i-collect

TREASURE CHESTS OR TOOLS

SOME HISTORIES AND SPECULATIONS ABOUT ART COLLECTIONS

MAY 25 – MAY 26, 2012

SALT Galata, Auditorium

A Two-Day Symposium at SALT Galata in the context of the 2012 collaboration between SALT and the Van Abbemuseum

İstanbul Eindhoven-SALTVanAbbe is a yearlong collaboration between SALT and the Van Abbemuseum, with three consecutive exhibitions presented across SALT venues. The exhibitions bring together works from the Van Abbemuseum collection with selected local positions to suggest “temporary museums” in İstanbul throughout 2012.

While the exceptionally vital cultural life in İstanbul acts as an affirmation of a larger global cultural shift, the city has a shortfall in collections of regional and international art of the last century. Hence, discourses and narratives have not been anchored to actual objects and material histories; and comparative historical readings have not been sufficiently entertained.

While institutions in West Europe and the United States are experiencing hardship, and losing their traditional cultural support bases and audiences, new power corridors and cultural hubs are being established elsewhere where emerging markets and new economies produce a rising demand for new institutions. The new situation presents challenging possibilities and ethical perplexities for historical collections. The symposium will debate new intelligent and research-based approaches to inter-institutional partnerships, international knowledge building, developing new common strategies for protecting the integrity of institutions from managerial interventions.

“Treasure Chests or Tools: Some Histories and Speculations About Art Collections” symposium is expected to act as a prelude to International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Modern Art’s (CIMAM) 2012 Annual Conference titled “Museums Beyond the Crises,” which will take place November 12-14, 2012 hosted by SALT.

The symposium is organized in the context of İstanbul Eindhoven-SALTVanAbbe, in the framework of the 400th year of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands.

The symposium is free.
Simultaneous translation is available.

Supported by Outset

FRIDAY, MAY 25

14.30-14.45 Introduction / Charles Esche (Van Abbemuseum)
14.45-15.30 Zdenka Badovinac (Moderna galerija)
15.30-16.15 Wassan Al-Khudairi (Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art)

16.15-16.30 Break

16.30-17.45 Turkish Case I
Levent Çalıkoğlu (İstanbul Modern), Haro Cümbüşyan (Collectorspace)
17.45-18.15 Summary and lessons for Turkey / Charles Esche

SATURDAY, MAY 26

10.30-10.45 Introduction / Vasıf Kortun (SALT)
10.45-11.30 “Curating the Collection” / Steven ten Thije

11.30-11.45 Break

11.45-12.30 Georg Schöllhammer (tranzit.at)
12.30-13.15 Bartomeu Marí Ribas (MACBA)

13.15-14.45 Break

14.45-15.30 Jesús María Carrillo Castillo (Reina Sofia Museum)
15.30-16.15 Antonia Carver (Art Dubai)

16.15-16.30 Break

16.30-17.30 Turkish Case II
Can Elgiz (Proje4L), Emre Baykal (ARTER)
17.30-18.00 Open discussion moderated by Charles Esche and Vasıf Kortun

from SALTonline

Thomas Büsch

Filmmaker, Founding Member and Secretary General of diyalog, promotion of cultural exchange with Turkey. Since 2012 he is also project manager of InEnArt.

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