[re]Shaping Exhibition Practices

Art / Switch virtual conference series is returning with its second edition on Friday, January 29, 2021, bringing together innovative voices and practitioners who are shaping matters of sustainability in the arts. In this specially curated edition, [re]Shaping Exhibition Practices, we'll discuss the role museums and galleries can play to rethink the conventional format of an exhibition and its immediate impact on the planet.

Our speakers will explore sustainability in curatorial practice, discuss the structure and process of loans, consider what the art market can do to create environmentally-conscious exhibitions, and question how we can shift our thinking around blockbuster exhibitions, taking into account the effect of Covid-19 on the arts sector. We will emphasize how sustainability can be systematically integrated in the planning and decision-making processes of exhibitions in a post-pandemic world. 

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Moderators

As Sustainability Lead for the V&A, Sara Kassam has a multi-site remit to embed sustainability expertise and implement systemic change in museum operations and behaviours. She has a background in sustainability and energy management, ranging from strategic planning to practical implementation in the higher education and local authority sectors. She has also worked on policy, knowledge exchange and technical content production for a professional engineering institution.

Sara Kassam — Sustainability Lead for the Victoria & Albert Museum

Louisa Buck is a writer and broadcaster on contemporary art. She is  Contemporary Art Correspondent for The Art Newspaper and a regular reviewer and commentator on BBC radio and TV.
She is the author of a number of catalogue essays for institutions including Tate, Whitechapel Gallery, ICA London and the Stedelijk Museum.
She was a judge for the 2005 Turner Prize and is on the founding committee of the Gallery Climate Coalition

Louisa Buck — Contemporary Art Correspondent for The Art Newspaper

Speakers

Alice Bonnot is an independent curator, art consultant and guest speaker interested in the development of environmentally sustainable curatorial and artistic practices with a drive towards eco solutions.

She is scheduled to teach the short course ‘Sustainable Exhibition Management’ at Central Saint Martins College, London and is regularly invited to talk about sustainability within the arts. She is the co-founding director of Picnic, an exhibition space occupying a long vitrine in the Aylesham Centre in Peckham, London, and the founding director of the Zone d’Utopie Temporaire (Z.U.T.) residency programme, a nomadic annual residency addressing the notion of Utopia as a vehicle for artistic and critical comment.

Previously Alice Bonnot has worked with Assembly Point, London, Galeria Francisco Fino, Lisbon, Le Palais de Tokyo, Paris and Elephant Magazine, among others. Recent and current curatorial projects include: Out of Office, PADA, Lisbon (2019) and Triple Point, Belo Campo, Lisbon (2020). She lives and works between Lisbon and London.

Alice Bonnot

How Can Art Curators Lower the Environmental Impact of Contemporary Art Exhibitions: Choosing Environmentally Responsible Artists 

Orlando Estrada is an interdisciplinary artist and core team member of Galleries Commit.


In his ongoing sculptural series, Estrada combines man-made and organic material to create mystical landscapes analyzing the ways in which humans interact with the natural world. He holds a BFA from Florida International University and an MFA from the University of Florida.


His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally including 182 AVE C (NY), Marinaro Gallery (NY), Pioneer Works (NY), Knockdown Center (NY), El Museo del Barrio (NY), David B. Smith Gallery (DEN), David Castillo Gallery (MIA), Art Center South Florida (MIA) and Fundación del Centro Cultural del México Contemporáneo (CDMX). He has participated in multiple residencies including a studio residency with the Bruce High Quality Foundation University and Apexart International Artist Fellowship in Seoul, South Korea. Estrada is currently working with Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative to produce a monumental public sculpture for their WATERPROOF Miami 2021 curatorial program.

Orlando Estrada — Galleries Commit

Panel Discussion — Environmentally-Conscious Exhibition Planning in the Art Market 

Heath Lowndes is co-founder and Managing Director of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), a non-profit organisation providing the art sector with science-based and industry specific resources and guidelines, with the goal of collectively reducing co2 emissions 50% by 2030 as well as generally improving sustainability. Heath is also Exhibitions Coordinator at Thomas Dane Gallery, London.

Heath Lowndes, Gallery Climate Coalition

Panel Discussion — Environmentally-Conscious Exhibition Planning in the Art Market 

Caitlin Spangler-Bickell is a former Collections Intern at the Getty Conservation Institute and is a PhD candidate with Maastricht University / MUDEC Milan. She is an anthropologist whose research engages both theories and practices of conservation and collections care. 

Caitlin Spangler-Bickell

Factors that Influence the Changing of Climate Specifications for Museum Loans in Practice 

For 9 years John worked for the renowned Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in New York. He now works as a freelance registrar, collections manager, and consultant whose clients include prominent museums, foundations, and private collections in the city.

He served on the board of the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists (ARCS) and hosts a regular live chat and podcast called #ARCSchat that address questions pertaining to collections care. 

He maintains a professional interest in Latin America and has spoken about working in the region at many international conferences.

John Thomas Robinette III

Don’t Look Back: Cognitive Dissonance and Traveling Collections

 

Laura Lupton is a founding member of Galleries Commit, a worker-led collective initiated in 2020 that is committed to a climate-conscious, resilient, and equitable future for New York City galleries. Focusing on shifting paradigms by building community and empowering individuals, Galleries Commit currently maintains an active community platform, a database for climate action resources, and a land conservation partnership.

Laura Lupton — Galleries Commit

Panel Discussion — Environmentally-Conscious Exhibition Planning in the Art Market 

24 Ore Cultura is a small enthusiastic group of Exhibition Project Managers working for 24 ORE Cultura, a branch of Gruppo 24 ORE, one of the leading media companies in Italy and Europe. 24 ORE Cultura has become in the last 20 years one of the major players in the cultural field as producer and organizer of exhibitions in Italy and abroad and manager of public and private Museums and Collections. 24 ORE Cultura manages the public Museum of Cultures - Mudec in Milan, an intercultural and multidisciplinary hub devoted to the cultures of the five continents.

Francesca Cavola, 24 ORE Cultura Exhibition Office. Research team: Elena Bottinelli, Francesca Calabretta, Silvia Iannelli, Sandra Serafini.

Rethinking Frida Kahlo 

Joel Taylor is a Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU), and formerly Senior Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and co-manager of the Managing Collections Environment initiative at the GCI. He has worked in various institutions, academic, private, government and non-profit in the United Kingdom, Norway, and the USA, with experience in sustainable approaches to collection preservation

Joel Taylor

Factors that Influence the Changing of Climate Specifications for Museum Loans in Practice 

The conference is organized with the support of Samuel Anderson Architects and Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture.

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