To understand our society we must first know about our history, says Charles Esche in his opening speech. Knowledge is crucial to understand certain things, so not only must we know our own history, we also need to understand the history of other countries around us. This is why in today’s panel there were three international guests who all presented their projects. In a packed auditorium curator Tone O. Nielsen (Denmark) starts with the presentation of her project ‘Rethinking Nordic Colonialism’ (A Postcolonial Exhibition Project in Five Acts). Continue Reading »

“What is missing in art” sounds from a megaphone. A couple of meters ahead, a man empties a bottle of milk in the Dommel River, next to the Van Abbemuseum. He walks up to the man with the megaphone and receives a piece of paper. The paper goes into the bottle, the bottle is closed and the next question already resounds over the water of the Dommel.

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“The lights dim slowly, but I am also very slow”, says German Roger Buergel before he starts his keynote lecture Beyond Identity and Difference. Is the artistic director of the famous contemporary art event Documenta XII (2007) referring to the fact that he was delayed and the timeschedule had to be changed? Or does he refer to the tempo in which he gives his lecture? He speaks slowly and gentle, and that’s a good thing.

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Sober room, black chairs and a white table. The speakers blend right in with their semi-formal outfits. Their stories and interactions are more colorful.
Charles Esche recaptures what was discussed in yesterday’s panel, how it went and what will be (one of the) subjects today. The three speakers today: Grant Watson, Dmitry Vilensky and Shepherd Steiner talk about the inheritance of communism. Or so it started out.

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