The panel of Sunday-afternoon starts of with a relaxed atmosphere and a busy room. Dieter Lesage unfortunately couldn’t be here, due to illness. Gerald Raunig however, is the first to admit that due to Lesage’s illness he can give a longer presentation. Phil Collins (not the Phil Collins, as Charles Esche pointed out in his introduction) admits his nerves about talking in front of an audience. Nevertheless it proves to be an entertaining afternoon. Continue Reading »

This last Sunday begins with a conversation between Kobena Mercer and Nikos Papastergiadis. The subject, and they keep to it quite well, was Face and Facelessness and Place and Placenessless of the Other. Both got the opportunity to state their opinion about this before Charles Esche would, as he hoped, shape it into a dialogue.
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“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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