Curatorial Knowledge considers the relationship between the practice of curating and the knowledge that might be generated based on curating and its associated discourses.

The title of the symposium, The Curator Has Left the Building, makes a nod to Elvis, who had a post-concert exit from a music venue announced in a similar manner. The phrase emphatically states that the main act has vacated the premises and will not return (or so we are supposed to believe). Riffing on this catchphrase, the symposium cultivates two possible meanings of the title: One perspective follows the exiting curator, as she leaves the traditional art institution and moves into more marginalized or peripheral positions, alternative spaces or rural situations, where she engages with politics beyond the institution. The other perspective considers the end of the kind of curator, who steals the show as the auteur and authority of the exhibition space – leaving room for a different kind of curator, one that listens, cares and strives to unlearn.

Speakers: Rebekka Elisabeth Anker-Møller, Anna Bak, Sarah Viola Hansson, Signe Højmark, Anne Mikél Jensen, Karen Kjærgaard, Line Sandvad Mengers & Nanna Balslev Strøjer.

Introduction: Programme Coordinator Trine Friis Sørensen (AU), Moderator: Assistant Professor Magda Tyzlik-Carver (AU), Concluding remarks: Associate Professor Jacob Lund (AU)

The symposium marks the return of Céline Condorelli’s large-scale curtain installation, Host, to Kunsthal Aarhus’ Galleri 1, where the symposium will take place.

The programme is in English and supported by the research programme Contemporary Aesthetics and Technology (AU). All are welcome.