Opening Hours

Curators: U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art (Copenhagen): Solvej Helweg Ovesen, Charlotte Bagger Brandt, Judith Schwarzbart As part of the Winterfestival

OPENING HOURS is a co-operation project between five European partners: KW Institute for Contemporary Art / berlin biennial for contemporary art (Berlin), IDEA art + society (Cluj-Napoca), Lunds Konsthall (Lund), Műcsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest (Budapest), and U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art (Copenhagen).

The basic idea is to challenge the standard notion of presenting art within institutional opening hours by developing time-based programmes extracting the work of each partner/curator and hosted by the partner institutions. While most partners present work related to performative practices, research and experimental film, a theoretical reflection on the topic is organised through IDEA, a partner that offers magazine space rather than an exhibition space. All partners share an interest in breaking with conventional exhibition formats, and in relating contemporary artistic practice and cultural understanding with artistic achievements from the recent past, in order to understand our common and diverse artistic background across the divide of the cold war.

U-TURN - Quadrennial for Contemporary Art was the winner of a competition held by the Danish Arts Council in February 2006 to establish a festival for contemporary art in Denmark. The project was initiated and launched by Danish curators Charlotte Bagger Brandt, Solvej Helweg Ovesen, and Judith Schwarzbart. Since its opening in autumn 2008, U-TURN has been offering an extensive program of exhibitions, performances, conferences, and diverse events.

Ernst Museum hosts different programs as part of the OPENING HOURS project: an exhibition titled OVERCOMING with related events and a series of talks, presentations and a curatorial course titled THE PRODUCERS
Often in moments of historical crisis, moments where individuals or groups of people are ripped of there basic rights or moments where one system collapses and gives way for another in a rather uncontrollable process, the personal and social or societal experience appear to merge or overlap.
The exhibition Overcoming compiles four works from U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art in Copenhagen, which in different ways use the film medium to get close to a traumatic event, and through aesthetic means mixing the documentary and the staged footage manage to penetrate that moment of loss and trauma. The events referred to are located in different places as Brazil, Turkey, Romania and Bosnia, but what they have in common is an experience that is only about to find a language in which to express it self, a language that on the one hand can remember and hold tightly and, on the other hand, can distance itself from the event in order to try to understand what happened.

Related programmes
On 15 November, at 4 p.m. in Ernst Museum
artist Pia RÖNICKE (Copenhagen) and Kurdish writer Zeynel Abidin KIZILYAPRAK talk about the joint making of their film Facing – A Usual Story from a Nameless Country.

On 21 and 22 November, at 6 p.m. in KINO cinema, screenings of Sergei Eisenstein’s film General Line (1929) and Kira Muratova’s film Aesthenic Syndrome (1989). On 21 November, the films are introduced by theorist and writer, Anders Kreuger, curator of Lund Konsthall and of the exhibition After Eisenstein.
Link: http://www.lundskonsthall.se/ KINO cinema – 1137 Budapest, Szent István krt. 16.

THE PRODUCERS

Between 15 November and 14 December, in addition to the programs (a talk and screenings) associated with the exhibition OVERCOMING, we are organising a three-day workshop for young curators and a lecture series for the wider audience by the title THE PRODUCERS.
The central topic will be artistic and curatorial production, including its history, as well as its conceptual, contextual and economic framework/operation. The course will primarily examine the production and producer related possibilities of the different strategies and “scripts” currently in use (biennials, commercial-based and non-profit institutional forms, “nomadic” curatorial projects, etc.). It will also highlight those prominent actors (artists, curators, writers, etc.) whose work significantly determines and shapes how we think about the work/role of the producer and artistic/curatorial production. Invited Hungarian and international guests will reflect on these various strategies through their own work and experiences.

Concept: Lívia PÁLDI chief curator, Műcsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest

Course
1-3 December 2 – 5 p.m.
The course will be led by Diana BALDON independent curator and writer (Vienna).
Language: English
2 – 3.30 p.m. lecture
3.30 – 5 p.m. seminar (discussion, debate)
Participants are required to register prior to the event.

Diana BALDON is an Italian curator and writer, currently based in Vienna where is Associate Curator of the group exhibition A Question of Evidence opening in November 2008 at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. She is also one of the curators of the 2nd Athens Biennale opening in June 2009. She received a Master’s degree in Creative Curating at Goldsmiths College, University of London, in 2002. Since then, she has realised exhibitions internationally including, among others, Left Pop at the 2007 Moscow Biennale, Marjetica Potrc/Kyong Park at London’s Cubitt Gallery, After Effect at Centre d’Art Neuchâtel. Between 2007-08 she was Curator In Residence at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she devised the Demonstrationsraum exhibition programme and taught the seminar Curatorial Studies within the Department of Art Theory and Cultural Studies. She regularly contributes to international art magazines including, among others, Artforum International. Her critical writing has appeared in a number of artists’ catalogues as well as in the critical readers Men in Black – Handbook of Curatorial Practice (2004, Revolver Books); LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook (2006, Royal Society of Arts).

Public lectures and talks (in English):
20 November 20, Thursday 6 p.m.

Rike FRANK, independent curator and writer (Berlin)

(Vienna / Berlin) curated film and video programs as well as exhibitions under the brand “Best Before”. After a stay in New York at P.S.1 and at Dia Center for the Arts in 1998/1999, she was curatorial assistant for Re-Play, a comprehensive retrospective of art and electronic media at the Generali Foundation, Vienna, from 1999 to 2000. Between 2001 and 2005, Rike Frank was the head of exhibition for Secession, Vienna, where she was responsible for numerous shows – including solo shows by artists such as Henrik Olesen, Andrea Geyer, Silvia Kolbowski, Henrik Hakansson, Ines Doujak, Josephine Pryde, Mary Heilman, Michael Beutler, Jeroen de Rijke/ Willem deRooij, Christopher Williams, Carola Dertnig, Michael Krebber and Minerva Cuevas –, and edited the Secession's catalogues. From 2006 until the end of September 2007 she was the head of curatorial office for documenta 12 in Kassel. Rike Frank’s essays and reviews appear, among other publications, in artforum, springerin, and Camera Austria.

Anders KREUGER, theorist, writer, curator of Lund Konsthall (Lund)

(Lund/Vilnius) was founding director of the Nordic Council of Ministers Information Office in Vilnius from 1991 to 1995, director of the Nordic Arts Center in Helsinki from 1995 to 1997 and founding director of the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art in Helsinki from 1997 to 1999. As an independent curator he has organised numerous exhibitions all over Europe, among others 1987. Prints and Posters from the Last Soviet Decade at Kumu, Tallinn; Whatever Happened In the 60s and 70s? Swedish Film and TV from a Golden Era, Rooseum, Malmö; The Violence of Tone, W139, Amsterdam; Periferic 6: Prophetic Corners, Iasi, Romania; Self-Esteem. Lithuanian Art 01, CAC, Vilnius and Remedy for Melancholy, Edsvik, Stockholm. Since 2006 he is curator at Lund Konsthall, since 2007 he is director of Malmö Art Academy, Lund University. He has been teaching at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Royal College of Art in London and many other European art academies. He was advisor to the Raqs Media Collective at Manifesta 7 in Bolzano and member of the editorial team for the journal A Prior in Ghent. Anders Kreuger regularly writes articles for catalogues and has edited numerous publications.

The first in the series of public presentations in the framework of THE PRODUCERS introduced Anders KREUGER, writer and curator of Lund Konsthall, and Rike FRANK, independent curator and critic based in Berlin. They both have been involved in the programming of the European Kunsthalle, Cologne since autumn 2007, working within the European Programme Team including Cologne based curator Astrid WEGE. Beside introducing their individual practices and some of their current curatorial projects, the following discussion moderated by Franciska ZOLYOM, director of ICA-Dunaujvaros, focused on the present and possible future(s) of the European Kunsthalle, its status and placement as both a local and international platform for production, mediation and exchange as well as its role in generating and enhancing communication about the conceptual, contextual and economic framework of an adaptable/nomadic institutional model.

Moderator: Franciska ZÓLYOM, curator, Director of Institute of Contemporary Art – Dunaújváros

(Budapest) art historian, curator, director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros / Hungary. Between 1997 and 1999 she worked as curator at the Ludwig Museum Budapest and curated: Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills, (1998); Rondo. Works by Middle- and East-European Artists (1999); Orshi Drozdik Retrospective (together with Dóra Hegyi 2001/2002). Her projects in public space include: Right: Here: Now. Temporary Monuments in the City Space (ongoing from 2004); Cinemascope. Sitespecific Works in the Atrium Cinema (2004). In 2001 and 2003/ 2004 she worked as project manager at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum of the Present in Berlin and realized the projects: Stan Douglas: Le Détroit (2001); Berlin North. Contemporary Artists in the Nordic Countries in Berlin. (2003 /2004). Recent projects include: 1/4 Hungarian. Critical Art Practices (together with Beáta Hock 2007), City Without a Center (2007), Stalking Utopia, Congress of the Futurologues (together with Thomas Neumann 2008). Since 1999 she has been teaching at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. She is board member of tranzit.hu (since 2005) and of the Hungarian section of AICA (since 2006.

1 December, Monday 6 p.m.
Diana BALDON, independent curator, writer (Vienna)

2 December, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
Nikolett ERŐSS curator, Director of Trafo Gallery (Budapest)

Nikolett Erőss (Budapest) Graduated as art historian at Lóránd Eötvös University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary. Former editor of www.exindex.hu, a Hungarian web magazine on contemporary art (2003-2008) Since 2006 Curator of Trafó Gallery operating in the frame of Trafó – House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest. (www.trafo.hu). Her recent projects include: Joanna Rajkowska: Airways and Artur Zmijewski: Radical Solidarity.

Dóra HEGYI project leader of tranzit.hu, curator of Periferic 8 – Art as Gift Biennial for Contemporary Art (Iasi)

Dóra Hegyi is an art historian, curator, based in Budapest. Between 1996 and 2003 she was a curator at the Ludwig Museum Budapest, initiator of the Project Room of the museum in 1999. She curated, among many others, the exhibitions Budapest Box - The hidden scene of the 1990s (co-curator), 2002 and Moszkva ter-Gravitation, 2003. Since 2005 Dora Hegyi is project leader of tranzit. hu, a contemporary art initiative supported by the Erste Bank Group, which focuses on initiating discursive events. In this framework she started the Free School for Art Theory and Practice, and the tranzit.blog.hu, a blog for visual culture, to strengthen the professional discussion of art and critical thinking in Hungary. In 2008 she was curator of Periferic 8, Biennial for Contemporary Art in Iasi, Romania

3 December, Wednesday, 6 p.m.
Ana DEVIC, art critic, curator, member of the independent curatorial collective What, How & for Whom / WHW (with Ivet Curlin, Natasa Ilic and Sabina Sabolovic and designer and publicist Dejan Krsic) based in Zagreb

Ana Devic received a B.A. in Art History and Comparative Literature, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Since 1995 she has been working as an art critic and curator. She has contributed to many cultural magazines and numerous exhibition catalogues. She is one of the founding members of an independent curatorial collective What, How & for Whom/WHW (with Ivet Curlin, Natasa Ilic and Sabina Sabolovic and designer and publicist Dejan Krsic) based in Zagreb, Croatia. WHW's activities are exploring the potentials of critical curatorial practice capable of generating innovative models of self-representation and self-organization within the realm of contemporary art. Since May 2003 WHW has been running the program of Gallery Nova - non-profit city owned gallery in the center of Zagreb. Ana Devic had also worked for the Gallery of Modern Art, Zagreb as a coordinator of an exhibition program of Studio Josip Racic in Zagreb where she curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions.

What, How & for Whom' (WHW) is a non-profit organization for visual culture and curator's collective based in Zagreb, Croatia. WHW was formed in 1999 and among their projects are the following international projects/exhibitions: What, How and for Whom, on the occasion of the 153d anniversary of the Communist Manifesto; Broadcasting: Project, dedicated to Nikola Tesla' and START. Besides exhibitions, WHW projects encompass different formats of lectures and public discussions conducted by international artists, curators and cultural theoreticians, publications and a book edition on contemporary curatorial practice and cultural theory, radio and Internet broadcasts and interventions, screenings and live acts. Since June, 2003, WHW has been running a city-owned gallery in the centre of Zagreb. They are the curators of the 11th International Istanbul Biennial that will take place between 12 September-8 November 2009 titled "What Keeps Mankind Alive?".

12 December, Friday, 5 p.m.
Aneta SZYLAK, curator, writer, co-founder and currently director of Wyspa Institute of Art

Aneta Szylak (Gdansk) is the co-founder and currently director of Wyspa Institute of Art - the intellectual environment for contemporary visual culture - in the former Gdansk Shipyard premises in Poland and Vice-President of the Wyspa Progress Foundation.

In 1998, she founded with Grzegorz Klaman the Laznia (Bathhouse) Centre for Contemporary Art and was its Director until spring 2001. Her exhibitions are characterised by a strong response towards the cultural, political, social, architectural and institutional specificity and include: Chosen in Digital Art Lab in Holon, Israel (with Galit Eilat); Translate: The Impossible Collection (2008, Wyspa); Ewa Partum: The Legality of Space (2006, Wyspa); the group show You won’t feel a thing: On Panic, Obsession, Rituality and Anaesthesia (2007, Kunsthaus Dresden); Artur Zmijewski: Selected Works (2006, Wyspa). Dockwatchers (2005, Wyspa); Palimpsest Museum (2004, I. Lodz Biennale); Health & Safety (2004, Wyspa); Architectures of Gender (2003, SculptureCenter, New York); All You Need is Love (2000, CCA Laznia) among others.

Her writings have been published in A PRIOR Magazine, n.paradoxa, Art Journal, ArtKrush, Art Margins. In 2005, she was given the "Jerzy Stajuda Award for independent and uncompromising curatorial practice”. She has lectured at many art institutions and universities, including New School University, Queens College and New York University, both in NYC and worked as a guest professor at the Akademie der Bildende Kunste in Mainz, Germany.

Currently she is writing her PhD thesis at Copenhagen Doctoral School Copenhagen University and Goldsmiths College in London.

Cosmin COSTINAS, independent curator and writer (Berlin) and Binna CHOI, curator and writer, Director of Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory (Utrecht), both are members of the curatorial collective Electric Palm Tree (with Kyongfa Che)

Binna Choi (Utrecht) is director of Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory in Utrecht. She's also developing a long term project Electric Palm Tree together with Kyongfa Che and Cosmin Costinas.

For more information about the course curriculum and the lectures please contact:
Kriszta ZSÖMBÖR program assistant –
krisztina.zsombor@chello.hu

Some of the lectures of THE PRODUCERS are co-organized with the Check in Budapest project by ACAX – Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange.

CHECK IN BUDAPEST

The curatorial visitor program Check in Budapest is a series of events taking place between October 2008-June 2009. In accordance with the main goal of the hosting organization – ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange – this program aims to establish and maintain channels of effective and continuous professional communication among the actors of the Hungarian and international art scene, as well as to promote and support the international appearance and integration of Hungarian artists.

The different editions of Check in Budapest will consist out of two main activities: a curatorial research, completed by public presentations and panel discussions.
In order to give an extensive insight into the Hungarian art scene and the places of art production, the curatorial research program will include guided tours to different galleries and museums, as well as meetings with artists, curators and key cultural producers.
Each public lecture and talk will focus on a special topic – such as international residency programs; the diverse possibilities, formats, conceptual and economic frameworks for art production; or the methods of collecting and archiving contemporary art. The thematic events will bring together different international curators who will present their work and strategies to the Hungarian audience and share their ideas with each other in a public debate.

Curatorial Positions – Check in Budapest 2.
Date of the second event: 28 November 2008 (Thursday), 5 p.m.
Location: Ernst Museum, 1065 Budapest, Nagymező utca 8.

Participants:
Mihnea Mircan curator, critic, (Romania), Simon REES, curator – Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), co-editor of CAC INTERVIU Marina SORBELLO, curator, critic, co-founder of Uqbar (Berlin)

Check in Budapest is initiated and organized by ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange in collaboration with Kunsthalle Budapest, as well as the financial support from the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Contact:
Rita KÁLMÁN
Tijana STEPANOVIC

ACAX | Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange
H-1065 Budapest, Nagymező utca 8.
Tel: (+36 30) 2977 355
www.acax.hu

ACAX is the international exchange program of Ludwig Museum–Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest (www.lumu.hu)