Curating Exchange
International symposium

press to exit project space is pleased to invite you to "Curating
Exchange", the international symposium, which will take place at the
GEM club in Skopje (Macedonia), from the 13th until the 16th of June
2012.

Guest lecturers: Slavco Dimitrov (Macedonia), Sofija Grandakovska
(Macedonia), Antonia Majaca (Croatia), Suzana Milevska (Macedonia),
Dorothee Richter (Switzerland), Basak Senova (Turkey), Marko
Stamenkovic (Serbia) and Yane Calovski (Macedonia) as moderator.

Curating Exchange is designed as a weeklong symposium addressing local
and regional need for an insightful and qualitative exchange of
experience and knowledge in terms of artistic research, curatorial
practice and education.

The symposium program is open to the public as a forum envisioned to
address questions of social, political and cultural identification of
recent curatorial and research practices with guests from Macedonia,
the Balkan region and beyond. The format of the symposium allows for
four evening sessions in which two guests each evening present and
discusses recent curatorial and theoretical research projects. Topics
covered include changing ideas about art theories and current
institutional practices, the status of the curator as a critical
instigator and educator, the different perceptions about the
socio-political role of the curator, the identity of the curatorial
practice as an academic discipline open to renovation, etc.
Participants include: Suzana Milevska (Macedonia), Basak Senova
(Turkey), Antonia Majaca (Croatia), Marko Stamenkovic (Serbia), Sofija
Grandakovska (Macedonia), Slavco Dimitrov (Macedonia), Dorothee Richter
(Switzerland) and Yane Calovski (Macedonia) as moderator.

As a project, Curating Exchange will emphasize the need to reassess the
role of the curator in these complex socio-political times and to
question the potentiality of the curator to be a catalyst for
socio-political and cultural change. We hope to provide insight into
the collective regional and international perspectives in the field of
curatorial practices and integrate new knowledge and expertise in the
context of events in Macedonia.
The program includes workshop for young curators, with an intent to
produce exchange and development of critical, interdisciplinary and
hybrid knowledge in the field of curatorial practices and contemporary
visual art and culture.

The workshop, open to aspiring curators in Macedonia and the region, is
lead by Dorothee Richter, Head of Postgraduate Program in Curating,
Institute for Cultural Studies in Arts, Zurich University of the Arts.
It is intended to help the participants gain insight into the
methodological, theoretical and organizational strategies via
presentations, discussions, and development of individual and
collaborative curatorial projects. Since there is a lack of curatorial
training opportunities, we feel that the workshop will be of great
importance for those who are interested but are not in position to
experience such educational programs abroad. Assisting Ms. Richter in
the workshop will be Ivana Vaseva, member of press to exit project
space and current participant in the Curatorial Programme of de Appel
arts centre in Amsterdam.

Curating Exchange is realized as part of the "Visiting Curatorial
Initiative"(VCI) program, initiated in 2005, in order to stimulate and
support researches and implementation of new curatorial projects from
young and emerging international and local curators.

With the support of: Pro Helvetia - The Swiss Cultural Programme and
additional partners.
The program takes place in the GEM club – a resurrected space in the
Old bazaar in Skopje (address: Karaorman bb, Skopje), that connects
cultural workers, artists and activists to share ideas and projects.
To keep up with news and events related to press to exit project space,
follow http://www.presstoexit.org.mk/ . For all other enquiries, please
contact Yane Calovski, director of the project, at both
presstoexitgmail.com and yanecalogmail.com.


Programme

Wednesday June 13th
10h – 13h
1st session of workshop
(Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)

19h-20h
Dorothee Richter: Development of Curating and Mediating Contemporary
Art
(Public presentation)

20.30h-22h
Marko Stamenkovic: The Contested and Condemned; and
Slavco Dimitrov: Emotional Archive of Queer Experiences
(Public presentations)

Thursday June 14th
10h – 13h
2nd session of workshop
(Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)

20:30h -22h
Basak Senova: Lost in Memory: Uncovered; and
Sofija Grandakovska: The Jews from Macedonia and the Holocaust
(Public presentations)

Friday June 15th
10h – 13h
3rd session of workshop
(Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)

20h – 21:30h
Suzana Milevska: Curating Roma Protocol; and
Antonija Majaca: Can you speak of this? The Exhibition as a Classroom
of Difficult Questions
(Public presentations)

Saturday June 16th
10h – 13h
4th session of workshop
(Closed session. Only for the participants of the workshop)

20h – 21:30h
Group presentation: workshop participants w/ Dorothee Richter