Modernisms Still Left on the Doorstep
The Munch, Modernism, and Modernity Conference 2016

The conference's aim is to analyze the problem of "universality" vs. the specificity of traditions of modernism; national, regional, and epistemological. The metaphor of the doorstep is adapted to consider the range of expressions and experiments, productions, careers, policies, and conduits that formed networks of what was, and is now considered, to be "modern". As in past years, Edvard Munch will be placed within a broader field of production and reception, considering who and what was written into histories of "the modern".

Taken together, the papers query the meaning of local modernisms, primarily in Central Europe and the Nordic Countries. Speakers consider issues of materiality, iconography, and nationalist discourses.
Richard Shiff (University of Texas, Austin) will deliver the keynote speech.

Open to the public, registration required (fee 200 NOK/100 NOK students).
Booking: ticketmaster.no


PROGRAMME

8:30–9:30 Registration and coffee

09:30
Welcome: Director Stein Olav Henrichsen (The Munch Museum)
Introduction to Keynote: Jon-Ove Steihaug (The Munch Museum)

09:45
Keynote:
Richard Shiff (University of Texas, Austin) (60 min)

10:45 Coffee break (30 min)


11:15
Morning session: Creation and Modernist Strategies
Chair: Ute Kuhlemann Falck (The Munch Museum)

1. Mille Stein (Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Oslo): Duplicates, repetitions and variations: Edvard Munch experimenting with style and technique (30 min)

2. Jin Ferrer and Terje Syversen (The Munch Museum): The notion of creative destruction (30 min)

12:15 Lunch break (lunch provided), option to visit "Jorn+Munch" exhibition (90 min)


13:45
Afternoon session I: Critical Nationalism
Chair: Mai Britt Guleng (The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo)

1. Freyja Hartzell (Bard Graduate Center, New York): "The Figures of Fairytales": Local Drama in the Legend of Modern Design (30 min)

2. Otto Urban (Academy of Arts, Prague): Modernism and Perify or Modernism of Perify (30 min)

3. Irena Kossowska (Copernicus University, Torun): Polish modernist photography and photomontage in the 1930s: Karol Hiller and Aleksander Krzywob?ocki (30 min)

15:15 Coffee break (30 min)


15:45
Afternoon session II: Nordic Art and the Modernist Map
Chair: Jon-Ove Steihaug (Munch Museum, Oslo)

Øivind Storm-Bjerke, Bente Larsen and Øystein Sjåstad (University of Oslo): Panel discussion (60 min)

16:45–17:30
Summary and Group Discussion (45 min) Chair: Patricia Berman (Wellesley College, MA)

17:30–19:00 Reception, Munch Museum