Collecting Geographies

The Stedelijk Museum – in collaboration with ASCA/ACGS at the University of Amsterdam, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Folkwang Museum Essen, and the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam – is proud to present the three-day conference Collecting Geographies, as part of the museum’s Global Collaborations program. The conference consists of a number of public keynote lectures and panel discussions, as well as more than 80 lectures divided over 24 themed sessions during the three days of the conference. These papers were selected from an open call, to which an overwhelming number of curators, artists, theoreticians, sociologists, and scholars responded. 

Tickets and reservations

The conference is sold out. 

Entrance fee for all keynote lectures and panel discussions: entrance ticket to the museum + € 2.50, per event. Public attendance to the academic sessions is limited
It's necessary to make a reservation for the keynote lectures and panel discussions. To make a reservation mail to: globalconference@stedelijk.nl mentioning your name and the event concerned.
Entrance fee to entire conference (all keynotes, panels, academic sessions, lunches etc.): € 100,- 
If you have any questions please inquire through globalconference@stedelijk.nl

Conference themes

Against the backdrop of globalization today, museums for modern and contemporary art in the Western Hemisphere are increasingly engaging in the acquisition and presentation of art from all over the world, beyond the still-prevalent dominance of European and North American art. Given the extreme concentration of internationally operating art institutions in Western Europe and the United States on the one hand, and the often radically different self-understanding of non-Western art institutions on the other, the institutional claims to the global need to be reviewed, contextualized, and contested.

A critical reassessment of the history of Western art museums provides a starting point for this discussion. When taking a closer look at the institutional histories of such museums, it often appears that they are more diverse and can offer interesting correspondences with today’s curatorial practices and broadening international scope. At the same time, the conference will deal with questions such as: How to go beyond cultural essentialism? How can museums reconcile a globalizing perspective with local cultural diversities? Can we replace modernist categorization methods, for example the most obvious one that has split the “ethnographic” from the “modern”? What can we learn from artist practices? And what are – and have been – the policies for “global” programming and acquisitions developed by modern and contemporary art museums?

The three-day conference Collecting Geographies: Global Programming and Museums of Modern Art takes a closer look at the new inquiries into the relationships between art institutions, globalization, and postcolonial discourse, including a critical assessment of the deployed terminology and the strategies that focus on local affinities within a larger art-historical and global framework.

On the night of March 13, Pamela M. Lee will deliver an opening keynote lecture, followed by a panel discussion between representatives of the collaborating institutions – Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, ASCA/ACGS at the University of Amsterdam, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Folkwang Museum Essen, and the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam. On March 14, the conference will proceed with a keynote lecture by the acclaimed anthropologist James Clifford, followed by a program consisting of various academic sessions. On that same evening, an additional panel discussion will be held, hosted by the Tropenmuseum. On March 15, there will be another opening panel discussion, as well as the second round of academic sessions, and a concluding wrap-up event. 

Public keynotes and discussion panels

KEYNOTE LECTURES

- March 13, 7:30-8:30 pm: Pamela M. Lee (professor, art and art history, Stanford University)
- March 14, 10:30-11:30 am: James Clifford (professor emeritus, history of consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz)
- March 15, 10.30 – 11.30 am: Annie Cohen-Solal (University lecturer, general commissioner of Magiciens de la terre 2014, Centre Pompidou, Parijs) and Paul Goodwin (curator, lecturer and ex-director of Tate Britain’s Cross Cultural Programme).
- March 15, 4.30-6.00 pm: Wrap-up

DISCUSSION PANELS

- Title: Global Collaborations

March 13, 8:30-9:30 pm
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Panel participants:

Ann-Sofi Noring (co-director, Moderna Museet)
Tobia Bezzola (director, Museum Folkwang)
Wayne Modest (head of research, Tropenmuseum)
Jeroen de Kloet (ASCA/AGS)

Opening address: Jelle Bouwhuis (head curator, Global Collaborations)
Moderator: Margriet Schavemaker (head of collections and research, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) 

- Title: Thinking Globally: Museums, Art and Ethnography after the Global Turn

March 14, 8:00-10:00 pm
Tropenmuseum Amsterdam

Panel participants:

Kader Attia (artist)
James Clifford (professor emeritus, history of consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz)
Wendelien van Oldenborgh (artist)
Jette Sandahl (director, Museum of Kopenhagen)

Moderator: Leon Wainwright (The Open University and editor-in-chief of the Open Arts Journal)

Practical information:

Here you can find the complete conference program. To easily navigate through this PDF document by using the bookmarks on the left side – table of contents – of the program. Also, it is possible to click on all sessions, names and locations etc. for more information.

All reservations and inquiries through Dorine de Bruijne via globalconference@stedelijk.nl

Press inquiries: pressoffice@stedelijk.nl

For the latest updates on the program and reservations, please keep an eye on our website: www.stedelijk.nl and our journal. 

The conference Collecting Geographies is organized by the Stedelijk Museum and the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam – in collaboration with ASCA/ACGS at the University of Amsterdam, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Folkwang Museum Essen, and the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Flemish-Dutch House deBuren for supporting us.

The Global Collaborations project has been made possible through the generous support of  Ammodo and the Mondrian Fund.