Hidden Ontologies: Re-interpretation of a Collection symposium

Hidden Ontologies: Re-interpretation of a Collection symposium
Friday 22 February 2008, 9.30am – 4.00pm
with access to the gallery from 9.00am
Aberdeen Art Gallery
This event is free but advanced booking is required:
Sandra Still T: 01224 523700 E: sstill#OBFAT#aberdeencity#OBFDOT#gov#OBFDOT#uk  

AndersonMacgee in association with The Institute for Curatorship and Education (ICE)

Six Key Speakers will discuss the involvement of artists engaging with and working within museum and gallery collections. Speakers from a museological perspective and artists who have worked specifically within the context of collections, will each address the concept of intervention and artists working in museums. The symposium is being held on the occasion of AndersonMacgee's gallery intervention The Melancholy Thistle and Other Works at Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen (27 October 2007 – 24 February 2008).

Prior to the symposium there will be a book launch and informal event on Thursday 21 February 6 - 8pm at Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen.

Both events are free and open to the public but advanced booking is required for the symposium.
To book a place or for more information please contact Sandra Still at Aberdeen Art Gallery (see contact details below) or visit andersonmacgee.co.uk

Aberdeen Art Gallery Peacock Visual Arts,
Schoolhill, Aberdeen 21 Castle Street, Aberdeen
AB10 1FQ AB11 5BQ
Telephone: 01224 523700 Telephone: 01224 639539
Email: SStill#OBFAT#aberdeencity#OBFDOT#gov#OBFDOT#uk Email: info#OBFAT#peacockvisualarts#OBFDOT#co#OBFDOT#uk
Web: www.aberdeencity.gov.uk  Web: www.peacockvisualarts.com  

Speakers:
Dr. Sara Barnes – Research Associate at Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=615  

Prof. Burkhard Blümlein – Artist and Theorist, Munich
www.bbluemlein.de 

Bryony Bond – Alchemy curator at The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester will give a presentation and co-chair the symposium.
www.alchemy.manchester.museum  

Prof. Neil Cummings – Artist, Lecturer and Research Staff at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/17214.htm, www.chanceprojects.com  

Robin Dobson – Artistic Director of The New Generation Arts Festival organised by Birmingham City University. www.newgenerationarts.co.uk

Prof. Marianne Eigenheer – Director, ICE, will give the introduction about the relationship between collections and cities and will co-chair the symposium.
www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=385  

Dr. Dan Smith – Artist, Lecturer and Research Staff at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/35523.htm  

Jason Williamson – Exhibitions Officer, Aberdeen Art Gallery, will discuss AndersonMacgee’s intervention in the gallery and past projects. www.aagm.co.uk

AndersonMacgee – Briony Anderson and Paul Macgee – have worked in collaboration since 2001. Their work is developed through extensive research and discussion, often seeking a reinvestigation of the cultural significance of objects, traditions and events. Working with Aberdeen Art Gallery, AndersonMacgee's intervention The Melancholy Thistle and Other Works adopts an appropriation strategy – taking seven paintings from Aberdeen Art Gallery's collection and re-hanging them within the galleries. Throughout the first floor of the gallery the paintings are positioned in specific contexts which further develop the artist’s individuated readings of the works and the areas explored. The selection process has evolved from the artists’ own artistic practice and an accompanying publication further develops the intervention's narrative through a series of commissioned texts that reconsider the nature and essence of the selected works. The book is intended to read as a quasi-guidebook to an idiosyncratic collection: the individual paintings are not subjected to mere visual analysis; instead each contributor to the book uses their specialist knowledge to expand the realms of the intervention.

The symposium, ‘Hidden Ontologies: Re-interpretation of a Collection’ is being held in association with The Institute for Curatorship and Education (ICE) – a research institute whose aim is to advance the understanding of curatorship and mediation in the context of collections, exhibitions, public space and non-institutional interventions. ICE is based in Edinburgh as a major research project of Edinburgh College of Art. www.eca.ac.uk/ice  

The book launch prior to the symposium is being held at Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen. Peacock Visual Arts is the main contemporary visual arts organisation in Aberdeen and the North-east of Scotland and is supported by Aberdeen City Council, the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. They organise an annual programme of national and international contemporary art exhibitions, as well as talks, critical debates and workshops. They also have extensive print making workshops and digital facilities.