Störungen im Offenen

On the Scope and Limitations of Transformative Art Outreach Programs

16–17 February 2019

Symposium
Outreach

Location(s):
nGbK event space, 1st floor, Oranienstraße 25, 10999 Berlin

Participants

Jasmina Al-Qaisi, Michael Annoff, Elke Bippus, Anna Bromley, Nuray Demir, Claudia Hummel, Stine Marie Jacobsen, Paula-Marie Kanefendt, Silja Korn, Kristina Leko, Nanna Lüth, Kamila Metwaly, Carmen Mörsch, Branka Pavlović, Catriona Shaw, Stefanie Wiens, Yvonne Zindel

Members initiative

Ten years after the nGbK began granting an annual scholarship for art education and outreach, the symposium takes stock of the current aims and past achievements of critical debate in this field. In particular feminist perspectives have highlighted how the knowledge production practices of curators and of art educationalists are rarely considered to be of equal value. The fact that many artistic and curatorial formats draw on art educationalists’ knowledge and expertise as raw material but thereby neglect to name sources and references has also come in for criticism. What can we do to prevent knowledge production in the field of art education and outreach from being marginalised? How can we challenge the attributions laid down by and in art institutions?
The politics of art education and outreach were put up for debate at the nGbK around the turn of the millennium by the working groups Unmittelbare Vergangenheit [Immediate Past] and Kunstcoop© . They identified blind spots that the association had not yet given much thought. They recalled that the nGbK had been founded as an anti-elitist producer and propagator of non-traditional foundational research. Thanks to its democratic grass-roots structure, the nGbK is indeed well placed to serve as a platform for collective and progressive education and outreach. It is anchored in the association’s statutes that (curatorial) responsibility for every nGbK project lies in the hands of a working group, not with a sole sovereign curator. And this is why artistic, curatorial, theoretical and activist perspectives and practices have been able to fuse here from the very start.

Kunstcoop© members Carmen Mörsch and Nanna Lüth plan to address at the symposium issues of representation, the status of art education, and the necessity of putting exhibition and art education practices on an equal footing. It was with such thorny questions – about gender hierarchies, for example, or interpretative and budget prerogatives – that Kunstcoop© paved the way for the nGbK’s non-conditional annual scholarship for art education and outreach. This was first tendered in 2008 and is unique in the German-speaking countries. The idea is emancipatory, but must be critically examined: What can be done to ensure that independent and investigative forms of art education and outreach continue to evolve at the nGbK – in the public eye and in the public interest – as an extension of and complement to curatorial practice?

Curated by Anna Bromley
With assistance of Paula-Marie Kanefendt

We sincerely thank everyone who contributed to preparing the event as well as Anja Bodanowitz, Birgit Auf der Lauer, Elke Krasny, Ayşe Güleç, Museum of Impossible Forms (Marianne Niemelä, Ali Akbar Mehta, Christopher Wessels) and Nora Sternfeld.

DAY 1

Saturday, 16 February 2019
12:30
Reception and Opening Address
With Anna Bromley and Paula-Marie Kanefendt

13:00
Guided tour of the exhibition »40 Jahre Kunst im Kontext« with Claudia Hummel (Curator)

14:00
Lecture, plus Q&A
Nanna Lüth: Widerständige Wege zu verschwinden? Feminisierte Dienstleistung und prekäre Arbeit in (Darstellungen) der Kunstvermittlung
Taking a Stand on Vanishing Acts? Feminised Services and Precarity in (Representations of) Art Education and Outreach

15:30
Lecture, plus Q&A
Carmen Mörsch: Vielleicht doch lieber ›Bildung‹? Auf jeden Fall ›diskriminierungskritisch‹
›Education‹ – Perhaps Preferable After All? But Above All: ›Anti-Discriminatory and Emancipatory‹

17:00
Art Educators’ Talk
Silja Korn, Kristina Leko, Branka Pavlovic, Catriona Shaw, Stefanie Wiens, Yvonne Zindel
Chaired by: Anna Bromley, Paula-Marie Kanefendt

Drinks at the bar

Anna Bromley, nGbK Scholarship recipient 2018; develops exhibitions, installations, performances, texts, radio interviews and radio plays ¦ Interests: Slips of the tongue and other breaks or gaps in official speeches and vernaculars

Claudia Hummel, Art educationalist, teacher at the Institute for Art in Context, UdK Berlin, curator of the current nGbK exhibition »40 Years of Art in Context«, juror for award of the nGbK Art Education and Outreach Scholarship 2016 ¦ Current focus: The history of art education and outreach practice in the BRD since the 1970s

Paula-Marie Kanefendt, Artist, art educationalist, nGbK Scholarship recipient 2019; pursues scientific research in the art education field ¦ Current project: performative strategies for experimental exploration of mementos and other material in the nGbK archive

Silja Korn, Painter, photographer, and short story author; team member with –consultancy for barrier-free art education, outreach, and other inclusionary practices

Kristina Leko, Artist; works in/on video installation, documentary film, photography, text, objects and illustration ¦ Focus: Social interaction and participation; participatory art projects, primarily with disadvantaged sections of society

Nanna Lüth, Works in art education and outreach and media production; Kunstcoop© member; juror for award of the nGbK Art Education and Outreach Scholarship 2017; junior professor of Art Education and Gender Research at the UdK Berlin ¦ Focus: Deconstructive and inclusionary pedagogic practice; visual studies and critique of representation; queer-feminist and anti-discriminatory art education

Carmen Mörsch, Artist, cultural theorist and art educationalist; Kunstcoop© member; juror for award of the nGbK Art Education and Outreach Scholarship 2017; professor of Art Education at the University of the Arts, Mainz ¦ Research focus: Past and present art education as a practice-oriented critique of cultural hegemony and social discrimination

Branka Pavlovic, Artist, film editor and video artist; nGbK Scholarship recipient 2013–2015; programme director at the »Free Zone Belgrade Human Rights Film Festival« ¦ Focus: Intercultural work and art in public space; documentary and feature films; theatre productions

Catriona Shaw, Artist; works in/on illustration, performance, music, radio plays; nGbK Scholarship recipient 2010–2012 ¦ Focus: Performative installations in arts education/ the cultural sector; forging links between artistic exploration, pop culture and everyday life

Stefanie Wiens, Founding director of – consultancy for barrier-free art education, outreach, and other inclusionary practices; nGbK Scholarship recipient 2017; works in a steadily growing team, advising cultural institutions on inclusionary practices.

Yvonne Zindel, Author and curator; developed the online portal »Infinitechat.net«; nGbK Scholarship recipient 2015/2016; researches digital technologies and develops educational concepts


DAY 2

Sunday, 17 Februar 2019
12:30
A Brief Review of Day 1
With Anna Bromley and Paula-Marie Kanefendt

13:00
Talk plus Q&A
Michael Annoff and Nuray Demir: Kein schöner Archiv. Immaterielles Erbe als künstlerische Forschung
Immaterial Heritage in Archival and Art Research

14:00 Talk and Presentation
Kamila Metwaly and Jasmina Al-Qaisi: On the Listening Sessions »Untraining the Ear«

15:00 Screening of »Direct Approach« and Film Clips
Stine Marie Jacobsen: Erzähl mir von der gewalttätigsten Filmszene, die du je gesehen hast
Tell Me About the Most Violent Film Scenes You’ve Ever Seen

16:00 Lecture plus Q&A
Elke Bippus: Wissen(schaft)skritik – dehierarchisierende, partizipative und visuelle Vermittlungen.
A Critique of (Scientific) Knowledge – Anti-hierarchical, Participative, and Visual Education

Closing Session with refreshments

Jasmina Al-Qaisi, Visual anthropologist, journalist, radio producer ¦ Current sound project: »Untraining the Ear« listening sessions at SAVVY Contemporary

Michael Annoff, Cultural anthropologist, cultural worker ¦ Focus: issues in the applied cultural sciences of political anthropology and ethnography in interaction with the arts and contemporary political activism ¦ Current project: Diversity development and social justice in public institutions

Elke Bippus, Professor of Theory and History of Art ¦ Focus: Modern and contemporary art, theory of images and representation, artistic production techniques and procedures ¦ Current project: Examining knowledge production and art as feminist and anti-hierarchical practices

Anna Bromley, nGbK Scholarship recipient 2018; develops exhibitions, installations, performances, texts, radio interviews and radio plays ¦ Interests: Slips of the tongue and other breaks or gaps in official speeches and vernaculars

Nuray Demir, Artist/curator in the visual, dramatic and performative arts; collaborates with/in temporary ensembles ¦ Interests: Debates on feminist and post-colonial theory; critical analyses of social exclusion and hierarchical relations

Stine Marie Jacobsen, Conceptual artist engaged in long-term participatory and educational projects on violence and the law ¦ Focus: Critical analyses and new perspectives on ethics, identity, control, fear and trust. Currently working on »Direct Aproach«, a violence prevention project

Paula-Marie Kanefendt, Artist, art educationalist, nGbK Scholarship recipient 2019; pursues scientific research in the art education field ¦ Current project: performative strategies for experimental exploration of mementos and other material in the nGbK archive

Kamila Metwaly, Music journalist, musician and curator ¦ Current sound project: Curator of »Untraining the Ear« listening sessions at SAVVY Contemporary