Institute Colloquium FS23

Adina Pintilie, You Are Another Me—A Cathedral of the Body, 2022. Multi-channel installation. Romanian Participation at the 59th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Exhibition view: Martin Backhaus.

Institute Colloquium – Spring Semester 2023

Thursday, 18:15–20:00

Institute of Art History, University of Zurich and Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK

Concept and organization: Virginia Marano, Charlotte Matter and Laura Valterio, Marie-France Rafael and Judith Welter

This lecture series invites artists and researchers who engage with the social and political dimensions of care at the intersection of race, gender and disability in art and art history. This interdisciplinary approach will be reflected in the themes presented, such as speculative access, crip time, and the critique of the construction of normative bodies. In addition to the conjunctures between contemporary art history, disability theory, feminist and queer approaches, as well as postcolonial perspectives, the sessions will open up new discursive avenues for questioning the representation of the body and its relationship to a more informed and responsible framing that supports experiences of “complex embodiment.” The aim is to introduce a new language and methodology to consider how disability aesthetics informs art critical discourse and production.

The lecture series is free and open to the public. The lectures will be held in English. Some sessions will take place in person, at the University of Zurich or at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK. Please refer to the program for the addresses and room numbers. All lectures will be streamed online with closed captions.
For any access needs and to register for online attendance, please write to Virginia Marano

March 2, 2023
Introduction: Thinking with Disability
Virginia Marano, Charlotte Matter and Laura Valterio (University of Zurich), Marie-France Rafael and Judith Welter (Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK)
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zurich, Room RAA-G-15 and online

March 16
Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Arts Now
Emily Watlington (Art critic, curator, and assistant editor at Art in America)
online

March 30
Care, Community and Contingencies: Artistic Practices Rooted in Access
Nina Mühlemann (Performance artist, researcher and co-director of Criptonite)
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zurich, Room RAA-G-15 and online

April 20
‘Banging your head against a brick wall...’ Art institutional norms and ‘the project’ Crip Magazine
Eva Egermann (Artist, writer and editor of Crip Magazine)
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zurich, Room RAA-G-15 and online

May 4
The Museum through Touch: New Modes of Aesthetic Engagement
Georgina Kleege (Professor Emerita of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and disability studies scholar)
online

May 11
Touch Me Not: Poetics and Politics of Intimacy
Screening of Touch Me Not (2018), followed by a roundtable discussion with Adina Pintilie (Filmmaker, visual artist and curator), Christian Bayerlein and Grit Uhlemann (Human rights activists and ambassadors of Awesomeness)
Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zurich, Room Kino Toni ZT 3.G02 and online

June 1
Crip*—Cripistemology and the Arts
Liza Sylvestre and Christopher Robert Jones (Artists and writers)
online