SEMINAR: GEOPOLITICS IN ART: COLLECTIONS AND RECONFIGURATIONS OF THE ARTISTIC FIELD - 12 to 15 August

This seminar brings together art history, criticism, curating and geopolitics to examine how collections and exhibitions function as active instruments in forming canons, memories and hierarchies within shifting political contexts and social demands. The program integrates research on collection development, institutional trajectories, art writing practices and post-war exhibition networks into a cohesive analysis. Four thematic panels encourage critical examination of the choices, absences and responsibilities embedded in canon formation and art historiography. Case studies combined with theoretical discussion clarify the political and epistemological stakes involved in how collections are built and artworks circulate. The seminar identifies gaps and discontinuities while proposing curatorial and institutional practices guided by democracy, transparency and historical awareness. Understanding contemporary art requires recognizing its historical grounding and the geopolitical forces shaping it. By connecting international relations to the institutional and discursive practices on the ground, the seminar aims to generate new questions and frameworks for the field. Historians, curators and critics will engage to locate lacunae and ruptures and chart alternative directions. 12 August | 13h to 17h 13 August | 13h to 17h 14 August | 13h to 17h 15 August | 10h to 12h30 | 15h to 17h