To accompany the first comprehensive retrospective of Lygia Clark (1920–1988) in Germany (Neue Nationalgalerie), this symposium invites interdisciplinary contributions that explore Clark’s multifaceted practice and its resonance across art history, theory, pedagogy, psychiatry and contemporary artistic production.

Lygia Clark's approach – understanding art as a participatory, sensorial, sometimes even healing experience – establishes her as one of the most internationally groundbreaking and important artists of the second half of the 20th century. Her work demonstrates close links to European modernism, particularly concrete and constructivist art, while also marking her emancipation from these movements. Clark has had a lasting influence on subsequent generations through her art and remains a central point of reference for contemporary artists today. The extraordinary significance of her oeuvre lies in her ability to transcend the dominance of the visual in art, expanding the act of viewing to include other sensory perceptions such as hearing, feeling, smelling and touching. In doing so, her works invite passive viewers into becoming active participants in a subjective art experience – an approach that remains highly relevant, as direct interaction with works of art is still largely uncommon in museums today.
Despite her impact as a key figure in participatory and sensorial art, Clark remains largely unknown to the general public in Germany. This symposium aims to intensify scholarly attention on her oeuvre, further situate her work within global modernisms, and critically engage with its enduring relevance.

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PROGRAM

1 OCTOBER 2025

09:30 Registration

10:00 Welcome and Introduction

PANEL 1: ART AS A LIVING ORGANISM - LYGIA CLARK IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ART OF HER TIME
Moderation: Dr. Irina Hiebert Grun and Dr. Maike Steinkamp, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

10:30
Lygia Clark's Creative Phases and the Internationalisation of her Work
Dr. Daniela Labra, Art Historian and Curator, Berlin

11:00
Reference and Demarcation – Lygia Clark, Concrete Art and Minimal Art
Dr. Michael Ashbury, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, London

11:30
Postwar Transcendence as Form and Kinship. Lygia Clark and Max Bense
Dr. Daniel Patric Horn, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin

12:00–12:30 Discussion

12:30–14:00 Lunch

14:00
Elasticity and Trans-Corporality in the Sculptures of Lygia Clark
Prof. Dr. Ursula Ströbele, Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, HBK Braunschweig

14:30
Creating Elastic Networks. Lygia Clark’s Textile Performances in a Transcultural Context
Prof. Dr. Alexandra Karentzos, Fachbereich Mode und Ästhetik, Technische Universität Darmstadt

15:00
Hybridly Human
Prof. Dr. Irene V. Small, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University

15:30–16:00 Discussion

16:00–16:30 Coffee

16:30 p.m
An Egg of Space and Time: Lygia Clark’s Latent Entrancements
Thotti, artist and theorist, Film and Visual Studies, Harvard University

17:00-18:00
Visit of the exhibition Lygia Clark. Retrospective at Neue Nationalgalerie

19:00 Dinner

2 OCTOBER 2025

09:30 Welcome and Coffee

PANEL 2: COLLECTIVE UNLEARNING PRACTICES - LYGIA CLARK’S PROPOSITIONS
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Mona Schieren, Hochschule für Künste Bremen, and Dr. Irina Hiebert Grun, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

10:00
Preuve du réel: Relational Situations between Art and Clinic
Dr. Marlon Miguel, Bauhaus Universität Weimar / ICI - Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry

10:30
If You Hold a Stone: Structuring the Self as a Clinical, Aesthetic, and Political Reference for Confronting Schisms Produced by Colonial Violence
Prof. Dr. Angela Donini, Department of Philosophy at UNIRIO, Rio de Janeiro

11:00
Structuring the Self. Lygia Clark’s Artistic Method and Shapeshifting Encounter
Prof. Dr. Mona Schieren, Hochschule für Künste Bremen, and Dr. Oscar Svanelid, Södertörn University, Stockholm

11:30–12:00 Discussion

12:00–13:30 Lunch

13:30
The Body School: Lygia Clark’s Teaching and a Few Examples of Performance Workshops in the 1970s
Delphine Paul, École supérieure des beaux-arts de Nîmes

14:00
The Pedagogical Body: Sensory Experience as Artistic Pedagogy
Lydie Delahaye, École des Arts de la Sorbonne, Paris

14:30–15:00 Discussion

15:00–15:30 Coffee

PANEL 3: GENDER AND THE ARTS: LYGIA CLARK IN THE CONTEXT OF FEMINIST DEBATES Moderation: Dr. Ricarda Musser, Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Berlin

15:30
The Presence of Women in the Canonical Magazines of Brazilian Modernism (1922-1929): Precursors of Lygia Clark
Prof. Dr. Tania Regina de Luca, Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo

16:00
To Expel the Other. Lygia Clark's Feminist Counter-Anthropophagy
Prof. Dr. Tania Rivera, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro

16:30–17:00 Discussion

17:00
Not Invented but Generated: Lygia Clark’s Model of Maternal Making
Jordan Troeller, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg

17:30
The Reception of A Casa é o Corpo at the 1968 Venice Biennial Amidst Political Turmoil
Lara Demori, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institute for Art History, Rome

18:00–18:30 Discussion

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The conference language is English. The symposium is open for the public. Participation is free of charge. We would appreciate your registration if possible until 25.9.25 at SymposiumLygiaClarkiai.spk-berlin.de

Concept and Organisation: Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin (Dr. Irina Hiebert Grun, Dr. Maike Steinkamp), Hochschule für Künste Bremen (Prof. Dr. Mona Schieren), Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut Berlin (Dr. Ricarda Musser)

Cooperation Partners: Research Group Art Production and Art Theory in the Age of Global Migration in Ulmer Verein für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften and Carl-Justi-Vereinigung.
The Conference is supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.