“‘All the Directions’. Art Collections Amidst Turbulence: A Decolonial Perspective from the East”
![]()
Mircea Cantor, All the Directions, 2000
Workshop
In the frame of
With: Oksana Barshynova, Eva Barois De Caevel, Sasha Baydal, Kateryna Botanova, Zola Chichmintseva-Kondamambou, Patricia Couvet, Karina El Helou, Cédric Fauq, Yulia Fisch, Tatiana Fiodorova, Oksana Karpovets, Juliette Pollet, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Dilda Ramazan, Eden Tinto Collins, Françoise Vergès, Austė Zdančiūtė
Period: 29 – 30 November 2023
Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris
With the support of: Centre national des arts plastiques
The workshop introduces a comprehensive framework for collective introspection into contemporary art collections amidst the prevailing tumultuous era, which characterizes the trajectory of today's world. Rooted in a series of contemporary collections and recent cases of acquisitions spanning regions such as France, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, USA, and Lebanon, the proposition adopts a decolonial perspective. It endeavors to tackle pressing concerns surrounding collection practices and visibility within the complex tapestry of global power dynamics. The two-day workshop, hosted at the Centre national des arts plastiques in Paris, will be succeeded by a presentation conducted through a Zoom assembly.
“All the directions” is the title of an artwork by Mircea Cantor—an artist born in Oradea in Romania and prominently featured in various Western collections. A digital print on plexiglass portrays the artist situated on the fringes of an indistinct urban setting. Projecting the demeanor of a disoriented traveler, Mircea Cantor holds a sign typically denoting a specific direction. Yet, intentionally, the sign remains devoid of any indication—an embodiment of his willingness to embrace any path. We contextualize this image during a pivotal juncture in the socio-political landscape of geographical Europe. This period is marked by Russia's undeclared war against Ukraine, a substantial economic downturn, the escalating
repercussions of the global climate crisis, the proliferation of anti-colonial narratives, and conversely, the surge of neo-fascist ideologies across the world. As history underscores museums as venues for constructing and disseminating national and historical narratives, as well as fostering identity formation (as posited by Benedict Anderson), the question arises: How can art institutions respond to the flux of these uncertain times, which have the potential to unfold in any of the directions?
By sharing a number of illustrative cases, along with individual and collective experiences, our aim is to raise probing inquiries:
- How do external crises exert their influence on Museums and
other art institutions?
-
In what manner do turbulent epochs alter the interplay of
shadows and light, of stillness and sound?
-
Specifically, how can they reveal the "gaps" and
the "silencing of history" as articulated by Michel Rolph-Trouillot?
-
What role do artists hailing from the "post-socialist
countries" of Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus occupy within
collections located in the Global West? What is the prevailing situation with
art collections within these post-socialist countries?
-
How might a decolonial perspective stemming from this region
be employed to scrutinize the representation practices of Museums and art
institutions in the Global West?
-
What implications does this hold for the dynamics of
acquisition, categorization, and exhibition?
Participants:
Nadi Abusaada, ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich
Oksana Barshynova, Deputy Director of Exhibitions at the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU, Kyiv)
Eva Barois De Caevel, Curator, Paris
Sasha Baydal, Interdependent art worker, Beyond the post-soviet, Île-de-France
Patricia Couvet, Curator, Slavs & Tatars, Beyond the post-soviet, Berlin
Marie-Noëlle Farcy, Chief collections curator, Mudam, Luxembourg
Tatiana Fiodorova, Artist and curator, Beyond the post-soviet, Chișinău
Yulia Fisch, Curator, Beyond the post-soviet, Basel
Lolita Jablonskienė, Curator, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius
Oksana Karpovets, Curator, Paris
Anton Obshta, Artist, videographer
Juliette Pollet, Curator, Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris
Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Interdependent curator, Cité internationale des arts, Paris
Rebecca Topakian, Artist, Paris
Eden Tinto Collins, Artist, Paris
Françoise Vergès, Decolonial thinker, writer, Paris
