Future Bourgeois:
A Symposium and Workshop for New Work on Louise Bourgeois

Organised by the ARTIST ROOMS RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP, The Fruitmarket
Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland

CALL FOR PAPERS

This autumn The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and The
Fruitmarket Gallery, both in Edinburgh, Scotland, will host
complementary exhibitions of the work of artist Louise Bourgeois.
'ARTIST ROOMS: Louise Bourgeois, A Woman without Secrets' at the
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (26 October 2013 to 18 May 2014)
will be the first showing of an outstanding collection of works by
Bourgeois now on loan to the national ARTIST ROOMS collection and
touring programme. Highlighting the artist's late work, the show will
include major sculptural pieces such as 'Couple I' 1996, 'Cell XIV
(Portrait)' 2000 and 'Eyes 2001-2005', as well as two major late works:
the cycle of 16 monumental drawings 'A l'infini' 2008-2009 and the
artist's final vitrine, 'Untitled' 2010. The exhibition has been
organized in collaboration with Jerry Gorovoy of the Louise Bourgeois
Studio and the artist's foundation, The Easton Foundation who have
generously lent a further group of significant sculptures and fabric
works. In 'I Give Everything Away' (26 October 2013 to 23 February
2014), The Fruitmarket Gallery presents Bourgeois's 'Insomnia Drawings'
(1994-95), and two sequences of much larger works on paper, 'When Did
This Happen?' (2007) and 'I Give Everything Away' (2010), works which
contain between them all the major themes of Bourgeois's work and reveal
the close link between drawing and writing that is such a key part of
her unique creative energy.

On the occasion of these two exhibitions, there will be a one-day
symposium workshop showcasing new research on Bourgeois and related
themes and ideas. We now invite proposals for papers for this event from
researchers developing new work on the artist. Proposals from PhD
students or from individuals working with an interdisciplinary approach,
from conservators or from artists, as well as from art historians are
particularly welcome. Informal presentations, lasting no more than 15
minutes, can be on any aspect of Bourgeois's production or explore the
relationship between it and the wider field of modern and contemporary
practices. Equally welcome would be discussions of the idea of artists
whose work flourished late in their lives, the appropriation of
psychoanalytic ideas as the content of art, the critical fortunes of
Bourgeois in relation to feminist, psychoanalytic and other art
histories, and work on the technical and collaborative aspects of
Bourgeois's practice (casting, construction, printmaking etc.). On the
day, immediate or speculative responses to individual works on display
in Edinburgh will also be valued as part of this event.

The structure of the day will consist of presentations in the Studio and
small group discussions in the galleries at the Scottish National
Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One), each session concluding with
discussion and debate. A plenary session will be held in the gallery at
The Fruitmarket Gallery, followed by a reception.

Proposals should be submitted by 30 October 2013 to
futurebourgeois14gmail.com.
UK travel and two night's accommodation will be provided for all
speakers.