Institute of Art Research, Vilnius Academy of Arts, invites to the conference "The Art–Labour Relationship in Contemporary Art in Central and Eastern Europe, 1991–present". The conference will take place May 9–10, 2024 in the newly opened historical Sapieha Palace (L. Sapiegos g. 13, Vilnius), administered and programmed by Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius.

The hybrid format of the conference is being considered in case there is sufficient interest. If you are interested to take part in the conference online, please register here: https://forms.gle/CvCZGJyrHvYTE6nJ7.

The conference has received financial support from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT) and Lithuanian Council for Culture.

Scientific Committee:
Caterina Preda (University of Bucharest)
Edgaras Gerasimovičius (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Harry Weeks (Newcastle University)
Katalin Krasznahorkai (Brandenburgische Gesellschaft für Kultur und Geschichte)
Lina Michelkevičė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Marquard Smith (University College London / Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Pascal Gielen (University of Antwerp)

Organizational Committee:
Edgaras Gerasimovičius (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Lina Michelkevičė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Aušra Trakšelytė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

PROGRAMME
ALL HOURS IN VILNIUS TIME (Eastern European Summer Time)

May 9, 2024

10:30 Welcome and Coffee

11:00–12.00 Keynote. Moderated by Edgaras Gerasimovičius
Søren Andreasen and Lars Bang Larsen. Neurons and Ruins – Behind the Scenes of Social Reproduction Since the 1990s

12:00–13:00 1st session. Moderated by Edgaras Gerasimovičius
Janice Mitchell. Giving Time – Artistic Practice Between Labor, Critique and Capital
Jens Schröter. Automatization and De-automatization in Art

13:00–14:30 Lunch at Miesto laboratorija

14:30–16:00 2nd session. Moderated by Lina Michelkevičė
Aušra Trakšelytė. Cemetery Of Artworks – A Service That Frees the Artist from Overproduction
Jorge Sanguino. Extraction from the Informal Economy or Solidarity? The Relationship Between Informal Work and Mexican Art
Tobey Yunjing Pan (online). Archiving and Desiring the Alienated Self: From Self-Portrait with a Flag (1989) to KwieKulik Archive (1968–2024) of Zofia Kulik

16:00–16:30 Coffee

16:30–17:30 3rd session. Moderated by Paulius Andriuškevičius
Júliusz Huth (online). The Hungarian Salon – The Crisis of Artists’ Associations and Debates around Salon-Type Exhibitions in Post-Socialist Hungary
Kristóf Nagy (online). Artistic Work Beyond Precarity. Labor in the Orbán-regime’s Hungarian Academy of Arts

18:00-19:00 Guided tour in the Sapieha Palace exhibition Refuge
19.00 Wine & Snacks at Sapieha Palace

May 10, 2024

10.30 Welcome and Coffee

11:00–12.00 Keynote. Moderated by Inesa Brašiškė
Josefine Wikström. A Dance of Abstractions: The Dance Exhibition as a Critical Form in Contemporary Art

12:00–13:00 4th session. Moderated by Inesa Brašiškė
Friederike Nastold, Thari Jungen. Curating as Caring and Mourning
Lena Pozdnyakova, Janette Helm, Luise Willer. Critical Reflections on Artists as Organisers: Marina Naprushkina’s Neue Nachbarschaft and Caroline Woolard’s Institutional Possibility

13:00–14:30 Lunch at Miesto laboratorija

14:30–16.00 5th session. Moderated by Aušra Trakšelytė
Marija Weste. A Case Study of Confluence in Art, Labour, and Censorship in Soviet Latvian Film
Agnė Bagdžiūnaitė. How to Talk About Labour Herstories Through Art
Anne Pfautsch. OSTKREUZ – Agency of Photographers: Facing the Unknown Together

16.00–16.30 Coffee

16:30–18:00 6th session. Moderated by Karolina Jakaitė
Jakub Banasiak. Painting as a Labour and a Critique of the Post-communist Transition: The Case of Przemysław Kwiek and Polish Art Scene of the 90s
Julija Fomina. Everyone is an Artist but Only Artists Know That. Narratives of Lithuanian Contemporary Art in Exhibitions Curated by Artists and Art Critics
Maija Rudovska. Fluctuations: Artist as Curator and Their Modes of Labour During the time Frame of Late 1980s and Early 1990s

18:00–19:30 Panel Discussion
Edgaras Gerasimovičius, Vitalija Jasaitė, Robertas Narkus. Fantasies and Realities of Making Art While Doing Something Else: Experiences of a Small Art Scene