How To Work Together. TOK retrospective exhibition

  • "The Last Wooden House of Kupchino", Gareth Kennedy. Wooden structure, a procession of students from School No. 302 and vocational school students from Krasnoderevets College, 8mm film, posters. As a part of TOK's project "Critical Mass' (2nd season), 2013, St Petersburg
    1/1 |  "The Last Wooden House of Kupchino", Gareth Kennedy. Wooden structure, a procession of students from School No. 302 and vocational school students from Krasnoderevets College, 8mm film, posters. As a part of TOK's project "Critical Mass' (2nd season), 2013, St Petersburg
Photo
What: 
exib
Where: 
Новая Голландия, Павильон, наб. Адмиралтейского канала, 2
When:
03.10.2019 - 11:00

HOW TO WORK TOGETHER  
Retrospective exhibition of The Creative Association of Curators TOK
October 3-13, 2019
New Holland Island, The Pavillion, Admiralteyskiy channel emb., 2
The exhibition will open on October 3 at 11.00 in parallel with the Curatorial Symposium as a part of епру 1 Curatorial Forum.
Opening hours: 11.00-20.00


 

Creative Association of Curators TOK is the first officially registered curatorial association in Russia, co-founded by Anna Bitkina and Maria Veits in 2010 as a platform for research-based art projects with the focus on migration, public space and citizens, development of education, forming collective memory, use of natural resources, growing role of the media in the global society, and many others.  Feeling the need to analyze the current conditions of the curatorial profession, which have been largely shaped over the past ten years by reversal of the political course and the economic and environmental crisis, TOK is organizing a retrospective exhibition «How To Work Together» about the duo’s practice and the role of curator in today’s  society. This reflexive exhibition also touches upon the aspects of institutional development and methods of creating horizontal connections between professionals from different areas of knowledge. 

Using the 10-year practice of TOK as an example, the exhibition seeks to trace the generation of the curators of the so-called “second wave”, who have been formed during the time of globalization of contemporary art and whose practice has been affected by the rise of grassroots initiatives, development of the system of international and national grant policies and the boom of new technologies. Current fluctuations of the political course dictate new conditions for interactions with the state institutions and make us seek alternative formats of international collaborations. As part of the exhibition, TOK curators also address the ways artists and curators of contemporary art stay committed  to their profession, find opportunities for consolidation, and work together on generating new political meanings.

TOK curators will showcase archival materials, video interviews, and objects commissioned from artists reflecting the global and local transformations of the past ten years. These chronological markers, that have defined the current political agenda, will be mapped alongside the stages of TOK’s development, and will allow us to reflect upon the change in society and within all of us.

As a part of the exhibition on October 5 at 19.30, there will be organized a talk by Mirjam Westen, the chief curator at the Arnhem Museum (The Netherlands). In her talk «Curatorial Turns From Feminist And Intersectional Perspectives» she will focus on expanding formats of contemporary curating that require new contexts of collaborations and interactions. Relying on her experience of connecting female artists of different generations throughout her practice who have redefined curatorship, Westen  will elucidate how these new visions have influenced her practice as a curator.  

The exhibition  is a part of the 1 Curatorial Symposium, which TOK is curating in the framework of the 1 Curatorial Forum organized by The North-Western Branch of NCCA in partnership with the Creative Association of Curators.