ACSIS c/o Museum of Forgetting
at Norrköpings Konstmuseum
Interfaces IV - How to represent the unrepresented?
Art about migration and refugees confronts us with the problem of how
to represent the politically unrepresented, and how to exhibit an ongoing
and man-made catastrophe. It forces us to ask whether this is the time
for art. The question is triggered by the gravity of Europe´s current
refugee crisis and questions about the usefulness and ethics of art
reflecting the pain of others. The problems of the limitation of the artistic
action, victimization and aesthetization, as well as false empowerment
and the irony of imaginary utopian gestures in relation to people who
look for any topos (place) that would let them in. These are some of the
issues we will discuss and think together about.
The seminar is curated by Erik Berggren and is a collaboration between
The Museum of Forgetting (http://www.museetforglomska.se),
ACSIS (Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden), Linköping University and
Norrköping Art Museum.
Program
13:00 Welcome
Bodil Axelsson, Director of ACSIS (Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of
Sweden), Linköping University.
Helena Persson, Director Norrköping Art Museum.
13:05 Is This the Time for Art?
Erik Berggren, The Museum of Forgetting.
Berggren gives a short introduction to the seminar and the issues underlying the project “Is
This the Time for Art?” - the aesthetic challenges and choices that the curatorial investigation
for the project have surfaced.
13:20 Displacement, Loss and Trauma and how the Material passes into Sensation.
Klitsa Antoniou, artist, PhD.
With examples from her works Antoniou will discuss what it might mean to
“write trauma,” or to give voice to a wound that seems to defy representation.
She does not only confront the aesthetic potential of visual practice, but also
addresses the theoretical and ethical impossibilities of such a practice.
13:55 Coffee break
14.15 Usefulness and representation
Kimbal Bumstead, artist.
Bumstead talks about his practice as an artist and the ethical and aesthetical challenges he
face in the context of work about migration and refugees. When does art stop being useful
for those who are actually represented? Is it useful at all? In a special twist to the subject
matter – Bumstead has in his art chosen to include and represent the art/music of the
refugees themselves.
14:50 Comment
Stefan Jonsson, Professor REMESO, Linköping University.
Jonsson will comment on the given presentations and reflect on the place of the political in
relation to art and migration and other issues brought up during the afternoon.
15:20 -16:00 Open Discussion