Thursday 28 May /11am – 4pm / Open Eye Gallery / free, RSVP
The University of Salford is partnering with Open Eye Gallery and invites you you to attend Self Defined: Symposium. The symposium brings together artists, curators and cultural professionals from regions of Europe less represented in the UK cultural sector. Through conversations on archives, memory and representation, participants will explore how historical narratives are revisited, challenged and reimagined today.
University of Salford Art collection’s Director Lindsay Taylor will be moderating the discussion on Artists, Archives and Contemporary Work.
This symposium accompanies Open Eye’s current exhibition Self-Defined. New Stories from Archives, which gathers histories from the East (or the Centre, depending on the perspective) of Europe through the work of artists who explore personal and historical contexts across their varying family histories, origins and localities. These artists’ work utilises non-institutional, independent, private archiving to discuss the non-existence or inaccessibility of material memory through contemporary work.
The symposium programme is as follows:
- 11:00-11:50. Rethinking the Past Through Institutions.
Why does the past matter today? How can institutions engage with contested histories? Why and how do we work together to explore history and archives from different perspectives?
Participants:
Gosia McKane, Director, Liverpool European Partnership
Anna Bubnova, Senior Relationship Manager, Culture Responds, Arts British Council
Moderated by Sarah Fisher
- 12:00-12:50. Exhibitions as Spaces for Untold Histories.
Can exhibitions make the voices of the excluded heard? What responsibilities do curators and artists have when working with silenced or fragmented narratives?
Participants:
Krasimira Butseva, visual artist and researcher based in London, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria.
Kristine Milere, exhibition curator and researcher at the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE, the Foreign Art Department of the Latvian National Museum of Art
Moderated by Max Gorbatskyi
- 13:00-14:00. Lunch break
- 14:00-14:50. Artists, Archives and Contemporary Work.
Why are artists and curators returning to archives? How can artistic practice reactivate historical material?
Participants:
Karolina Gembara, artist and researcher, Poland
Lia Dostlieva, artist and researcher, Ukraine
Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi, curators of the Self-Defined exhibition at Open Eye Gallery
Moderated by Lindsay Taylor, Director of the University of Salford Art Collection
- 15:00-15:50. Archival Practices Across Eastern Europe.
How do archival cultures differ across Eastern Europe? What political, social and historical conditions shape approaches to memory?
Participants:
Elene Toidze, Co-founder and Director of Creative Clusters’ Alliance, Georgia.
Zula Rabikowska, artist, founder of Rethinking Eastern Europe organisation.
Andrii Usach and Аnna Yatsenko, NGO After Silence, Ukraine.
Moderated by Viktoria Bavykina
If you can’t make it to the symposium but would still like to see Self Defined: New Stories from Archives, the exhibition will be running until 7th June, open 10am-5pm, Tuesday-Sunday.
For information on accessibility and to plan your visit to Open Eye Gallery, see their website here.
In partnership with: The Liverpool European Festival, University of Salford, National Library of Latvia, CERS – Cultural and Creative Ecosystem of Latvia as a Resource for Resilience and Sustainability.
