IKT SYMPOSIUM

IKT is the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art.  It is an independent organization run by its own members that brings together contemporary art curators from around the world.  It acts as a meeting place where knowledge can be shared and serves as a place where professional networks can be expanded.

IKT brings together its nearly five hundred members from all over the world.  Most members are museum or art center directors and curators, though there is an ever-increasing number of independent professionals in their ranks.  The organization aims to stimulate and disseminate debates regarding curatorial practices.  Meanwhile, IKT offers its members the chance to meet potential collaborative partners for work on exhibitions, publications, and other happenings.

Yearly, the association holds an international congress located in a different country. In 2013 it will be held in Madrid, thanks to a collaboration between the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, and Centro Cultural Matadero Madrid, between April 19 and 21.
  To talk about money would seem an unavoidable choice for the 2013 IKT congress in the light of the ongoing financial crisis and the particular context of Spain, our host country. However, rather than talk about money, and either bemoan its absence or celebrate its abundance, we propose to discuss instead the more fundamental notion of value. As the international art market continues to boom whilst we witness the increasingly rapid withdrawal of public funding for culture across Europe, we will set out to explore how we – as curators – value art, and how our role – as curators – is valued. Seeking to provide inspiration and to open a forum for debate amongst peers, this conference does not try to solve your financial woes nor teach you how to woo new sources of funding. However, by exploring fundamental questions related to the production and presentation of art, it aims to evince new ideas that can help us to defend the work we value.     Barnabás Bencsik, born 1964, lives and works in Budapest. He received a degree in literature and history, later in history of art from the ELTE University Budapest. From 1990-1999 he run the Studio Gallery, Budapest, the exhibition venue of the Studio of Young Artists Association. He also coordinated the visual arts program at Soros Center for Contemporary Arts-Budapest (1993-1995). He was head of the Trafo Gallery, Budapest (1999-2001) and chief curator at Műcsarnok|Kunsthalle, where he contributed to the project at the Hungarian Pavilion of the 49th Venice Biennale. Since 2002, he has been curating shows independently and since 2006, he is the director of ACAX|Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange, an office supporting and establishing cooperations between the local and the international art scenes. From 2008 until February 2013 he was director of Ludwig Museum-Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest.   Pierre Bismuth, born in Paris in 1963, lives and works in Brussels. This year, he will participate in the group show Lines. A Brief History at the Centre Pompidou-Metz. His most recent solo exhibitions included In Advance of Unpredictable Usage Conditions, D&A-Lab, Brussels, Cory Arcangel vs. Pierre Bismuth, Team Gallery, New York and An Ocean of Lemonade, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam (all 2011). In 2012, he participated in the group shows Seuls quelques fragments de nous toucheront quelques fragments d’autrui, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, Without (Jonathan Monk), Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Motion Capture. Drawing and the Moving Image, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork and Neon. La materia luminosa dell'arte, MACRO, Rome. In 2005, he was awarded an Oscar for “Best Original Screenplay” with co-scriptwriters Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufmann for the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.   María de Corral is an art critic and independent curator based in Madrid. She was Director of the 51st Venice Biennial, 2005. Presently, she is Director of Expoactual and Advisor and Coordinator of the Colección de Arte Contemporáneo (Museo Patio Herreriano, Valladolid). In 2007 she curated FAST FORWARD: Contemporary Collections for the Dallas Museum of Art and was later appointed Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum (2006-2009). She has been Director of the Advisory Committee of Telefónica Foundation Collection in Madrid (2001-2006) and of the Contemporary Art Collection of Fundación La Caixa (1995-2002), which she started in 1985. From 1990 until 1994 she was Director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Recently curated exhibitions include Ficciones y Realidades: Contemporary Art of Spain in the period 2000-2012, Museum of Modern Art, Moscow and Museo Patio Herreriano de Valladolid, and José Manuel Ballester: Bosques de Luz, National Photography Award 2010, Ministerio de Cultura, Tabacalera, Madrid.    Dr. Simon Sheikh is a curator and theorist, who lives in Berlin and London. He is Senior Lecturer in Curating and Programme Director, Goldsmiths, University of London, a correspondent for Springerin, Vienna, and a columnist for e-flux Journal, New York. He is currently a researcher for the on-going Former West project, initiated by BAK in Utrecht. Curatorial work includes exhibitions such as Capital (It Fails Us Now), UKS, Oslo, 2005, Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism, QUAD, Derby, 2011, Do You Remember the Future?, Etagi, St. Petersburg, 2011, and Unauthorized, Inter Arts Center, Malmö, 2012.   Poka-Yio co-founded the Athens Biennale Non-Profit Organization in 2005 together with Xenia Kalpaktsoglou. It was their intention to provide a constant platform for discourse via exhibitions, publications, projects, residencies etc. Shared curatorial projects include: the 1st Athens Biennale 2007 “Destroy Athens”, John Bock: A Lecture and a film Retrospective (Athens, 2008), Goldfish Suddenly Dead (Extra City, Antwerp, 2009), Away and Boil your Head (Palermo and Catania, 2010), the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME and XYZ Outlet year long project (2010-11). Poka-Yio will represent the duo during the IKT congress.