“Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)Possible” Symposium at the Harn Museum of Art

International scholars will convene at the Harn Museum of Art this April to discuss the dynamic interchange between art and politics. The symposium, free and open to the public, will be held April 9 and 10. “Art and Democracy,” presented in conjunction with the exhibition Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)Possible, will address the relationship of art and artists to democracy, and the ways that artists mediate the vital and critical political issues of their time.

The symposium will begin with a speech by keynote speaker François Cusset at 6 pm on April 9. Cusset is a professor of American studies at the University of Paris. His body of work includes the critically acclaimed “French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States” (University of Minnesota Press, 2008).

The symposium will continue April 10 with lectures by numerous scholars from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Speakers include Alex Alberro, Virginia Bloedel Wright Associate Professor of Art History at Barnard College at the University of Columbia; Nora Alter, professor of film and media studies at the University of Florida; Claire Bishop, associate professor of art history in the Graduate Center at the City University of New York; T.J. Demos, lecturer in the Department of History of Art at University College London; Tim Griffin, editor–in-chief of Artforum; Maria Hlavajova, curator and artistic director of basis voor actuele kunst (BAK) in the Netherlands; and Shepherd Steiner, visiting assistant professor in modern and contemporary art at UF.

The symposium, organized by Kerry Oliver-Smith and Alex Alberro, will offer a deeper understanding of the works on display in Project Europa. The exhibition questions the promise and potential of Europe’s democratic dream just past 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Featuring large-scale wall paintings, photography and video, the exhibition confronts a paradox: Europe is both the site of possibility and impossibility for creating an egalitarian society. The exhibition features 19 international artists, including Francis Alÿs, Fikret Atay, Kader Attia, Maja Bajević, Yto Barrada, Tacita Dean, Beate Gütschow, Jens Haaning, Susan Hefuna, Eva Leitolf, Aernout Mik, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Perjovschi, Marjetica Potrč, Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, Bruno Serralongue, Superflex and Lidwien Van de Ven. The exhibition will be on view at the Harn Museum until May 9.

The symposium is co-sponsored by UF groups, including the Harn Eminent Scholar Chair in Art History, School of Art + Art History, Center for European Studies, Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, France-Florida Research Institute and the International Center.

For more information, visit http://www.harn.ufl.edu/projecteuropaexhibition.html or call 352-392-9826.