News from Konstfack Collection – on groundbreaking yet under-researched art exhibitions and pioneering curation

Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art in the 1980s and 1990s
How can art productively navigate political tensions? How have artists and curators addressed the ethical asymmetries of the border condition, of inside and outside, working across walls and fences—whether physical, political, or social? Why is participation so hard to catalyze and conduct? Through conversations with curators and participating artists, this book revisits some of the most groundbreaking yet under-researched European and US public art exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s.

The revisited exhibitions are La Galerie des Locataires, ongoing in Paris since 1972, Konstrukcja w Procesie in Łódź, 1981, U-mediain Umeå 1987, Die Endlichkeit der Freiheit in Berlin 1990, Culture in Action in Chicago 1993, Sonsbeek 93 in Arnheim, Fem trädgårdarin Simrishamn and Ystad in 1996 and INSITE, ongoing in Tijuana and San Diego.

Curating beyond the Mainstream: the Practices of Carlos Capelán, Elisabet Haglund, Gunilla Lundahl and Jan-Erik Lundström
Through four case studies, Curating beyond the Mainstream researches decolonial and other non-hegemonic approaches to the profession of curating in Sweden from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Carlos Capelán, Elisabet Haglund, Gunilla Lundahl, and Jan-Erik Lundström made a mark on both art and curating in their time at institutions such as Kulturhuset and Arkitekturmuseet in Stockholm and Borås Konstmuseum and Bildmuseet in Umeå, as well as through exhibitions on trains and in parks. Pioneering what today is called “social practice,” and embracing art and artists from all over the world, these figures and their hitherto under-researched work are highlighted in this publication through presentations, essays, and interviews, accompanied by rare photographic documentation.

Both Assuming Asymmetries and Curating Beyond the Mainstream are edited by the participants in Konstfack’s freestanding course for professionals; CuratorLab 2020/21 and published by Konstfack Collection in collaboration with Sternberg Press. For more info and order: Assuming Asymmetries – Sternberg Press and Curating beyond the Mainstream – Sternberg Press.

Konstfack Collection is Konstfack’s publication platform that offers both in-depth and broadened knowledge. The selection consists of research publications, doctoral theses, learning materials and books that are the result of projects and courses at the university, thus within the core subjects of art, design, craft and education. Publications - Konstfack