[oberlist] Call for Applications / Young Curators Workshop / 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

[Anke Schleper]

Call for Applications:
Young Curators Workshop on the occasion of the 7th Berlin Biennale for  
Contemporary Art
A cooperation between the Goethe-Institut e.V., Munich, Allianz  
Cultural Foundation, BMW, and the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary  
Art / KW Institute for Contemporary Art

Organized by the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art / KW Institute  
for Contemporary Art

Applications should arrive by February 29, 2012.

Workshop Dates: May 29 – June 6, 2012
Date of Arrival: Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Departure: Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Project description:
Berlin is a powerful and attractive hub for artists and young curators  
from all over the world and thus an extremely vibrant production site  
for creators of culture. The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art,  
being held for the seventh time from April 27 till July 1, 2012, will  
present an embracing recap of these creative energies. The berlin  
biennial / KW Institute for Contemporary Art in cooperation with the  
Goethe-Institut e.V., Munich, the Allianz Cultural Foundation, and BMW  
will take this core event in contemporary art and the reflection of  
its process of emergence as an occasion to strengthen the initiative  
of young curators worldwide by organizing a workshop for a group of  
10-12 young aspirants in this field. Based on the success of the  
curatorial workshops held in relation to the 4th, 5th and 6th Berlin  
Biennale, KW Institute for Contemporary Art decided to continue this  
idea of exchange between young curators and thus to organize the  
workshop during the course of the 7th edition.

Concept:
CURATING IN TIMES OF NEED
Curating in Times of Need is dedicated to the core themes of the 7th  
Berlin Biennale: art and political engagement, substantial change and  
impact of artistic and curatorial practice in current societies. The  
questions raised are both simple and relevant: How to do things with  
art? Does curating offer potential means for a civic response to the  
current political occupations? How to curate to make something real?
Contemporary curating and art production witness the increasing  
aestheticization whilst turning towards the spectacle, thereby  
detaching from social processes and limiting curatorial work to the  
act of managing and presenting art exhibitions. How could curating  
also be understood as a civic or social practice? And how could this  
practice become politically and socially relevant, whilst being part  
of the environment from which it emerges?
The nine-day curatorial workshop Curating in Times of Need will  
analyze this year's Berlin Biennial curatorial mode, topics and  
projects, as well as a number of case studies by artists or  
initiatives, performing and practicing context-oriented concrete  
groundwork. A special focus is placed on the artists’ and curators’  
civic responses to the revolutions in the Arab countries, which are  
recently undergoing significant political, social, economic and  
cultural changes. Local artists and curators have changed their  
artistic production but continued using their practices for  
democratic, non-violent struggles. These strategies will be analyzed  
with regard to their potential to translate revolution and to re- 
imagine the future of democracy. A significant number of Arab cultural  
practitioners will be invited to contribute.
Conceived as a meeting point and formational experience for young  
curators and for young artists or community organizers that have  
initiated cultural projects, the workshop is intended as a do-and- 
think tank: a place for knowledge and practice production. The young  
curators are invited to present their own projects at the first  
session and to continue to take part in discussion sessions,  
screenings, and the Berlin Biennial's projects. The participants of  
the workshop will have the opportunity to learn from recent projects  
combining curatorial and political practice and debating a set of  
urgent questions, emerging from the current political circumstances  
and the pressing need to imagine alternative civil societies utilizing  
the power of art.

Course of Events:
10-12 young international curators will be selected for this workshop.  
The participants shall carry initial experience in exhibition curating  
and the group of participants shall ideally be representing a wide  
variety of countries and continents. Applications must arrive no later  
than February 29, 2012. In March a jury will then choose 10-12  
candidates to participate in the workshop.

The selection committee consists of: Joanna Warsza (Associate Curator,  
7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art), Gabriele Horn (Director, KW  
Institute for Contemporary Art / Berlin Biennale), Susanne Pfeffer  
(Curator, KW Institute for Contemporary Art), Michael Thoss (Managing  
Director, Allianz Cultural Foundation), Leonhard Emmerling (Head of  
Visual Arts Division, Goethe-Institut).

The candidates will be informed as soon as possible about their  
participation (at the latest by April 1, 2012).
With the confirmation they will also receive further organizational  
details on the general travel planning as well as additional  
information on the program (panels, seminars with leading curators,  
artists talks, studio visits related to the 7th Berlin Biennale).

The period specified for the Young Curators Workshop is May 29 to June  
6, 2012; however, the exact dates can be subject to change.

Flight and accommodation will be covered by the cooperation partners  
(the 7th Berlin Biennale / KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Goethe- 
Institut e.V., Munich, the Allianz Cultural Foundation, and BMW).

Contact at the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art:
Anke Schleper, Project Management and Coordination Young Curators  
Workshop, Mail: ycw at berlinbiennale.de
Paz Guevara, Project Management Young Curators Workshop, Mail: ycw at berlinbiennale.de

Application conditions:
•	Language: Candidates must be fluent in English (passive and active).  
The workshop will be held in English thus candidates must be able to  
give short presentations in English
•	Age: Applicants must be no older than 35 years
•	Experience: Candidates must have experience in curating art  
exhibitions

The application should contain the following documents:
• 	CV
•	Personal statement/letter of motivation why the candidate would like  
to participate in the workshop
•	Contact information: email, phone number, postal address

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </pipermail/oberlist/attachments/20120217/5ed0776f/attachment-0001.html>