The Institution as an Agent of Change, the 8th iteration of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary’s Lopud seminars to date, invites leading experts working across diverse disciplines, collections, archives, exhibitions, and museum practices to share their experiences and perspectives on the role of institutional frameworks in an era of social turbulence, environmental change and digital culture. As institutions begin to reshape their roles in the 21st century, emerging considerations for social and environmental justice offer a compelling case for the argument that institutions can and should play a role in supporting a wider agenda as agents of change while adopting new programs, policies, and curatorial practices. As agents of change, institutions are asked to commit to the production of knowledge allowing broader communities to contribute actively to pressing issues of our time.
Since summer of 2005, TBA21 has been holding seminars and debate sessions on the Croatian island of Lopud. Conceived to create an impetus for innovation, dialogue, and exchange by interconnecting different agendas and practices the Lopud Seminars negotiate relevant issues regarding art, architecture, ecology, institutional practice, and preservation. The debate sessions, held in small groups, not only reexamine and correct the institutional course but also open it up to transdisciplinary evaluation and activity.
Traditional means of categorization are now obsolete. The 2017 seminar aims to explore new ways to mobilize the institution as an agent of change, as an incubator for monitoring and supporting new communities and the distribution of values. The challenge lies in maintaining an inclusive discourse that is divested of any form of patronization and rhetoric agenda. As the technological world generates innumerable channels of perception, cognition, expression and distribution, a balance is to be found between maintaining a level of specialization while taking advantage of the new forms of collectivity and rapid communication offered by the digital age.
In response to the growing concern for environmental justice, institutions are reconsidering their practices on many levels to take into account the effects and impact of their activities on the environment as well as on human and non-human communities. Critical discussions produced by this seminar shall generate well-defined missions for an expanded definition of sustainability.
Epistemological changes and new forms of pedagogy favor participatory models. By inviting brilliant minds to address these compelling issues, TBA21’s satellite platform in Lopud makes space for such shared forms of learning.
Nabil Ahmed (Architect, London); Julieta Aranda (Artist, Co-Founder Of E-Flux, Nyc/Berlin); Adam Budak (Chief-Curator, National Gallery, Prague); Diana Campbell Betancourt (Curator, Dhaka Summit, Dhaka); Thomas Boutoux (Theorist, Curator, Castillo/Corrales, Metronome Press, Paris); Sebastian Cichocki (Chief Curator, Moma, Warsaw); Kat Davis (TBA21–Academy Assistant Director); Jiří Fajt (General Director, National Gallery, Prague); David Gruber (Marine Biologist, Nyc); Carles Guerra (Director, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona); Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza (TBA21 Founder, Chair-Woman); Stefanie Hessler (TBA21–Academy Curator); Václav Janoščík (Theorist, Curator, Academy Of Fine Arts, Prague); Linton Kwesi Johnson (Poet, Musician, London); Hilary Koob Sassen (Artist, London); Dee Kyne (TBA21–Academy Strategy Director); Armin Linke (Artist, Berlin); Antonia Majaca (Curator, Zagreb/Berlin); Camila Marambio (Director, Ensayos, Tierra Del Fuego); Heike Munder (Director, Migros, Zurich) (TBC); Sandra Noeth (Writer, Researcher, Berlin); Boris Ondreička (TBA21 Curator); John Palmesino (Territorial Agency, London); Filipa Ramos (Co-Curator Vdrome, Editor In Chief Art-Agenda, London); Hani Rashid (Architect, Co-Founder Asymptote, NYC); David Resnicow (President, Resnicow & Associates, NYC); Markus Reymann (TBA21–Academy Director); Mohammad Salemy (Curator, Critic, The New Centre For Research & Practice, NYC); Pooja Sood (Director, Khoj, New Dehli); Frederike Sperling (TBA21 Assistant Curator); Katarina Stanković (Artist, Film-Maker, Belgrade/Berlin); Sandra Terdjman (Founder, Council, Kadist, Paris); Janaina Tschäpe (Artist, Nyc, Rio De Janeiro); Jindra Vejvodová (Director TBA21-Prague); Davor Vidas (International Law Association, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Lysaker, Norway); Jana Winderen (Artist, Oslo); Daniela Zyman (TBA21 Chief Curator)
Participants
Nabil Ahmed (Architect, London); Julieta Aranda (Artist, Co-Founder Of E-Flux, Nyc/Berlin); Adam Budak (Chief-Curator, National Gallery, Prague); Diana Campbell Betancourt (Curator, Dhaka Summit, Dhaka); Thomas Boutoux (Theorist, Curator, Castillo/Corrales, Metronome Press, Paris); Sebastian Cichocki (Chief Curator, Moma, Warsaw); Kat Davis (TBA21–Academy Assistant Director); Jiří Fajt (General Director, National Gallery, Prague); David Gruber (Marine Biologist, Nyc); Carles Guerra (Director, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona); Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza (TBA21 Founder, Chair-Woman); Stefanie Hessler (TBA21–Academy Curator); Václav Janoščík (Theorist, Curator, Academy Of Fine Arts, Prague); Linton Kwesi Johnson (Poet, Musician, London); Hilary Koob Sassen (Artist, London); Dee Kyne (TBA21–Academy Strategy Director); Armin Linke (Artist, Berlin); Antonia Majaca (Curator, Zagreb/Berlin); Camila Marambio (Director, Ensayos, Tierra Del Fuego); Heike Munder (Director, Migros, Zurich) (TBC); Sandra Noeth (Writer, Researcher, Berlin); Boris Ondreička (TBA21 Curator); John Palmesino (Territorial Agency, London); Filipa Ramos (Co-Curator Vdrome, Editor In Chief Art-Agenda, London); Hani Rashid (Architect, Co-Founder Asymptote, NYC); David Resnicow (President, Resnicow & Associates, NYC); Markus Reymann (TBA21–Academy Director); Mohammad Salemy (Curator, Critic, The New Centre For Research & Practice, NYC); Pooja Sood (Director, Khoj, New Dehli); Frederike Sperling (TBA21 Assistant Curator); Katarina Stanković (Artist, Film-Maker, Belgrade/Berlin); Sandra Terdjman (Founder, Council, Kadist, Paris); Janaina Tschäpe (Artist, Nyc, Rio De Janeiro); Jindra Vejvodová (Director TBA21-Prague); Davor Vidas (International Law Association, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Lysaker, Norway); Jana Winderen (Artist, Oslo); Daniela Zyman (TBA21 Chief Curator)