Gesprek | Spatial Encounters #1: The Politics of Display
Rethinking Exhibition-Making as a Critical, Spatial and Political Practice

De voertaal is Engels.

We are living through turbulent times. Rhetorics of hate and racism spread like wildfire, while the far right is on the rise across the globe. In response, cultural institutions are becoming more aware of their responsibility towards society and especially those who have been long marginalized and excluded. Increasingly, museums are beginning to confront their authoritative, exclusive, and colonial legacies, and to engage with urgent sociopolitical themes, often through contemporary art.

But what happens with their spaces and the ways exhibitions themselves are designed? Curation and exhibition design are not neutral; they can be powerful tools for conveying socially engaged, even radical, messages.

How can exhibitions help visitors engage more actively with complex sociopolitical themes? Can a space itself be activating — bringing forward underrepresented voices, inviting visitors to listen carefully, and opening room for reflection? Can we experience the messages of an exhibition by moving through its spaces, rather than only reading about them?

This roundtable, a collaboration of VOX-POP and NARDIV hosted at Goethe-Institut Niederlande, brings together artists and practitioners from the cultural field to reflect on these questions. Together, they will explore how the synergy between art and space can critically activate audiences, foster new forms of engagement and counter passivity against the grim backdrop of our times.

Speakers:

Fernande Bodo - Curatorial Assistant for Architecture and Spatial Practices, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) 

Martha Echevarria - Exhibitions Manager and Curator, World Press Photo Foundation

Mercedes Azpilicueta - Visual Artist

Zoi Psimmenou (moderator) - Exhibition Designer, Architect and Public Programmer, VOX-POP