The French Connection: New Perspectives on French Contemporary Art Conference

Winstanley Lecture Hall, Trinity College - Cambridge, University of Cambridge
24-26 July 2008

International conference on French contemporary art, The French Connection
offers a platform to reflect upon the recent changes in French art as well as
an opportunity for its further \'promotion\'. This conference will also offer
a space for reflection on the idea of \'national art\', a questioning that
opens onto a discussion of French identity, cross-cultural artistic
practices, and disciplinary change.

Please find below the provisional programme. For more information and to
register please visit http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/60

Convenors:
Olga Smith (University of Cambridge)
Jennifer Burris (University of Cambridge)

Administrative questions should be addressed to:
Michelle Maciejewska
CRASSH, University of Cambridge, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RX, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1223 765279; Fax: +44 (0)1223 765276; Email: mm405cam.ac.uk

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME:

THURSDAY 24TH JULY

19.00 - 19.15 Opening and Welcome
19.15 - 20.00 Catherine Millet (critic, Art Press)
Three Women Expose: Sex and Desire in the Works of Clarisse Hahn, Catherine
Corringer and Isild Le Besco.
Chair: Jean Khalfa (University of Cambridge)
20.00 - 21.30 Pas d'histoires
Pas d'histoires brings together a selection of films by French or Paris-based
filmmakers and artists of different generations working with documentary.
Challenging the stereotypical form of documentary films, these artists'
critical vision is played out through the observation of existing communities
or through more direct interventions into current international political
issues. Artists include: Joël Bartoloméo, Luidgi Beltrame, Clarisse Hahn,
Thomas Hirschhorn, Jean-Charles Hue, Florence Lazar, Nicolas Moulin, Philippe
Parreno, Noëlle Pujol, Jean Rouch, and Olivier Zabat.
Curator and Chair: Anne-Sophie Dinant (South London Gallery)

FRIDAY 25TH JULY

9.00 - 9.30 Registration
9.30 - 9.45 Opening and Welcome
9.45 - 10.30 Paul Ardenne (curator, Faculté des Arts (Amiens))
No Specificity
Chair: tbc
10.30 - 11.00 Coffee
11.00 - 12.30 Panel 1:
Intersections between contemporary philosophy and art
Nigel Saint (University of Leeds)
Georges Didi-Huberman's Fables du lieu: critique and creativity
Laura McMahon (University of Cambridge)
In Touch: Jean-Luc Nancy and Claire Denis
Jérôme Game (American University of Paris)
Rancière's phrase-image and some contemporary French visual art
Chair: Ian James (University of Cambridge)
12.30 - 13.30 Lunch
13.30 - 15.15 Panel 2:
New movements in photography
Sophie Berrebi (University of Amsterdam)
A French Documentary tradition? Jean-Luc Moulène and surrealist photography
Geraldine McIlwaine (University of Sheffield)
Valérie Jouve: Sans Titre 9
Céline Robillard (Université Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, curator)
Photographie plasticienne contemporaine: la "French Touch" et ses images de
crise
Amanda Crawley-Jackson (University of Sheffield)
"To cross is called 'to burn'": Yto Barrada and the unevenness of 'liquid
modernity'
Chair: Olga Smith (University of Cambridge)
15.15 - 15.45 Coffee
15.45 - 16.30 Pascal Convert in conversation with Nigel Saint
16.30 - 17.30 Roundtable Discussion: Recent initiatives in the promotion and
display of French art
Participants include: Sophie Claudel (French Embassy London), Suzanne Cotter
(Modern Art Oxford), Clare Grafik (The Photographer's Gallery)
End of Conference, Day 1
19.30 Conference Dinner
Location: Saltmarsh Rooms, King's College

SATURDAY 26TH JULY

9.30 - 10.15 Alain Quemin (Université Paris-Est / Institut Universitaire de
France / CNRS
(French National Center for Scientific Research))
The International Impact of the French Visual Arts: Is There Such a Thing as
"The Death
of French Culture"?
Chair: Jennifer Burris (University of Cambridge)
10.15 - 10.45 Coffee
10.45 - 12.15 Panel 3:
Art institutions: national and international changes
Antigoni Memou (Courtauld Institute)
Photographs of May 1968 in the Contemporary Museum: A Note on Politics and
Aesthetics
Femke Van Hest (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, France) /
Erasmus University (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
The role of nationality at contemporary art biennials: Case study on the
participation of
French and Dutch artists
Vivian Rehberg (Parsons Paris School of Art and Design)
Mapping Institutional Critique in Paris Now
Chair: Alyce Mahon (University of Cambridge)
12.15 - 13.30 Lunch
13.30 - 15.00 Panel 4:
Towards future models of exhibition and curating
Anaïs Bourquin (Université Paris-I Panthéon Sorbonne)
Passeurs d'oeuvres: Future Models of Curating in France
Brooke McGowan (University of Cambridge)
Forcener la forme: l'économie(s) et l'autre(s) de Nicolas Bourriaud
Isabelle McNeill (University of Cambridge)
Memory, Media and Intersubjectivity in the Recent Work of Agnès Varda
Chair: tbc
End of Conference, Day 2
15.30 Special Event (tba) followed by full-length film screenings