This research-based seminar focused (includes an excursion to the Venice Biennale and student projects) on the global contemporary art world with specific attention to exhibition and collection projects about contemporary Asian art: The Indian Art Summit in Delhi, the Venice Biennale 2011, the Centre for Art and Media Technologies /ZKM) in Karlsruhe or the art collection of the Deutsche Bank and its ‘Asian contemporary’ in Frankfurt/Main 2011.
Art events as the Biennale in Venice or the Deutsche Bank exhibition on Asian contemporary art will function as an applied framework for the anthropological discussion of transcultural practices of selecting, displaying and exhibiting arts from various parts of the world in order to elaborate not only on the agency of artists, curators and museums, art collectors and dealers but also to critically approach the asymmetrical power relations that mark globalised art worlds. Students will get the opportunity to gain research experiences (e.g. fieldwork, participatory observation, interview strategies, analysis of art works and curatorial practices) by designing and conducting individual or collaborative projects. They may focus on particular artists or works or the curatorial concepts within the institutions of the Biennale or the museum (ZKM), to mention a few options. The outcomes of the projets will be presented online.
This course was conceptualized by Cathrine Bublatzky and Christiane Brosius as an e-learning seminar (blended learning) and contributed to the Double Degree Programme ‘Media and Material Culture’ with the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology’ at the University of Leiden.
Cathrine Bublatzky 