Activities and Vocabulary, discussing and sharing art projects at large

This project seeks to reflect on the activities, artistic practices, and vocabulary used to translate projects in the realm of discourse as well as their social, political, and cultural implications. How do we narrate artistic practices? The challenge is to maintain the essence of the projects with their intentions, contexts, and histories. This research project proposes to discuss a vocabulary that might be around a concept, an artwork, or even proper names. Together, it might be the beginning of a dictionary of “Activities and vocabulary, for exchange in general and for reading artist projects in particular.”

The discourse that has been cultivated over the past few years is increasingly emptied of its object. In article after article and exhibition after exhibition, the rift deepens between art and the commentary that tries to explain it. Artists and those who speak about artworks or organize exhibitions must understand the goal of each work and its intent in order to better translate its ideas into exchanges. This must happen as much in discourse as in the basic, day-to-day narratives that structure communication around art.

This seminar proposes a first site for constructing a coherent vocabulary for the translation of original artistic projects. This will be a terminology that permits us to renew the discourse, to go beyond the conventions now used in the art market or in the communication of art frequently too attached to the periods and concepts of Modern and Contemporary Art.

The first sessions will be an opportunity to listen to proposals for such a terminology by art critics, artists, curators, and researchers and to discuss possibilities for trans-disciplinary translations. The seminar takes place in the Laboratory “Art, Technology and Ecology” at ESAV-Marrakech and L’appartement 22, with a public program on November 24th.

Program :
 22 and 23 November 2010 : Closed sessions
 24 November 2010 (14:00 -> 18:00): Public session at ESAV-Marrakech (Film Theatre), presentations by Charles Esche (Curator van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), Juan Gaitan (Senior Curator Witt de With, Rotterdam), Anne Szefer Karlsen (Curator HKS Bergen), Abdellah Karroum (Curator, L’appartement 22), Karim Rafi (Composer and Musician), Georg Schöllhammer (Curator, tranzit.at), Jean-Paul Thibeau (Artist) and John Zarobell (Curator, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
 25 November 2010 : Studio visits
Contact : karroum (at) mac.com