Modern and Contemporary Art

Section chairs: Prof. dr Katja Kwastek (VU) & Prof. dr Ann-Sophie Lehmann (RUG)
Contact: osk-fgw@uva.nl

De sectie Moderne en Hedendaagse Kunst biedt een forum voor de uitwisseling van ideeën over moderne en hedendaagse kunst tussen academische en zelfstandige onderzoekers, studenten, museum personeel en kunstenaars in Nederland.  Door de organisatie van workshops, lezingen en jaarlijkse bijeenkomsten probeert de sectie het debat gaande te houden over de theoretische benadering van de kunst en esthetiek uit de periode vanaf 1800 tot op heden en bij te dragen aan nationale en internationale discussies over kwesties, richtlijnen en beleid die van invloed zijn op de creatie, verzamelpraktijk en tentoonstelling van kunst in de hedendaagse maatschappij.  

Onderzoekers

Vanuit het besef dat de traditionele geografische en disciplinaire grenzen van hetgeen tot beeldende kunst gerekend wordt binnen het onderzoekveld en onderwijs steeds verder verschuiven,  beoogt de sectie een breed en gevarieerd programma aan te bieden en daarnaast vernieuwende kritische en originele methoden en benaderingswijzen te ontwikkelen in samenwerking met onderzoekers uit verschillende wetenschappelijke specialismen.

De sectie beoogt ten slotte ook te dienen als platform van haar leden om met collegae uit andere landen in contact te treden of zich in het buitenland te profileren.  Om die reden moedigt de sectie initiatieven voor samenwerking en uitwisseling tussen wetenschappers en kunstenaars op het gebied van moderne en hedendaagse kunst van harte aan.  

European Society for Nineteenth-Century Art (ESNA): A working group of the Modern and Contemporary Art Section of the OSK

ESNA is a working group of scholars, graduate students, and museum professionals based in the Netherlands whose research focuses on European art of the long nineteenth century. ESNA’s aim is to provide a forum that promotes the exchange of ideas in this field, to support and encourage graduate research, and to enhance networking opportunities for participants. ESNA seeks to contribute to, and foster debate on, nineteenth-century art through its organization of an annual symposium, the invitation of visiting speakers, and co-ordination with other organizations and groups devoted to the study of the nineteenth century. ESNA is a working group formed under the auspices of the Netherlands Postgraduate Research School for Art History (Onderzoekschool Kunstgeschiedenis).

— Please note: Lectures can be held in both Dutch or English, hence the use of both languages in the overview below —

Section day (s):

2020: March 19th, Amsterdam | Meet & Greet Research Day

On March 19th 2020, the Section Modern & Contemporary Art will hold its annual Meet & Greet Research Day. We welcome PhD students, who have started since 2017 to give a short presentation of their research projects and newly appointed staff members to introduce their research & future plans. After a network lunch, we will visit the Nam June Paik Exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum together with the curator. Please sign up by sending an e-mail to osk-fgw@uva.nl and if you are a PhD student, please indicate, if you want to present your project.

2018: March 9th, Utrecht University | Meet & Greet Research Day

with PhD’s from all Universities, a welcome speech by the newly appointed professor for modern & contemporary art at Utrecht University, Eva-Maria Troehlenberger and a discussion with the new director of the Centraal Museum, Bart Rutten

2017: November 10th, University of Groningen & Art Academy: Artistic Research in the North, Minerva

https://www.rug.nl/research/icog/research/research-centres/artsinsociety/_afbeeldingen/ais-thought-things-programme.pdf

2017: March 27th, University of Amsterdam | Seminar ‘Activating Artifacts: About Academia’ 

The seminar is organized within the framework of the exhibition Activating Artifacts: About Academia, presented at Rozenstraat 59 by De Appel in partnership with UvA. In this solo-exhibition, the Spanish artist Muntadas addresses themes of privatisation, corporatisation, gentrification and globalisation in relation to American higher education. Through a meticulously laid out architecture, the project provides a space for reconsidering various intersecting spheres of institutionalized sites of learning and the neoliberal realm.

Through this seminar, the Muntadas exhibition will be activated to examine how the above processes, which also drive the relentless neoliberalisation of higher education beyond the US, resonate within the context of continental Europe post-Bologna and The Netherlands post-Uprising specifically. How do the themes of privatisation, corporatisation, gentrification and globalisation, which Muntadas so keenly dissects, resonate and ultimately transform the way we understand the often-conflicting ideological, economic and educational pursuits of the university apparatus, and how do these issues relate to particular geo-cultural frameworks? Two panel discussions will provide this (re-)contextualization, while reflecting on the role artists play in originating critical discussions about academia.

With: Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes, Sepp Eckenhuizen (Commoning UvA), Eva Fotiadi (lecturer in Contemporary Art and Theory, UvA), Steven ten Thije (research curator, Van Abbemuseum), Mieke Bal (Professor Emeritus in Literary Theory, UvA), Cecilia Guida (‎director, UNIDEE – University of Ideas, ‎Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna), Ronaldo Vázquez (assistant professor of Sociology, Utrecht University)

2016: April 20th, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

While 2017 salutes the centenary of the founding of the Dutch avant-garde movement De Stijl, 2016 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the first monograph by Hans Jaffé. An international symposium, held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on April 20, 2016, both celebrates what Jaffé presented as “one of the longest lived and most influential of modern art movements” and examines its scholarly reception in terms of what has been accomplished and new directions in research.

Day-long symposium with morning and afternoon program with roundtables Short presentations of 18-20 minutes.

Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes and Marek Wieczorek | Collective Reflections on Hans Jaffé and De Stijl
Hans Janssen, Curator for Modern Art at Large, Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag. | The Present of De Stijl in the Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag
Wietse Coppes, Editor Mondrian Edition Project / Curator Mondrian & De Stijl archives and documentation, RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History | Sourcing Mondrian: from Private to Public Archives and the Mondrian Edition Project
Alied Ottevanger, Curator 20th-century Prints and Drawings, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam | Reading Van Doesburg
Mariël Polman, Lecturer Historic Interiors, Programme Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, University of Amsterdam / Architectural Paint Researcher Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands | The Material Dynamics of Theo van Doesburg’s Heritage in Drachten and Hyères
Four UVA MA students, Programme Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, briefly present work in progress:
Megan Kisters, student Historic Interiors | Wallpaper Reconstructed in the Van Doesburg Rinsema House: Finding the Balance between In Situ Fragments and Artistic Intent
Antje Verstraten, student Historic Interiors | Concept or ractice? A Study of the Original Blue Paint Layers in the Van Doesburg Rinsema House in Drachten
Stephan de Vries, student Wood and Furniture | Reconstructing Sybold van Ravesteyn’s Furniture Ensemble in Villa Noailles, France
Bram van de Wende, student Wood and Furniture | Wooden Cradle by Cornelis van der Wilk, 1924: Study of a World Exhibition Artifact
Ruth Hoppe, Painting Conservator, Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag | Composition with Yellow Lines by Piet Mondrian: New Aspects of Condition
Maarten van Bommel, Professor of Conservation Science, Programme Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage | After the Fact: Evaluating our Interdisciplinary Study of Mondrian’s Victory Boogie Woogie” (presentation of a paper co-]authored with Hans Janssen and Ron Spronk)
Doris Wintgens, Guest curator Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam / Curator Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden | Peggy Guggenheim & Nelly van Doesburg: Friends in Stijl, 1938—1952
Ida van Zijl, art historian, specialized in Rietveld and Dutch design of the 20^th Century | The House of Truus Schröder”
Michael White, Professor of History of Art, University of York, UK | 1001 Chairs
Marek Wieczorek, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, University of Washington, Seattle | The De Stijl Paradigm
Nancy J. Troy, Victoria and Roger Sant Professor in Art, Stanford University | Kleren maken de man: The Mondrian Dress | Keynote

2015: 5 June | Writing Art And Creating Back: What Can We Do With Art (History)?

Gregory Sholette (artist/writer, CUNY), Maria Barnas (artist/writer, Amsterdam), Professor Alastair MacLennan (performance artist, Belfast) | Pain to Pane
Professor James Elkins (art historian/writer, School of the Art Institute, Chicago | Limits of Writing in Art History
Professor Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes (art historian/curator, UvA) | Writing Art And Creating Back: What Can We Do With Art (History)?

2014: 19/20 June, EYE Film Institute & Bethaniënklooster Amsterdam | The Mediatization of the Artist

Screening: Schaffende Hände: Drahtplastiken. Alexander Calder (Hans Cürlis, 1929)
Pierre Saurisse, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London: Creative Process and Magic | Artists on Screen in the 1940s
Steven Jacobs, Ghent University | Things, Paintings, Artists, and Films: Magritte by Luc de Heusch
Screening: De Werkelijkheid van Karel Appel (Jan Vrijman, 1962)
Angela Dalle Vacche, Georgia Institute of Technology | Alain Resnais’ Life-Like Van Gogh versus Vincente Minnelli’s Vivification
Marcel Bleuler, University of Bern | In Bed with Marina Abramovicì. Mediatizing Women’s Art as a Personal Drama
Screening: Traum des Bildhauers (c. 1907-1910)
Joke de Wolf, Groningen University | Laughing with Nadar: Caricatures on Photography and the Arts in the Journal Amusant (1856-65)
Laura Bravo, University of Puerto Rico | The Myth of the Artist in Children’s Illustrated Literature
Screening: (Fragment) Love is the Devil. Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (John Maybury, 1998)
Marco de Waard, Amsterdam University College | Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio and the Aesthetic Regime of Art
Niharika Dinkar, Boise State University / Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin | Mythologies of the Artist in Modern India: The Many Lives of Raja Ravi Varma
Screening: Ceux de Chez Nous (Sacha Guitry, 1915)
Alain Bonnet, Université Pierre Mendès France (Grenoble 2) | LAHRA : Art and Artists in the Magasin Pittoresque (1833-1914)
Lieske Tibbe, Radboud University Nijmegen | Success Stories and Martyrologies: Images of Artists in Elsevier’s Geïllustreerd Maandschrift around 1900
Poppy Sfakianaki, University of Crete | Artists’ Confessions to Tériade in L’intransigeant, 1928-29: The Construction of the Public Image of the Artist through Illustrated Interviews
Elise Noyez, VU University Amsterdam | With the Artist’s Blessing: Photographs of Artists as Publicity Material
Beatrice von Bismarck, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig | Be on Show! Publicity’s Imperative and Artistic Self-Representation
Tutta Palin, University of Turku | Media Strategies of Female Artists in Inter-War Finland
Herwig Todts, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp | Les épisodes de la vie d’artiste intéressent beaucoup. Ensor and Artistic Identity
Stephanie Marchal, Leuphana University of Lüneburg | Gustave Courbet’s Self-Mediatization

2013: 7 November, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam | Zelfportretten en het autobiografische in de moderne en hedendaagse kunst

Louis van Tilborgh (Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam) | De zelfportretten van Vincent van Gogh
Mirjam Westen (Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem) | Van zelfportret naar fabricating identities
Sanne van der Maarel (Kunsthistorisch onderzoeker, momenteel verbonden aan het Van Gogh Museum / RKD) | Het zelfportret als puzzel: William Orpen en Duncan Grant: twee Britse case studies circa 1900-1920
Herwig Todts (conservator collectieonderzoek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen) | De visualisering van het kunstenaarschap in het oeuvre van James Ensor
Ton Geerts (conservator Moderne en Hedendaagse Kunst RKD) | Conceptuele kunstenaars en het zelfportret, ca. 1968-1975

2012: 4 December, Amsterdam Museum | Contemporary Art’s Confrontation with the Monstrous”

Kathryn Brown (Tilburg University) | Meeting Monsters

Session 1: Monstrous Bodies
Natalie Lettner (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) | The Monstrous and the Hidden Norm of Ambiguity in Contemporary Art
Chelsea Nichols (Brasenose College, University of Oxford) | Confronting and Collecting Monstrous Bodies in the Medical Museum: Zoe Leonard’s Preserved Head of a Bearded Woman, Musée Orfila

Session 2: Play, Recreation, and Horror
Kerstin Borchhardt (Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena) | Monstrous Shell, Human Core: Humanized Hybrids and the Delighted Horror
Esra Plumer (University of Nottingham) | Anagrams and Automatism: Exploring Unica Zürn’s Monsters in Graphic Notebooks

Session 3: Monstrosity as Political Allegory
Sabine T. Kriebel (University College, Cork) | The Political Grotesque: Repulsion and the Monstrous in Interwar Montage
Fernando Herrero Matoses (University of Illinois) | Antonio Saura’s Imaginary Portraits of Phillip II: The Sovereign and Allegories of the Monstrous

Session 4: Biology and Beyond
Rob Zwijnenberg (Leiden University) | Bioart and the Role of Art in Society
Jenny Boulboulle (Maastricht University) | In Touch with the Other: On Bio-artists’ Hands-on Approach towards Life Sciences’ new life forms’
Petra Lange-Berndt (University College, London) | Monster Soup. Plasticities, Mutations, Swarmings | Keynote

2011: 25 November,  Museum De Pont, Tilburg (NL)

This year’s Annual Section Meeting provides a forum for discussing ways in which modern and contemporary artworks defy the imposition of a single interpretive framework and provoke reflection on the way in which we write about visual art and conceive of its history. The internationalization of art school training, the emergence of a global art market, and the peripatetic studio practices of artists who absorb and express a range of cultural influences count amongst some of the factors that undermine the possibility of culturally or geographically bounded interpretations and approaches to contemporary visual art. Contributions to the meeting will consider different ways in which art critical and historical methodology has been, and is being, driven to reconceive of itself not by disciplinary demands, but by the themes and content of art objects themselves. Through close examination of works by contemporary artists, roundtable discussion involving museum curators, and the contribution of artists themselves, the meeting will focus on objects, images, and practices that prompt a re-evaluation of cultural, educational, curatorial, and critical identities.

Linda Boersma (Utrecht University) | Often Durham Employs’: A Reflection on Cultural Identity and Approaches of Contemporary Art
Kitty Zijlmans (Leiden University) | Between the Rubble and the Ruins: Art at Work
Patrick van Rossem (Utrecht University) | Looking at Senegal: Global Difficulties in Understanding and Experiencing Otherness
Kathryn Brown (Tilburg University) | Computer Art and the Networked Other
Presentation by Guest Artist: Warren Neidich
Marsha Meskimmon (Loughborough University,United Kingdom) | Cosmopolitan Imagination… or, the Promises of Contemporary Art | Keynote