Over the course of six months, Witte de With has been presenting a program of three symposia, titled Rotterdam Dialogues: Critics, Curators, Artists.
Structured to establish a lively platform for debate and exchange, they create space for a range of voices and explore the practice of three of the central protagonists of the contemporary art world. The Critics was the first symposium, held in October 2008, followed by the highly successful The Curators in early March 2009. The series will now be concluded with The Artists, a symposium focusing on the artistic practice. This last program strives to open up layers of and influences on artistic practice that are normally hidden from public display.
The speakers include:
AES+F, Danai Anesiadou, Sven Augustijnen, Alex Bag, Yael Bartana, Bik Van der Pol, Guillaume Bijl, Pierre Bismuth, Mark Boulos, Petr Bystrov, Jota Castro, Banu Cennetoğlu, Spartacus Chetwynd, Jan De Cock, Plamen Dejanoff, Simon Denny, Doug Fishbone, Rainer Ganahl, Kendell Geers, Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel, Liam Gillick, Piero Golia, Nicoline van Harskamp, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Carsten Höller, Richard Hutten, Runa Islam, Luis Jacob, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Gabriel Kuri, Matthieu Laurette, Tim Lee, Gabriel Lester, Erik van Lieshout, An Te Liu, Oswaldo Macia, Goshka Macuga, Josephine Meckseper, Sarah Morris, Deimantas Narkevičius, Olaf Nicolai, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Ulrike Ottinger, Philippe Parreno, Judy Radul, Lili Reynaud Dewar, Jimmy Robert, Willem de Rooij, Martha Rosler, Santiago Sierra, Nedko Solakov, Superflex, Piotr Uklański, Anton Vidokle, Barbara Visser, Jeff Wall, Klaus Weber, Eyal Weizman, Jordan Wolfson. (Program subject to change)
Topics
Thursday – Expectations looks not only at the personal expectations of individual artists, but also at those of audiences and of other agents involved in the artistic practice.
Friday – Positions focuses on day to day artistic choices, often unintentional, also strategies for entering and maintaining networks and the importance of building a reputation.
Saturday – Contexts explores the general conditions and ideas underlying the profession, the particular influences that shape an individual oeuvre and the increasingly global framework of art production, discourse and distribution.
Masterclass
On Sunday April 19, from 2 – 5 p.m. a masterclass will be given for young artists and postgraduate students by Ulrike Ottinger.
Numbers are limited – reservations@wdw.nl with ‘masterclass Ottinger’ as the subject header of your email
Workshop
From Wednesday 15 to Saturday 18 April, Vancouver-based artist Judy Radul will give a hands-on workshop on ‘ the artist’s talk’.
This is a closed workshop, with selected participants. More information: info@wdw.nl.
Extra Events
Friday April 17, 11:00 – 11:15 a.m.
Critical Run, organized by Thierry Geoffroy
Starting location Witte de With front door. (TBC)
Saturday April 18, from 10:00 p.m. to midnight
Final Act
A performative happening by and in the presence of the invited speakers.
Location: Witte de With. Final program to be announced.
Free with symposium ticket.
Practical information
Time: Doors open daily from 12:30 p.m.
Program starts daily at 1:30 p.m.
Tickets: We can only accept cash
* reduction for students, Friends Witte de With
Reservations: reservations@wdw.nl
Language: English
Location: Witte de With, 3rd floor
Full program and more details available for download from http://www.wdw.nl.
Rotterdam Dialogues: Critics, Curators, Artists is conceived by Zoë Gray, Nicolaus Schafhausen and Ariadne Urlus. The Artists is co-organized with Tanja Elstgeest and Miriam Kathrein.
Also at Witte de With
Witte de With’s solo exhibition of Edith Dekyndt, titled Agnosia, will be open during the symposium and runs until 26 April 2009.
Support
Rotterdam Dialogues: Critics, Curators, Artists is generously supported by the Mondriaan Foundation, VSBfonds and SNS REAAL Fonds.
Witte de With is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Culture and the City of Rotterdam.