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[Note: The conversations have been edited for clarity, length, and grammatical mistakes. They have also been edited thematically, however the dates of these utterances are noted above each section.]
16 April 2020 Varda: Does anyone have any views on what Premier Legault said about buying Quebec products? On one hand, it is a good idea because we need to start thinking local and shrink down global corporate culture but on the other hand it's also a way to perpetuate the rhetoric of nationalism. Kanwal: Don’t you think nationalism is always a standard reaction to a crisis? It’s a different form of nationalism. It’s either religious nationalism, or capitalistic nationalism. Nima: The idea of nationalism is emerging in different and stricter ways, like closing borders and the economy. What are the limits of nationalism? When I think about history and the movements that were inspired by nationalists, I think about anti-colonial movements since the 1950s and 1960s, when forces like anti-colonial elites were standing outside the imperial matrix of power. And I understand that in terms of politics and economy there are exceptions. When you think about history and when you think about what is happening now. For example, Cuba is among those harshly sanctioned by the US while helping other countries in crisis. These are inspiring exceptions also in terms of how these forms of governance who resisted the capitalist order or have been left out of the global market are responding to the COVID-19 situation, and so when we think about history, these are the examples we can think about.
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[Note: The conversations have been edited for clarity, length, and grammatical mistakes. They have also been edited thematically, however the dates of these utterances are noted above each section.]
16 April 2020 Nima: I have been reading a lot these days about how people respond to these kinds of inquiries - how they are trying to rearticulate what they were doing in the past and how they are approaching the future, especially in artmaking and education. Some are following institutional methods in terms of following the same course, putting it online. I understand this has to happen in terms of how institutions expect and want to continue a sense of normalcy in terms of the activities and evaluation in art. But it’s also good to think about these fundamental questions in terms of the more abstract foundational questions. Sanaz: Does anyone have other perspectives on how different institutions have worked before, any online sources? How are they handling resources in terms of their current programming or forthcoming programs that have been paused? Resources for the artists who have been involved with the project that have been put on hold, how are they managing? If you have any observations from your networks that you could share... Mikhel: Mine are all very pessimistic, I think about the financial crash of 2008, when we witnessed a bunch of institutions severing relationships with artists, like commercial gallerists, for example, with written contracts with artists to be delivered and signed who just abandoned these connections and left the artists out on their own with no funds. And I am curious to see essentially the same thing repeating, especially within the types of institutions I have worked with like educational institutions. I talked with people both at OCAD and ACAD and it's dire in both of these art colleges, there will certainly not be new hires for several years to come and they have already started cutting off support to art historical and critical pedagogical faculty. Fears and Anxieties: Reflections on Job Precarity and the Future in Art History and Academia8/23/2020 [Note: The conversations have been edited for clarity, length, and grammatical mistakes. They have also been edited thematically, however the dates of these utterances are noted above each section.] 9 April 2020 Sanaz: The other thing that I am concerned about is the future of job prospects. I was already pessimistic about getting into a post-PhD market. What is going to happen with institutions that were already in the midst of a crisis of neo-liberalized academia? And now what will happen to students involved with them? I know for instance some universities have actually halted their admission for this year. It’s important for us to also share this information about career/life consequences for other artists or cultural workers to have a prospect of what may happen and what is at stake in the next couple of months. Mikhel: And in fact the next couple of years! In the Canadian context, since I work with artist-run centers a lot, we are going to see a crunch happen sooner than later. And for those of us that rely on that for some amount of income, it's a scary prospect . And like you Sanaz, I have had a couple of projects that have been wiped off the slate for this season. And ... yeah, I have no expectation to be able to do that - to make up that work! Varda: But when you say that MOMA is putting everything online, then shouldn't we really be thinking of the function of things in the first place? How do we understand the function of institutions and these objects from the onset? And how do we re-contextualize it? Despite a critique that is present in all of our work on institutions, we obviously rely on them, for obvious reasons. But maybe, this is a good time for thinking about possible alternative spaces? Are there alternatives out there that we can look for, so we can start discussing them and bringing them into our talks? |
AuthorThe Graduate Teach-in Group, 2020 ArchivesCategories |
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