Reworking the Institution in Troubled Times
Join us for the first in a series of events exploring the potential for public institutions to be active sites for ethical, structural and sustainable change within the creative sector, led by Andy Goffey (Centre for Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham) and Katie Simpson (Senior Curator, Nottingham Contemporary).
In this session, we will draw on eco-feminist philosophical perspectives of degrowth, reclamation and radical regeneration and previous research and programming around institutional analysis at Nottingham Contemporary. We will situate the session within past work around this subject that was led by Nottingham Contemporary's former Head of Public Programmes, Dr Janna Graham.
We will start by revisiting 'Building as Body', work commissioned by the gallery in 2018, by Manual Labours (Sophie Hope and Jenny Richards). ‘Building as Body’ saw Nottingham Contemporary undergo a process of examination, exploring the ways in which buildings and bodies are fluid ecosystems which affect each other. This resulted in a co-produced health assessment of the organisation which Richards and Graham will discuss as a case study of institutional analysis in practice.
We will hear from Dr Janna Graham (Senior Lecturer in Visual Cultures and Programme Leader of the BA in Curating at Goldsmiths University) who will introduce us to her own research into institutional practice, and the different and intersecting relations between art institutions, communities and politics.
The final part of session will introduce the recent research of scholar and cultural theorist Elena Vogman to explore the ecology of the institution, drawing on how media (such as film) and environments intertwine with institutions, aesthetic practice and subjectivity.
This is the first of two sessions that aim to build on Nottingham Contemporary’s ongoing interest in envisioning ways in which organisations can align their visible – public facing work - and invisible facets – their structural work, questioning the role of public institutions today in being sites of change, equity and freedom.
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Access
Find information about getting here and our building access and facilities here.
This event will be held in The Space.
Speakers will use microphones.
This event is wheelchair accessible.
If you have any questions around access or have specific access requirements we can accommodate, please get in touch with us by emailing info@nottinghamcontemporary.org or phoning 0115 948 9750.
Andrew Goffey is an associate professor in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies and the director of the Centre for Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham. He is the author, with Matthew Fuller of Evil Media, the editor, with Eric Alliez, of The Guattari Effect, and with Roland Faber, of The Allure of Things. He has also translated numerous books, including Lines of Flight and Schizoanalytic Cartographies, by Felix Guattari, and Capitalist Sorcery, In Catastrophic Times and Virgin Mary and the Neutrino, by Isabelle Stengers. He is currently doing research on ecology and aesthetics and has collaborated with Nottingham Contemporary for a number of years.