Global Collaborations: Jean-Hubert Martin

In the framework of the Stedelijk’s Global Collaborations program and the exhibition How Far How Near, Jean-Hubert Martin will look back on his career in relation to the themes and challenges that face those working in Global Art. Martin is known for introducing a thoroughly international critique of non-Western art in modern art institutions, which had restricted their main focus on art from Europe, North America, and NATO allies. While Martin is applauded for the historical importance of his curatorial work, his work continues to raise questions which are still relevant today.

The seminal exhibition Magiciens de la Terre (1989) in Centre Pompidou and Parc la Villette highlights Martin’s career, which spans more than 40 years of exhibition making. Magiciens de la Terre presented the work of over one hundred artists (half of whom were described as non-Western) and radically challenged the traditional Western art system by offering direct aesthetic experience of contemporary works of art made globally and presented on equal terms. More recently, Martin presented Ilya and Emilia Kabakov with the large-scale commission The Strange City (2014) in the Grand Palais in Paris as well as the exhibition Theatre of the World (2014) in La Maison Rouge. The former followed the Kabakovs’ first western European solo exhibition in Kunsthalle Bern in 1985, which was also curated by Martin.

To elaborate on the contemporary resonance of Magiciens de la Terre, Martin’s keynote lecture will be introduced by curator Jelle Bouwhuis, initiator of the Global Collaborations project and the exhibition How Far How Near at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. A panel moderated by Kitty Zijlmans (Leiden University) will respond to the lecture, offering insights by curator Roel Arkesteijn (Museum Het Domein, Sittard); artist Remy Jungerman (based in Amsterdam and one of the initiators of the Wakaman Project); artist Lawrence Weiner (one of the participants in Magiciens de la Terre in 1989); and curator Vivian Ziherl (If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam).

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PANEL

Kitty Zijlmans is professor of contemporary art history and theory, as well as world art studies at Leiden University since 2000. In 2010, she was accepted as a member of the KNAW, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her fields of interest are contemporary art, art theory, and methodology. She is especially interested in the ongoing intercultural processes and the globalization of the (art) world, and increasingly collaborates and exchanges with artists in the context of the field of artistic research. In 2008, her book World Art Studies: exploring Concepts and Approaches was published.

Roel Arkesteijn is a curator and writer. Since 2008, he has been a curator of contemporary art at the Museum Het Domein in Sittard, where he focuses on artists who are engaged or interested in socio-political, and gender-related issues, and position themselves as bridge between different cultures. Within this context, he has curated various exhibitions for artists such as Mark Dion, Fernando Bryce, Sarah Vanagt, Mel Chin, Leon Golub, Roger Ballen, and Brandon Ballengée. He is currently working on exhibitions on, Betye Saar, Basia Irland, and an overseas exhibition about herman de vries in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Remy Jungerman was born in Suriname and has been living in Amsterdam since 1990. He started studying art at the Academy for Higher Arts and Cultural Studies, Paramaribo and moved to Amsterdam to study at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Since his first group exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Jungerman has participated in several solo and group exhibitions worldwide. In 2008, he received the Fritschy Culture Award from the Museum het Domein, Sittard.

Lawrence Weiner was born in 1942 in the Bronx, New York and is one of the leading figures in contemporary art.

Vivian Ziherl is an Australian curator, living and working in Amsterdam. Ziherl is Curator at If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want to Be Part Of Your Revolution, an institution dedicated to exploring performance and performativity in contemporary art; she also undertakes independent projects, research, and writing. Current projects include “Landings,” a multi-platform project re-surveying modernity through the lens of land histories (2013 – ongoing, with Natasha Ginwala), and a curatorial fellowship with the Institute of Modern Art Brisbane on the theme of “Frontier Imaginaries” (2014 – 2016).