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Dear all, This looks like an interesting conference in Leipzig about contemporary curatorial practices. It's a good opportunity to visit Leipzig! *www.kdk-leipzig.de/veranstaltungen.html*<http://www.kdk-leipzig.de/veranstaltungen.html> Warm regards, Michael -- Michael Birchall curator | writer +4917666464840 +4971315944910 [log in to unmask] 22.-24. January 2010 *Cultures of the Curatorial* Conference at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig The conference “Cultures of the Curatorial” will take place at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig from Jan. 22nd to 24th 2010. The conference aims at positioning the Curatorial – a practice which goes decisively beyond the making of exhibitions – within a transdisciplinary and transcultural context and exploring it as a genuine method of generating, mediating and reflecting experience and knowledge. It thus takes into account the current economic, social and political developments within the cultural field under the conditions of globalization, neo-liberalism and post-fordism. Background to the conference is the observation that in the course of the 20 th century the relations and conditions for the presentation and reception of cultural objects and information have increasingly become a focus of artistic and other cultural practices. Between art and science forms of practice, techniques, formats and aesthetics have emerged which can be can be subsumed under the notion of the “Curatorial” – not dissimilar to the functions of the concepts of the filmic or the literary. With activities such as organization, compilation, display, presentation, mediation or publication the curatorial encompasses a multitude of different, overlapping and heterogeneously coded duties and roles. Dealing with them the various participants within the field have developed a broad spectrum of historically, disciplinary, professionally and regionally shaped approaches. Over the past twenty years the curatorial has then yet again gained in social relevance. Located within the cultural realm it betrays a number of characteristics, which allow for its social and economic importance particularly within the service and information sector. Consequences were in a first instance the competency demands for those working in this realm which have considerably grown in quantity and complexity. The globalizing of exhibiting activities, the continuously growing numbers of visitors connected with it, the increased mobility of people, objects and information, the new relevance of culture for regional economic development as well as the economically oriented restructuring of cultural politics mark some of the most important conditions of this development. Furthermore the curatorial plays a decisive role within the contemporary de-limitation of the arts, for the changing notion of artistic work and competency as well as for the current social status of artists. In this context it developed model functions for the economic field with respect for example to creative industries, tourist economics and the transition to flexible working conditions. However, in this same context there also developed strategies and techniques unfolding the critical potential of the curatorial to question the social, economic and cultural effects of globalization and neo-liberalism in a specific way. The conference pursues these various current practices and formats of the curatorial and their societal perspectives. It integrates different artistic and academic disciplines and professions, - visual arts, dance, theater, film and music – which touch, intersect, complement but also compete with one another. Additionally it focuses on the similarities, differences and reciprocities of socially, economically, ethnically, regionally or nationally defined curatorial cultures and inquires about the respective conditions. The aim is to mark the field within which the actual societal relevance of the curatorial as a form of experience, cognition and knowledge emerges with its aesthetic, social and political perspectives. The main language of the conference will be English. No registration required. Free entry. Start: Friday, 22.01.2010, 2 p.m. Location/venue: *Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (Academy of Visual Arts)* *Festsaal* *Wächterstraße 11* *04107 Leipzig* Germany -------------------------------------- Mittwoch, 20. Januar 2010, 19 Uhr *Hortensia Völckers: Kulturförderung transdisziplinär und transkulturell* Vortrag Hortensia Völckers ist künstlerische Direktorin und Vorstandsmitglied der Kulturstiftung des Bundes. Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig, Raum 2.41. Eintritt frei.