Rethinking Conceptualism: Avant-Garde, Activism and Politics in Latin American Art (1960s-1980s)
Press release from 02/25/2021
Symposium on Latin American conceptual art from the 1960s to the 1980s: eight international online discussions from 10 March - supporting programme with exhibition and workshops at the Instituto Cervantes Berlin
A symposium by independent curator Katerina Valdivia Bruch, in collaboration with the Ibero-American Institute (IAI) of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, will bring together international curators, academics and artists in eight online discussion rounds on Latin American conceptual art from the 1960s to the 1980s from 10 to 25 March 2021. Lisette Lagnado (São Paulo/Berlin), Ana Longoni (Buenos Aires/Madrid), Cecilia Fajardo-Hill (Southern California/New York), Luis Camnitzer (New York), Gerardo Mosquera (La Habana/Madrid), Joaquín Barriendos (Mexico City) and other international voices will discuss theoretical approaches, the impact and networking of artistic avant-gardes and art practices in Latin America beyond the canon of conceptual art in Europe and the USA. The symposium sheds light on a moment in global art history and the ideas and ideals of a group of Latin American artists and art theorists, some of whom have been little received in Europe to date, who networked in this period characterised by the desire for social change in order to explore the potential of art, politics and the avant-garde. The online symposium will be accompanied by a supporting programme with an exhibition and workshops, which are expected to take place at the Instituto Cervantes Berlin from 26 to 31 March 2021, provided this is possible in the current pandemic situation.
Independent curator Katerina Valdivia Bruch has been organising an extensive online programme of reading sessions and workshops as part of the project since May 2020. One source of research for her project was publications on Latin American art and by Latin American theorists in the IAI's holdings. The project's perspective on artistic and intellectual networks builds bridges to the Ibero-American Institute's (IAI) line of research. This focuses on transregional interdependencies and reciprocal processes of knowledge production and cultural transfer between Latin America, Germany and Europe. The cooperation project and the IAI's line of research contribute to the fact that these diverse relationships between Latin America and Europe are also more widely recognised on this side of the Atlantic.
The Ibero-American Institute (IAI) is a multidisciplinary institution in the humanities, cultural and social sciences. It is a non-university area studies institution with a regional focus on Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal and their transregional interrelationships. The IAI has one of the world's largest libraries and special collections on these regions. In its unique combination of information, research and cultural centre, the Ibero-American Institute is a place of knowledge production, knowledge transfer and cultural translation.
Rethinking Conceptualism: Avant-Garde, Activism
and Politics in Latin American Art (1960s-1980s)
Symposium | Exhibition | Discussions | Workshops
10 - 31 March 2021
Concept and organisation:
Katerina Valdivia Bruch (Artistic Director and Curator)
Programme and further links:
Web: rethinkingconceptualism.com
Programme booklet: tinyurl.com/zotsz8sv
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rethinkingconceptualism
Twitter: twitter.com/RConceptualism
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rconceptualism/
Podcast: Spotify "Rethinking Conceptualism", anchor.fm/rethinkingconceptualism
In collaboration with:
Ibero-American Institute
Instituto Cervantes Berlin
Funded by:
Hauptstadtkulturfonds
Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
With the support of:
Embassy of Uruguay in Germany
Embassy of Chile in Germany
Contact
Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Public Relations and Cultural Management
Julia Borchert
Press and Public Relations
Potsdamer Straße 37
10785 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 266 -45 4321 / -45 4312
presse@iai.spk-berlin.de
www.iai.spk-berlin.de