Nerves, Breath, Muscles, Blood (2023)

NERVES, BREATH, MUSCLES, BLOOD is the series of four Debating Chambers that took place online as the public program for the exhibition SKIN IN THE GAME between October-December 2023. All Debating Chambers can be viewed under Debating Chambers on this website. Concept notes relate to the individual presentations.

With NERVES – Risk and Transgression in Curatorial Practice, the speakers question the current normativity of exhibitions and ask how artists and curators can work together without compromise under the roof of arts institutions today. Speakers of NERVES are Defne Ayas, Charles Teyssou, and Pierre-Alexandre Mateos, with Saboteurs Clémentine Deliss and Winnie Zhu.

BREATH — Figureheads and Emancipation addresses the icons and references that inform emerging artists and curators, and the ambivalent sense of respect and resistance they ignite. Do art students seek to disassociate themselves with the figure of the artist from the past, and how is this role defined today? Are individual artistic positions dissolving in favor of emancipation through identity politics and collective movements? Speakers of BREATH are Juliette Desorgues, Annika Larsson, Abbas Zahedi, and Saboteurs are Joana Atemengue Owona and Toby Üpson.

MUSCLES – Collections and Contention looks at the condition that besets colonial archives today, as well as works found in different art historical holdings that generate controversy and fuel opinions, claims, and counterclaims. What can be done to defuse the contention surrounding historical collections, and what channels of remediation are proposed by artists, historians, and cultural activists? Speakers of MUSCLES are Yann LeGall, Luke Willis Thompson, Jeanne-Ange Wagne, and Saboteurs are Clémentine Deliss and Edi Winarni.