TACIT KNOWLEDGE. The Impact of Post Studio Concepts and Feminist Practices: CalArts in the Early Years (1970–77)

International symposium organized by Verena Kittel (Freie Universität Berlin), Annette Jael Lehmann (Freie Universität Berlin), and Christina Végh (Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover)

The symposium 'Tacit Knowledge. The Impact of Post Studio Concepts and Feminist Practices, CalArts 1970-77' takes place on October 26, 2019, at Schloss Herrenhausen and the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, and is part of the perennial collaboration between the Freie Universität Berlin, the Kestner Gesellschaft, and metaLAB (at) Harvard, Harvard University, in the context of the research project 'Tacit Knowledge. Post Studio/Feminism – CalArts (1970–77)'. It addresses the topicality and impact of artistic production processes at the U.S. art school California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), especially Post Studio and feminist practices, on contemporary forms of artistic research, their social implications in public spaces and exhibition practices.

'Tacit Knowledge. The Impact of Post Studio Concepts and Feminist Practices, CalArts 1970-77' concludes the exhibition 'Where Art Might Happen: The Early Years of CalArts', on show from August 30 until November 10, 2019, at the Kestner Gesellschaft. The exhibition will travel to Kunsthaus Graz from March 13 to June 7, 2020. The book 'Tacit Knowledge. Post Studio/Feminism – CalArts (1970–77)' accompanies the symposium and the exhibition. It was conceived and edited by Annette Jael Lehmann in collaboration with her master students and Verena Kittel from the Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Freie Universität Berlin. (www.spectorbooks.com/de/tacit-knowledge)

Looking back at the early years of CalArts between 1970–77, this symposium asks: What is the specific impact of artistic activities or movements (such as feminism) when undertaken outside of educational or cultural institutions, such as urban space or the digital realm? Could the expansion of tacit knowledge practices and artistic research contribute to community building of diverse social groups, audiences, and interests, thereby making way for a democratization of discourse and knowledge? Finally, how could these art and knowledge-based processes of collaboration, expansion, and intervention have meaningful public impact in the global realm and for the future?

Admission is free. Please register by October 1, 2019 (ve.kittelfu-berlin.de)

PROGRAM:

SCHLOSS HERRENHAUSEN, HANOVER

Registration / 9.30–10am

Welcome and Introduction / 10–10.30am
ANNETTE JAEL LEHMANN (Professor of Contemporary Art, Visual Culture, and Theater, Freie Universität Berlin)
CHRISTINA VÉGH (Director of Kestner Gesellschaft)

Panel 1: The Impact of Post Studio on Artistic Knowledge / 10:30am–1pm
//practice-based research //collaboration and community
//democratization //artistic research and knowledge production
//transdisciplinary entanglements //curatorial strategies
//digitalization and knowledge design

Moderator:
BEATE SÖNTGEN (Professor of Art History, Leuphana University of Lüneburg)

Speaker:
KIM ALBRECHT (Researcher and Knowledge Designer, metaLAB (at) Harvard, Harvard University) & JEFFREY SCHNAPP (Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature and Director of metaLAB (at) Harvard, Harvard University):
Cartographies of “the Cultural Center of the New Age”

BENJAMIN MEYER-KRAHMER (Professor of Cultures of the Curatorial, Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig):
Critique, the Curatorial, and Post Studio Art

MARKUS MIESSEN (Architect, Author, and Spatial Designer, Studio Miessen, Berlin, and Professor of Design, Academy of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden):
Crossbenching as Post Studio (Spatial) Practice

Lunch Break / 1–2pm

Panel 2: The Impact of Feminism on Tacit Knowledge / 2–3.30pm
//reenactments and reception //urban contexts //radical education
//politics and art movements //role of participants
//knowledge and experience //transformation of public space

Moderator:
BEATE SÖNTGEN (Professor of Art History, Leuphana University of Lüneburg)

Speaker:
AMELIA JONES (Professor of Art and Design, University of Southern California):
Between Kaprow and Chicago: Suzanne Lacy and the Conceptual Body

ULRIKE ROSENBACH (Artist and Professor Emerita of New Media in the Arts, Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar):
Die Entwicklung feministisch beeinflusster Kunst der 1970er Jahre bis heute

Coffee Break / 3.30–4.30pm

Keynote Lecture / 4.30–5.30pm
Introduction: VERENA KITTEL (PhD Student, Freie Universität Berlin)
WOLFGANG ULLRICH (Author and former Professor of Aesthetics, Art History, and Media Theory, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design):
Raus aus dem Atelier! Das Mobil-Werden von Künstler/-innen und die Folgen für die Kunst

KESTNER GESELLSCHAFT, HANOVER

Performance / 6.30pm
Introduction: CHRISTINA VÉGH (Director of Kestner Gesellschaft)
MATT MULLICAN (Professor of Art, HFBK University of Fine Arts Hamburg) presents a series of performances he has developed at CalArts:
1. Reading the Birth to Death List,
2. Colors in a Dark Room,
3. Lighting a Wall,
4. Entering a Picture,
5. Drawing my Family with my Finger

Venue: Schloss Herrenhausen, Herrenhäuser Str. 5 / 30419 Hanover
Kestner Gesellschaft, Goseriede 11 / 30159 Hanover

The symposium is generously funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Annette Jael Lehmann, Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Freie Universität Berlin Grunewaldstr. 35 / 12165 Berlin, 0049 30 838 503 29, a.j.lehmannfu-berlin.de www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we07 / www.annette-jael-lehmann.de

Verena Kittel, Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Freie Universität Berlin
Grunewaldstr. 35 / 12165 Berlin, 0049 30 838 909 894, ve.kittelfu-berlin.de