposium, “Revisions: Object—Event—Performance since the 1960s,” following the opening of the Focus Gallery exhibition ‘Revisions—Zen for Film’. In a new blog post, Lara Schilling, a second-year M.A. student at Bard Graduate Center in New York City reflects on the day’s vital interdisciplinary dialogue regarding important contemporary issues in the ongoing conservation & curation of multimedia artworks.
The preparations for the opening of Revisions-Zen for Film are running. We have just signed off the final draft for the handout, which will be provided to the visitors in the Focus Gallery, 18 West 86th Street.
Handout for Revisions, page 1Handout for Revisions, page 2
In the 1960s, the art world and its objects began to experience a dramatic shift in what and how art can be. New modes of artistic expression articulated through Fluxus activities, happening, performance, video, experimental film and the emerging practices of media art questioned the idea of a static object that endures unchanged and might thus be subject to a singular interpretation. Different from traditional visual arts, the blending genres and media in art since the 1960s began to transform not only curatorial and museum collecting practices, but also the traditional function and mandate of conservation, now augmented to accept the inherent dynamism and changeability of artworks.Can Fluxus be musealized? How to conceive of the afterlives of performance? How to negotiate the continuity of experimental film in between the visual and cinematic cultures? How to locate new media beyond the paradigmatic singularity and uniqueness of traditional “objects”? Can the notion of conservation be sustained? Engaging in what might be called an expanded curatorial and conservation discourse, this symposium brings together international scholars in visual and performing arts, film, media, curatorial and conservation studies to debate aspects of continuity and change in artworks on the occasion of the Focus Gallery exhibition Revisions—Zen for Film.Sponsors: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Cultures of Conservation
11:15–11:25am Introduction
11:25am–12:00pm Hanna Hölling
2013-2015 Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professor, Cultures of Conservation, Bard Graduate Center
Visiting Scholar, MPIWG, Berlin
“Zen for Film: Object, Event, Performance, Process”
12:00–1:30pm Lunch
1:30–2:05pm Glenn Wharton
Clinical Associate Professor, Museum Studies, New York University
“Between Objects and Performance: Translating Artworks at the Contemporary Art Museum”
2:05–2:40pm Hannah Higgins
Professor, Chair of Art History, University of Illinois, Chicago
“‘And to Think that I Saw It!’: A Reperformance Typology”
2:40–3:15pm Coffee break
3:15–3:50pm Sarah Cook
Curator, University of Dundee
3:50–4:25pm Andrew V. Uroskie
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, MA/PhD Program in Modern Art History, Criticism & Theory, Stony Brook University
“Philosophical Toys: Marcel Duchamp, Robert Breer and the Problem of the Moving Image for Institutions of Postwar Art”
How do works of art endure over time in the face of aging materials and changing interpretations of their meaning? How do decay, technological obsolescence, and the blending of old and new media affect what an artwork is and can become? And how can changeable artworks encourage us to rethink our assumptions of a work of art as fixed and static? Revisions—Zen for Film, on view this fall and winter in the Bard Graduate Center Focus Gallery, explores these questions through Zen for Film, one of the most evocative artworks by the Korean-American artist Nam June Paik (1932–2006). Created during the early 1960s, Zen for Film consists of the screening of blank film leader for several minutes. As the film ages and wears in the projector, the viewer is confronted with a constantly evolving work. Revisions—Zen for Film provides a fresh perspective on an artwork with a rich history of display by asking precisely what, how, and when is Zen for Film?
Developed during a two-year Andrew W. Mellon “Cultures of Conservation” Fellowship at Bard Graduate Center, Revisions—Zen for Film offers a unique and intimately focused encounter with the materiality of Paik’s work. The exhibition is accompanied by a digital interactive with contributions by BGC master’s students and a publication of the same name published by the University of Chicago Press.
