International Symposium

Curatorial Practices Reframed: 

Politics and Pedagogy in Curating Contemporary Art

November 1-2, 2013| Nicosia, Cyprus

www.oncurating.com

Since the late 1960s the curator’s role has gained increased significance in the selection and presentation of art, charting out a new territory on the aesthetic and cultural frontier. However, the curator’s authoritarian voice and biased choices, as much as any art institutions’ didacticism and fetishization of the art object, have been called to question as the result of postmodern and post-colonial theories. Beyond such theoretical demands, curators have also been forced to re-examine and re-evaluate their practices due to pragmatic difficulties imposed by the nature of the media that contemporary artists are adopting and which challenge both the traditional exhibition space and audience engagement. More so, curators are confronted with new restrains due to the economic crisis. Responding to such challenges, a so-called “educational turn” has been taking effect and exhibitions are gradually de-centralized through the adoption of pedagogical modes of cultural production, such as workshops, seminars, laboratories, or temporary schools, while various rituals of pedagogy have been appropriated in socially engaged exhibitions. This two-day symposium aims to bring together curators, museum professionals, artists and academics, in order to examine the complexities of curatorial practices within the current socio-political and economic landscape, and to investigate curating’s political potential as a new radical trend of critical cultural production and pedagogy. 

Deadline for Registration: September 15, 2013 

(at www.oncurating.com)

The symposium is free and is organized by the Department of Arts of European University Cyprus in collaboration with the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, associated with the Pierides Foundation and it is part of the research project “The political potential of curatorial practices and educational paradigms” funded by the Internal Research Grant Scheme of European University Cyprus (Principal Investigator: Dr Elena Stylianou).

NiMAC Workshop: Mapping Out the Museum Experience

A workshop with undergraduate students of the Graphic Design Program of EUC that took place at Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre in Nicosia on Friday, February 10. Students were responding to issues of interpretation, the politics of display and of the gallery space, in relation to the works that are currently presented at the centre. Below are some images of students' first responses to the space and the artworks.

EUC Graphic Design Program

The website of the Graphic Design program of the Department of Arts at European University Cyprus is now online! Visit us often for updates and to look at our students' work!

CfP: 2nd International Conference of Photography and Theory

2nd International Conference of Photography and Theory
Photography and Museums: Displayed and Displaying

THALASSA MUNICIPAL MUSEUM, Ayia Napa, Cyprus
November 30 – December 2, 2012


Confirmed Keynote Speaker:
Professor Elizabeth Edwards


CALL FOR PAPERS

Research in historical, artistic and vernacular photography has been rapidly expanding in the past few years. Responding to this trend, the International Conference of Photography and Theory (ICPT) was created with an aim to provide an outlet for an interdisciplinary and critical theoretical exploration of photography and photographic practices. The 2nd International Conference of Photography and Theory (ICPT 2012) aims once again at bringing together researchers and practitioners from diverse fields of study who share a common interest in photography. This year’s topic is ‘Photography and Museums’.

Photography has been historically adopted by various types of museums – art, anthropological, historical, and archaeological – as evidence for the objects on view or as a supporting document to events, stories or other artifacts already on display. In other cases photography has been displayed as an autonomous ‘artifact’ or an art form demanding aesthetic consideration. However, it was not until recently that photography in museums was critically re-evaluated in order to examine photography’s impact on the formation of cultural, historic or social narratives and identities. In addition, museums but also contemporary artists have been showing a renewed interest in photography and its potential to challenge museum orthodoxy, as much as in the medium’s expanding possibilities through the use of new media technologies.

This conference aims to critically investigate the relationship between photography and museums; the impact of the medium on the nature and character of the museum and of the museum experience, but also the impact of the institution on the status and development of photography. We invite proposals for 30-minute presentations (20 minutes presentation and 10 minutes for discussion) from various disciplines, such as: photography, art history and theory, visual sociology, anthropology, museology, philosophy, ethnography, cultural studies, visual and media studies, communications, and fine and graphic arts. These should present an in-depth investigation of the relationship between museums and photography historically, philosophically or through specific case studies.

Submitted proposals for presentations should address, but are not limited to one of the following:

Examining Photography in Museums:
• The political economy of the photograph
• Ethnographic collections
• Representations, narratives, stereotypes and power
• Telling stories, negotiating identities
• Exhibiting news photography
• Exhibiting commercial photography (advertising, fashion photography, editorial etc)
• Photographs as artifacts: the photographic album
• Researching photographic albums in museums / archives
• Documentary photography: evidence and truth
• Photographs of war, violence or/and agony

Photography and Museology:
• Shifting paradigms of display
• Contemporary photography in the museum
• Challenging tradition: digital photography versus painting
• Photography’s impact on the nature of museum collections
• Educational implications of the use of photography in museums
• Photography and museum audiences
• Photography in online museums
• Museum outreach through online photographic collections
• The art museum conversing with the photography museum
• New technologies and the photographic exhibition

Photographers/Artists and the Museum:
• Photographer’s interventions in museums
• Photographing the museum / Questioning the museum
• Photographing museum audiences
• Artists looking at / researching in museum’s photographic archives
• Exhibiting photographic archives
• The artist as curator: displaying found photographs
• Public-generated photography in art exhibitions
• The photography festival: Voices Off, Arles Fest, Paris Photo etc.
• The moving still photograph

To propose a paper please send a 400-word (excluding references) abstract no later than April 15, 2012 to inquiries@photographyandtheory.com. For the purposes of blind refereeing, full name of each author with current affiliation and full contact details (address, email, phone), title of presentation, and a short biographical note (200 words) should be supplied on a separate document. Both documents (abstract and contact details) should be in English.

Important dates:
Deadline for submission: April 15, 2012
Notification of authors: May 30, 2012
Deadline for early registration – authors: July 30, 2012
Deadline for late registration – authors: September 30, 2012
Deadline for full paper submission: September 30, 2012
Deadline for registration – participants: October 1, 2012
Conference: November 30 – December 2, 2012

Submitted proposals will go through blind peer-reviewing and authors will be notified of the acceptance of their proposals by May 30, 2012. Authors whose proposals are accepted must submit full papers of between 4000-6000 words by September 30, 2012 by e-mail to: inquiries@photographyandtheory.com. The guidelines for submitting a paper will be sent to each of the contributors at a later time. The conference proceedings, will include all papers presented and will be distributed during the conference. Selected papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume.

For more information please visit the ICPT website at www.photographyandtheory.com
Questions may be sent to: inquiries@photographyandtheory.com

Members of the Organizing Committee (ICPT2012):
Dr Elena Stylianou, Chair, European University Cyprus
Dr Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Co-chair, Cyprus University of Technology
Prof. Stephanos Stephanides, University of Cyprus
Dr Yiannis Toumazis, Frederick University Cyprus, Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre and Pierides Foundation, Cyprus
Haris Pellapaisiotis, University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Nicos Philippou, University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Nicholas Constantinou, Association of Teachers of Photography in Secondary Education, Cyprus

Members of the Scientific Committee:
Prof. Liz Wells, University of Plymouth, UK
Prof. Darren Newbury, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, UK
Dr Dona Schwartz, University of Minnesota, USA
Dr Alexandra Bounia, University of the Aegean, Greece
Dr Claire Robins, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Dr Elena Stylianou, European University Cyprus, Cyprus
Dr Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Dr Hercules Papaioannou, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece
Dr Ahmad Hosni, independent photographer, Egypt/Spain

Open Studio at EUC

A group of my undergraduate students at European University Cyprus opened their studio to the public on Wednesday, December 21, to show their final projects from the class GRA340: Contemporary Issues in Art. Below are some examples of the students' work:


Victoria Shabanova, Untitled, 2011; prints on paper, black pen.


Vasilis Vasiliou, Breaking Walls, 2011; constructed wall, stencils.




Natalie Georgiou, Photography or Art, 2011; found photograph printed on fabric, wooden box with various threads, needles, light table.


Joanna Gorka, True Woman, 2011; a series of digital photographs

'ART'

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

The play 'Art', written originally in French by Yasmina Reza (1994) opened in Cyprus last week. In the play, when Serge - one of the three characters (Marc and Yvan are the other two) - buys a 'white' painting for an astronomical prize, questions about what counts as art and what doesn't, as much as about the meanings and interpretations of artworks, surface parallel issues on the limits and expectations relevant to friendship. The white canvas beyond illustrating the wider challenges on the concept of art, historically situated in the beginnings of the twentieth century, becomes here an empty surface upon which several readings and writings are tried out. Readings regarding the possible meanings of the work, of art and especially of the art market, but also writings about the ways in which friendship can be challenged, maintained and re-shaped based on individual expectations. How much are you defined by your friends and how neutral are one's opinions and tastes? How much can you shape or expect to shape your friends? How much are we do expect to have the same ideas and share the same values with the people who choose to be friends with? 'ART' was such an exciting play, relevant to out times and reflecting broader philosophical issues.

A conversation with actors Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina about the play 'Art' on Broadway, a HERE