Curating Conferences

Comparing conferences is Sydney and Amsterdam.

Sydney
Artspace Public Programs include regular symposia and conference events, often presented in partnership with peer organisations and educational institutions.
http://www.artspace.org.au/public/public_symposia.php

17 - 18 April 2009
Artspace Visual Arts Centre & Art Gallery of New South Wales

Spaces of Art
An international conference on institutional / post-institutional curatorial and related practices in contemporary art
Convenors: Reuben Keehan and Blair French

Spaces of Art engages questions crucial to the future of art institutions and their relationship to contemporary practice in the 21st century, with particular reference to curatorial and artistic strategies in Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

more info
http://www.artspace.org.au/public_archive/conference_spacesofart.php

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I missed this conference, but have been assured by Artspace that they will be publishing the procedings

"We will be publishing papers at some point - late this year or early next - and will advertise this on our website."

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Amsterdam

I was not able to physically attend the Conference in Amsterdam that took place last night. This was "Positions in flux: On the changing role of the artist and institution in the networked society" a symposium forming part of the 30th anniversary celebrations at the Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst (Montevideo)

"The symposium 'Positions in flux: On the changing role of the artist and institution in the networked society' will center on some of the major parameters for the current and future development of contemporary art. In particular it will reflect on the aspect of cultural sustainability of art projects, art and technology initiatives and art curating."

http://www.nimk.nl/nl/
http://www.nimk.nl/en/index.html

see blog post
http://blakkbyrd.blogspot.com/2009/05/conference-amsterdam.html

When I was in Amsterdam I regularly visited Montevideo for its exhibitions, openings and conferences. I discovered that the conferences were streamed live and that people could particpate remotely via online chat. Thus I was able to watch the proceedings, streamed live over my internet connection last night from here in Sydney.

The program, stream and chat are here

http://www.montevideo.nl/en/agenda/detail_agenda.php?id=303&archief=

http://www.montevideo.nl/en/agenda/detail_agenda.php?id=297&archief=

So somparing the two events, Artspace looks at the future of curating and the art institution with particular reference to the Asia Pacific Region. It is only accessible to physical participants and there is a year's wait for the opportunity to purchase written proceedings. The presenters are named but there are no links to their websites or works.

Montevideo looks at the future of curating and the art institution in an internationally networked society. The proceedings are accessible immediately, internationally by anyone with an internet connection. I think they will load the conference videos online soon. There are links to the websites and artworks presented at the conferences.

It is difficulties in accessing information about art events in Australia and the lack of access to new technologies that are keeping the Australian art scene from international participation in the 21st century.