A dialogical tour through the exhibition The Making of Modern Art with Quinsy Gario and Steven ten Thije, at Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, The Netherlands).
Between 2017 and 2020, the Van Abbemuseum is hosting a series of projects around the exhibition The Making of Modern Art. This exhibition combines modern masterpieces from the Van Abbemuseum collection – by Mondrian, Picasso, Sol LeWitt, Kandinsky and Léger – with an experimental story that re-tells the 'making of' modern art. Through a set of specially-designed atmosphere rooms, modern art is set in the broader social and political zeitgeist of the 'modern', and its links with darker parts of modernity's histories.
Steven ten Thije, co-curator of the exhibition (with Christiane Berndes and Charles Esche), spoke with Quinsy Gario, a visual and performance artist of Dutch-Caribbean descent. They conversed through the exhibition, rethinking perceptions of modernity, the framing of aesthetic value, the idea of progress, the impacts of trade and wider social, political and economic contexts of the 'modern' era. They also addressed the context of this collection in relation to the Netherlands' place within the modern – domestically, within Europe, and in relation to imperial projects.
Recorded at Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 27 April 2017
Video production: Ron Eijkman
Exhibition: The Making of Modern Art, 29 April, 2017 to 3 January, 2021
Curators: Christiane Berndes, Charles Esche, Steven ten Thije
Related activities
-
–Van Abbemuseum
The Soils Project
‘The Soils Project’ is part of an eponymous, long-term research initiative involving TarraWarra Museum of Art (Wurundjeri Country, Australia), the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and Struggles for Sovereignty, a collective based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It works through specific and situated practices that consider soil, as both metaphor and matter.
Seeking and facilitating opportunities to listen to diverse voices and perspectives around notions of caring for land, soil and sovereign territories, the project has been in development since 2018. An international collaboration between three organisations, and several artists, curators, writers and activists, it has manifested in various iterations over several years. The group exhibition ‘Soils’ at the Van Abbemuseum is part of Museum of the Commons. -
–Van Abbemuseum
Maria Lugones Decolonial Summer School
Recalling Earth: Decoloniality and Demodernity
Course Directors: Prof. Walter Mignolo & Dr. Rolando VázquezRecalling Earth and learning worlds and worlds-making will be the topic of chapter 14th of the María Lugones Summer School that will take place at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.
-
–MSU ZagrebVan AbbemuseumModerna galerijaZRC SAZU
Open Call – School of Common Knowledge
MSU (Zagreb), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), MG+MSUM (Ljubljana), ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana) and L'Internationale invite applications for the new School of Common Knowledge (SCK) to be held in Zagreb and Ljubljana 24–29 May 2024. The School of Common Knowledge draws on the network, knowledge and experience of the L’Internationale museum confederation. Its ambition is to be both nomadic and situated, looking at specific cultural and geopolitical situations while exploring their relations and interdependencies with the rest of the world. The SCK is built on the basis laid by the Glossary of Common Knowledge project initiated by Zdenka Badovinac and Moderna galerija (Ljubljana) and continues its co-learning methodology.
-
–MSU ZagrebVan AbbemuseumModerna galerijaZRC SAZU
School of Common Knowledge
School of Common Knowledge draws on the network, knowledge and experience of the L’Internationale museum confederation. Built on the basis laid by the Glossary of Common Knowledge, a project initiated by Zdenka Badovinac and Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana, it continues its co-learning methodology. Its ambition is to be both nomadic and situated, looking at specific cultural and geopolitical situations while exploring their relations and interdependencies with the rest of the world.
Related contributions and publications
-
Decolonial aesthesis: weaving each other
Charles Esche, Rolando Vázquez, Teresa Cos RebolloThe Soils ProjectClimateVan Abbemuseum -
The Kitchen, an Introduction to Subversive Film with Nick Aikens, Reem Shilleh and Mohanad Yaqubi
Nick Aikens, Subversive FilmlumbungPast in the PresentVan Abbemuseum -
Granby: Collecting, Working and Making in a Post-Democratic Society
Alistair Hudson, Annie Fletcher, Fran EdgerleyDialogues -
Preservation of the Commons: Responsibilities of the Institutions
Futurefarmers/Amy Franceschini, Aslıhan DemirtaşDialoguesSALT -
Potential of the Totality: Machine Learning for A Longer Relationship With Archives
Refik Anadol, Kenric McDowellDialoguesSALT -
In the Battles of Language / En las batallas del lenguaje
Marina Garcés, Silvia Rivera CusicanquiDialoguesMACBA -
Populism. A Dialogue on Art, Representation and Institutions in the Crisis of Democracy
Chantal Mouffe, Didier EribonDialoguesMuseo Reina Sofia -
Dialogues Broadcasting
Dialogues -
A dialogical tour through the exhibition The Making of Modern Art
Steven ten Thije, Quinsy GarioDialoguesVan Abbemuseum -
Performances from the opening of The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents Exhibition
Jusuf Hadžifejzović, Azra Akšamija, Ilija ŠoškićDialoguesModerna galerija -
Evidence, Activism And The Law in the Age of Post-Truth
Baltasar Garzón, Eyal Weizman, Yolanda Álvarez, Manuel VergaraDialoguesMACBA -
Congresso Internacional Extraordinário dos Críticos de Arte, 1959
DialoguesMuseo Reina Sofia -
Who is Speaking?
Paola Bacchetta, Françoise VergèsDialogues -
A conversation about the project 'A Temporary Futures Institute'
Anders Kreuger, Maya Van LeemputDialoguesM HKA -
Epistemologies of the South
Zdenka Badovinac, Jesús Carrillo, Patrick FloresDialoguesModerna galerija -
Art Museums and Democracy
Charles Esche, Manuel Borja-Villel, Bart de BaereDialoguesM HKAVan AbbemuseumMuseo Reina Sofia -
How to prepare for a hurricane, pt. 2
Quinsy GarioVan Abbemuseum -
The City in the Museum. A retrospective on two years Werksalon in the Van Abbemuseum
Van Abbemuseum -
The 1980s. Today's Beginnings? An alternative view on the 80s
Van Abbemuseum -
Editors’ Picks: Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide
Yolande Zola Zoli van der HeideEditors' PicksVan Abbemuseum -
Soils
ClimateVan Abbemuseum