Vision Forum (art organisation)
Encyclopedia
Vision Forum is an organisation which organises contemporary art events that transgresses the boundaries between performance
, exhibition, workshop
s and education
. It grew from a series of events organised by Curatorial Mutiny in collaboration with KSM at Campus Norrköping
, Linköpings Universitet in Sweden
2005-2007.
Vision Forum took its present form in 2008, it does not have a physical location or a program, but responds to the needs of the group of artists and curators that are part of the network
any given moment. Its members are mostly based in Europe
and have recently worked with artists and curators based in Sweden
, Holland, Denmark
, Great Britain
, France
, Germany
, Italy
, Lithuania
, Macedonia
, Belgium
. China
, Switzerland
, Australia
, Turkey
, USA and Ukraine
. In 2009, Steven Whitmarsh, a Dutch brain researcher joined the group showing that the organisation can host members outside of the artistic community.
, China, in September 2008. The European participants developed collaborative projects with their Chinese peers that focused on time-based art.
The results of the workshop were presented to the public at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art and a second were later developed into an exhibition which was shown at Verkstad in Sweden, Ècole Régional de Beaux Arts de Besaçon in France and at Adele C in Italy.
Parallel to (Anti)Realism Vision Forum created four workshops in Rome
, Zürich
, Amsterdam
, and Stockholm
. These involved a completely different group of artists and curators from (Anti)Realism and focused on architecture
, artistic production, curation
and presentation
.
and temporality
in different ways. “If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse” was organised by 1:1 Projects in Rome. It organised workshops in Rome, Skopje
and Paris
and then reformulated itself into “Ouunpo”, inspired by French literary group Oulipo
, which organised a public event at MACRO
in Rome and at Tate Britain
in London
. Australian artist duo A Constructed World started “Speech and What Archive?” which continued its activities in 2010-11. The node focused on alternative forms of communication and organised events in Paris, Nice
, San Francisco and Melbourne
working with important institutions like Villa Arson
and CCA
. Curator Claire Louise Staunton carried out research which later lead to the creation of the temporary gallery “Inheritance Shenzhen” in the Chinese region of Guangdong
.
. It was conceived by artist Per Hüttner
and Curator Daniele Balit and created new meeting places between art and its audiences. A great number of projects were realized in Melbourne
, Shenzhen
, Beijing
and Kiev
in 2009-2010. For each city the program and artist list was totally new. No, project was ever repeated twice. The project always allowed the audience to meet art in new and unexpected situations and played with or confused the audiences’ expectations about what art is, where it normally appears and what shape it should take. In the introduction to the project in the catalogue Gerrie van Noord writes:
2009
2008
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
, exhibition, workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. It grew from a series of events organised by Curatorial Mutiny in collaboration with KSM at Campus Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
, Linköpings Universitet in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
2005-2007.
Vision Forum took its present form in 2008, it does not have a physical location or a program, but responds to the needs of the group of artists and curators that are part of the network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
any given moment. Its members are mostly based in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and have recently worked with artists and curators based in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Holland, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, USA and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. In 2009, Steven Whitmarsh, a Dutch brain researcher joined the group showing that the organisation can host members outside of the artistic community.
Workshops and Public Presentations
In 2008-09, Vision Forum organised two major projects. (Anti)Realism brought together young contemporary visual artists based in Sweden, China, Great Britain, Holland and France. The first part of the project was a practical workshop that took place in GuangzhouGuangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, China, in September 2008. The European participants developed collaborative projects with their Chinese peers that focused on time-based art.
”The title and the conceptual frameworkConceptual frameworkA conceptual framework is used in research to outline possible courses of action or to present a preferred approach to an idea or thought. For example, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin used the "hedgehogs" versus "foxes" approach; a "hedgehog" might approach the world in terms of a single organizing...
of [the workshop](Anti)Realism was created to look into the differences and similarities of how we look at realityRealityIn philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
(both as individuals and as members of different cultures) and how that can be used to further our understanding and appreciation of life. The project allowed the participants to both understand differences between European cultures, as well as how these differ from Chinese contemporary art and life.”
The results of the workshop were presented to the public at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art and a second were later developed into an exhibition which was shown at Verkstad in Sweden, Ècole Régional de Beaux Arts de Besaçon in France and at Adele C in Italy.
Parallel to (Anti)Realism Vision Forum created four workshops in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. These involved a completely different group of artists and curators from (Anti)Realism and focused on architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, artistic production, curation
Curation
Curation may refer to:*Digital curation, the preservation and maintenance of digital assets*Sheer curation, a minimalist form of digital curationCuration may also be:*The work performed by a curator*Archiving, historical record keeping...
and presentation
Presentation
Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner. Presentations come in nearly as many forms as there are life situations...
.
The Development of Nodes
In 2009-10, Vision Forum focused on four major projects or “nodes”. They were each made up of a number of artists and curators who, like the Vision Forum workshops in 2008-09 met regularly. The nodes were held together by all doing research on timeTime
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
and temporality
Temporality
Temporality is a term often used in philosophy in talking about the way time is. The traditional mode of temporality is a linear procession of past, present, and future....
in different ways. “If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse” was organised by 1:1 Projects in Rome. It organised workshops in Rome, Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and then reformulated itself into “Ouunpo”, inspired by French literary group Oulipo
Oulipo
Oulipo is a loose gathering of French-speaking writers and mathematicians which seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques. It was founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais...
, which organised a public event at MACRO
Macro
A macro in computer science is a rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to an output sequence according to a defined procedure...
in Rome and at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Australian artist duo A Constructed World started “Speech and What Archive?” which continued its activities in 2010-11. The node focused on alternative forms of communication and organised events in Paris, Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, San Francisco and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
working with important institutions like Villa Arson
Villa Arson
The Villa Arson, also referred to as the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts à la Villa Arson , is a French art museum, elite school and research institution for contemporary art, located in Nice, France...
and CCA
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...
. Curator Claire Louise Staunton carried out research which later lead to the creation of the temporary gallery “Inheritance Shenzhen” in the Chinese region of Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
.
The Invisible Generation
The fourth major project realized in 2009-10 was The Invisible GenerationThe invisible generation (art project)
The Invisible Generation was a contemporary art project conceived by artist Per Hüttner and Curator Daniele Balit and organized by Vision Forum and created new meeting places between art and its audiences. A great number of projects were realized in Melbourne, Shenzhen, Beijing and Kiev in...
. It was conceived by artist Per Hüttner
Per Hüttner
Per Hüttner is a Swedish visual artist who lives and works in Paris, France. He graduated from Konsthögskolan in Stockholm 1993. He also studied at Hochschule der Künste in Berlin 1991-1992. He is mostly known for his photographic work and for his interactive, changing and travelling exhibition...
and Curator Daniele Balit and created new meeting places between art and its audiences. A great number of projects were realized in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
in 2009-2010. For each city the program and artist list was totally new. No, project was ever repeated twice. The project always allowed the audience to meet art in new and unexpected situations and played with or confused the audiences’ expectations about what art is, where it normally appears and what shape it should take. In the introduction to the project in the catalogue Gerrie van Noord writes:
“The Invisible Generation is a collection of artistic interventions that spread virally across the continents of our globe. It used the artistic and curatorial network of Vision Forum as a platform to multiply and make its way into the perception of people in unexpected spaces of selected cities around the world. The project takes its starting point in performative traditions, but focuses on practices and events that cross over into other time-based activities such as sound, film, video, literature, theatre and workshops and draws inspiration from other related fields such as journalism, fashion and design, but also from those further removed like mathematics and physics”
Selected Workshops
2010- Ouunpo, Ponder Pause Process (a Situation), Tate Britain, London, UK
- Ouunpo MACRO, Rome, Italy
- In the Limbo of the Signifier: Workshop on Linear LogicLinear logicLinear logic is a substructural logic proposed by Jean-Yves Girard as a refinement of classical and intuitionistic logic, joining the dualities of the former with many of the constructive properties of the latter...
, Ars Longa, Paris, France
2009
- New Creation usée du temps, esançon, France
- The Stockholm Syndrome, Kungliga Konsthögskolan, Stockholm, Sweden.
2008
- If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse, Press to Exit, Skopje, MacedoniaRepublic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
- If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse, 1:1 Projects, Rome, Italy
- Vision Forum, White Space, Zürich, Switzerland
- Vision Forum, Amsterdam, Holland
- (Anti)Realism, The Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China
Selected Exhibitions, Performances and Projects
2010- 0K – in 5 Acts The Flat Time House, London, UK
- This Image Is No More, GOOD TV, Wu Dao Ying Hu Tong, [Beijing, China.
- Dynasty, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de ParisMusée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de ParisMusée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art dedicated to the arts of the 20th/21st centuries. It is located at 11 Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.-Description:...
and Palais de TokyoPalais de TokyoThe Palais de Tokyo is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, near the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs the City of Paris and hosts the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris...
, Paris. - The Invisible Generation, Les Kurbas Center, Kiev, Ukraine.
- Simultaneity, Curated by Anne Klontz, Rumänska kulturinstitutet, Stockholm and Platform China, Beijing.
- The Invisible Generation, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (with Yan Jun)
- Imminent
2009
- The Invisible Generation, OCAT, Shenzhen, China
- News for Tomorrow, Yan Jun, Beijing, China (With Birdcage, Paris)
- The Invisible Generation, VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne
- Do not Go Gentle ERBA and Musée du temps, Besançon, France"
- Calabi-Yau Presents, Gerlesborgsskolan, Sweden; FACT, Liverpool and VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne (3 parallel exhibitions in 3 countries).
- INH-SZ Temporary Project Space, Shenzhen. Exhibitions, film programme, lecture series including Chu Yun, Guy Delisle, Christian Jankowski, Daniel Knorr, Liu Chuang, Map Office, Yang Yong. Directed by Claire Louise Staunton, Inheritance Projects http://inheritanceprojects.org/inh-sz/
2008
- (Anti)Realism, Norrköpings konsthall, Norrköping, Sweden, ERBA Besançon, France and Adele C, Rome, Italy
- Vision Forum, 1:1 Projects and Lift gallery, Rom, Italy.
2007
- Privé och Publico, Galleri 54, Göteborg, Sweden (as Curatorial Mutiny)
- Private Parts, Museet för glömska, Norrköping, Sweden (as Curatorial Mutiny)
2006
- GYBE!, (Videofeed) Vacio 9, MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(as Curatorial Mutiny) - Open Mike (Performance), Vacio 9, Madrid, Spain (as Curatorial Mutiny)
- Participate? Kraftstationen Drags, Norrköping, Sweden (as Curatorial Mutiny)
2005
- Participate? asekamp, hiladelphia, USA (as Curatorial Mutiny)
- Participate? Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen, China (as Curatorial Mutiny)
Publications
- The Quantum Police, with texts by Anne Klontz; Johnny Ross and Willie Hansen (1969) and a short story by Wang Xiao Ping (in Chinese and English). Design by Erik Månsson, 96 pages in full coulour + 5 fold-out sheets. Published by Lambert Gallery and Vision Forum 2011, ISBN 978-91-978934-5-9.
- SWANewspaper, 16 pages, colour, edited by Anna Hess et al (Speech and What Archive). Published by A Constructed World 2011.
- TRAVELS, 2011, edited by: Louise Nilsson and Lisa Boström, graphic design Karl dos Santos, Language English, contributions by: Hu Fang, Lillian Fellman, Marie Husson, Per Hüttner, Louise Höjer, Mako Ishizuka, Anna Kleberg, Björn Kusoffsky, Niklas Lundell, Isin Onol and Alessandra Sandrolini.
- (In)visible Dialogues, 2011, Edited by Per Hüttner and Elias Arnér, languages: English and Swedish, 240 pages, design by Åbäke. Published by Dent-de-Leone. ISBN 978-91-978934-3-5 and ISBN 978-0-9561885-5-7
- The Invisible Generation, 2011, 144 pages. Texts by Gerrie van Noord, Daniele Balit, Olav Westphalen and Per Hüttner. Language: English. Design by Marie. Published by Curatorial Mutiny and Vision Forum. ISBN 978-91-978934-2-8
- The Imminent Interviews, 2010, 90 pages, languages: English and Chinese, published by Fei Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai and Vision Forum 2010, ISBN 9789197893442
External links
- Official Vision Forum website
- Vision Forum blog documenting art projects undertaken in 2009-10
- Vision Forum blog documenting educational projects undertaken in 2009-10
- Vision Forum blog documenting art projects undertaken in 2010-11
- Vision Forum blog documenting educational projects undertaken in 2010-11
- Vision Forum supported project in Shenzhen, China 2009-2010