The next Max and Iris Stern International Symposium at the Musée d’art contemporain will focus on the place of risk in modern and contemporary art museums: how do these institutions accept, avoid, embrace, or suppress it?
Risk is among the current and wide-ranging issues currently faced by museum collections. It manifests itself in the concerns regarding acquisition protocols, conservation, preservation and exhibition standards, as well as in the growing urgency imposed by technological obsolescence and the anticipated degradation of artworks that feature living organisms. Risk can also be found in how museums position themselves in the face of political issues, no to mention in the threats brought on by the climate crisis and armed conflicts.
Addressing risk raises several questions: How do artistic, curatorial, archival, conservation, and restoration practices navigate between notions of risk and care? In a context where museum collections are based on the material durability and stability of objects, how do museums that acquire unstable and changing works handle the risks that come with them? Or is the opposition between risk and care a false dichotomy? Will works that have the necessary resources to survive their own programmed obsolescence form a new de facto canon? In cases such as these, what role does documentation play?
By bringing together several stakeholders with multiple, complementary perspectives and experiences, the 17th Max and Iris Stern International Symposium will present an overview of current practices and examine the notion of risk-taking in a convivial setting, conducive to discussion and exchange.
If you would like to attend the conference remotely, you can register via this link : Webdiffusion Colloque Stern – Zoom
Friday, April 4
1:00 p.m. – Welcome Addresses and Introduction
1:15 p.m. – The Museumization of Risk [in French and English]
Jérôme Denis, Professor of Sociology and Director, Centre de sociologie de l’innovation, Mines Paris – PSL
Karen Cheung, Curatorial Associate of Media Arts, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Caterina Florio, Head, Conservation, McCord Stewart Museum
François Morelli, Artist
Moderated by Annie Gauthier, Director and Chief Curator, Musée d’art de Joliette
3:00 p.m. – Break
3:30 p.m. – Atelier Lozano-Hemmer [in English]
Rafael Lozano Hemmer, Artist
Stephan Schulz, Head of R&D
Guillaume Tremblay, Head of Legacy
Emma Dickson, Conservation Technician
4:30 p.m. – Break
5:00 p.m. – Opening Conference [in English]
Pip Laurenson, Professor of Conservation, Director MSc Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media, University College London
6:00 p.m. – Cocktails
Saturday, April 5
10:00 a.m. – ART : UNE HISTOIRE DE LA VIOLENCE (Art: A History of Violence) [videoconference, in French]
Guillaume Désanges, President, Palais de Tokyo
11:15 a.m. – Break
11:30 p.m. – Conversation [hybrid, in English]
Tino Sehgal, Artist
Pip Laurenson, Professor of Conservation, Director MSc Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media, University College London
12:15 p.m. – Lunch
1:30 p.m. – Screening [in French and English]
Films de Ben Vautier: Extraits des performances de Ben Vautier et du groupe Fluxus depuis 1960 (The Films of Ben Vautier: Excerpts from Performances by Ben Vautier and the Fluxus Group since 1960)
2:30 p.m. – Conference [videoconference, in French]
Rasha Salti, Co-Curator, Past Disquiet exhibition
3:30 p.m. – Break
4:00 p.m. – Risk Policy [in English]
Nuria Carton de Grammont, Director/Curator, SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art
Nasrin Himada, Associate Curator, Academic Outreach and Community Engagement, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University
Tanya Lukin-Linklater, Artist
Moderated by eunice bélidor, Independent Curator
5:00 p.m. – Closing Conference [in English]
Abbas Akhavan, Artist
Participants: Abbas Akhavan, eunice bélidor, Nuria Carton de Grammont, Karen Cheung, Jérôme Denis, Guillaume Désanges, Emma Dickson, Caterina Florio, Annie Gauthier, Nasrin Himada, Pip Laurenson, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Tanya Lukin-Linklater, François Morelli, Rasha Salti, Stephan Schulz, Tino Sehgal and Guillaume Tremblay.
Curators: Mélanie Boucher and Marie Fraser, with Mark Lanctôt, Curator of the collection at the MAC.
This event is organized in collaboration with the CIÉCO Research and Inquiry Group as part of its New Uses of Collections in Art Museums Partnership activities, the UQAM Research Chair in Curatorial Studies and Practices, and the UQO Équipe Art et Musée.
