Longitudes

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

Cover Story—November 2019: ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’

 Fri, Nov 1 2019
Latitudes' homepage www.lttds.org

The November 2019 monthly Cover Story ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’ on Latitudes' homepage: www.lttds.org 

"How does a museum recover from scandal? What imperatives exist for regional institutions outside of capitals? When, in 1989, the IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) opened the doors to its imposing, new, slab-like building on the edge of what was once Valencia’s medieval walled core, it became the first public museum in Spain dedicated to collecting and exhibiting 20th-century art. Discussing IVAM’s rise, fall and reinvention, an article in the current frieze (issue 207, November–December) by Latitudes' Max Andrews (also a frieze Contributing Editor) is a case study on how right-wing politics impacted an entire city art ecology."
→ Continue reading
→ After November 2019, this story will be archived here.

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities.

→ RELATED CONTENTS: 
 1989, 2019, case study, cover story, Frieze, IVAM, Max Andrews, museums, rethinking institutions, Spain, text, writing
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Cover Story – May 2019: ‘Buenos Aires in Parallel’

 Wed, May 1 2019
Latitudes' homepage www.lttds.org

The May 2019 Monthly Cover Story ‘Buenos Aires in Parallel’ is now up on Latitudes' homepage: www.lttds.org

“Latitudes recently participated in the Parallel Rooms talks programme of Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires. Developed in collaboration with the arteBA Fundación, and taking place during the arteBA art fair itself, these events transpired in four temporary domes that popped-up on the central showground of La Rural, a venue more used to hosting prize-winning cattle than forty-two curators, artists, and collectors.”

 —> Continue reading
—> After May it will be archived here.

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities.


RELATED CONTENT:
 2019, Buenos Aires, conversations, cover story, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Max Andrews, museums, public art, public programme, talks programme
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First week of the "Moderation(s)" residency at Spring Workshop, Hong Kong

 Thu, Jan 17 2013
View of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak.

Wall text at Spring Workshop introducing Latitudes' month residency.

Moderation(s) team. Left to right: Athena Wu and Mimi Brown (Spring Workshop), Samuel Saelemakers and Defne Ayas (Witte de With, Rotterdam), artist and 'Moderation(s)' curator Heman Chong and Mariana Cánepa Luna and Max Andrews (Latitudes). Photo: Spring Workshop.

 Lunch break at Spring Workshop.

As part of Latitudes' 'Moderation(s)' research residency in Hong Kong we will be looking into how the city is articulated through specialist tours and attractions – such as self-made or esoteric museums, museum-like retail spaces, or “marginal” sculptural displays – both phenomena at the edge of the cultural, tourism and leisure sectors. Our first visit took us to the Hobby and Toy Museum in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon (below).

  Hobby and Toy Museum entrance in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.

  Hobby and Toy Museum galleries at Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.

 Dinner at Lin Heung Tea House in Wan Chai.

 Divinities shop around Shanghai Road in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.
'The Palazzo' residential complex in Fo Tan.


 View from Leung Chi Wo and Sara Wong's studio in the Wah Luen Industrial Centre.
MTR station Fo Tan.
 
French toast breakfast at Leung Chi Wo and Sara Wong's studio in Fo Tan.
  
Working table of Ho Sin Tung's studio at the Worldwide Industrial Centre in Fo Tan.
 
Detail of Ho Sin Tung's studio at the Worldwide Industrial Centre in Fo Tan.
Detail of Ho Sin Tung's studio at the Worldwide Industrial Centre in Fo Tan.

Studying the map of Fotanian Open Studios 2013.

 
Fo Tan apartments looming over the forested hills.
 
Fo Tan industrial area.


On 15 January we made day to the New Territories to explore birds and biodiversity. Here's the bird list from the day: 

Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Teal, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Oriental Stork, Black-faced Spoonbill, Yellow Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Chinese Pond Heron, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret, Great Cormorant, Western Osprey, Black Kite, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Crested Goshawk, Eastern Buzzard, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, White-breasted Waterhen, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Grey-headed Lapwing, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Greater Painted-Snipe, Pintail/Swinhoe's Snipe, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Great Knot, Red-necked Stint, Temminck's Stint, Dunlin, Black-headed Gull, Saunders's Gull, Black-tailed Gull, "kamtschatschensis" Mew Gull, Caspian Gull, Heuglin's Gull, Caspian Tern, Domestic Pigeon, Spotted Dove, Asian Koel, Plaintive Cuckoo, House Swift, White-throated Kingfisher, Black-capped Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Grey-chinned Minivet, Scarlet Minivet, Long-tailed Shrike, Ashy Drongo, Azure-winged Magpie, Eurasian Magpie, Collared Crow, Large-billed Crow, Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher, Cinereous Tit, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Chinese Bulbul, Chestnut Bulbul, Red-rumped Swallow, Asian Stubtail, Dusky Warbler, Pallas's Leaf Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Plain Prinia, Common Tailorbird, Rufous-capped Babbler, Masked Laughingthrush, Silver-eared Leiothrix, Japanese White-eye, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Crested Myna, Red-billed Starling, Black-collared Starling, Blue Whistling Thrush, Grey-backed Thrush, Common Blackbird, Pale Thrush, Red-flanked Bluetail, Oriental Magpie Robin, Daurian Redstart, Stejneger's Stonechat, Red-throated Flycatcher, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Fork-tailed Sunbird, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Scaly-breasted Munia, "taivana" Eastern Yellow Wagtail, "macronyx" Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, Richard's Pipit, Olive-backed Pipit, Crested Bunting, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Black-faced Bunting.

Kam Tin river, looking for Grey-headed Lapwings.
 
Entrance to the Mai Po Nature Reserve.


Mai Po Marshes, the scrape.
 
Gate 107 through border fence towards the mangroves and Deep Bay, Mai Po Marshes.
 Deep Bay (mudflat).
 
 Fiddler crabs and mudskipper, Deep Bay, Mai Po Marshes.
 Chinese Pond Heron and Great Egret, Deep Bay, Mai Po Marshes.
 1km of floating boardwalks, Deep Bay, Mai Po Marshes.
 'The Scrape', Mai Po Marshes. 
 Southern Mai Po Marshes.
We later visited Long Valley, the largest remaining tract of cultivated land in the Sheung Shui of the New Territories. Here a soundscape with roosting Black-Collared Starlings and Crested Mynas, and a passing train.


Cultivated fields of lettuce at Long Valley.


 Mix of lowland, cultivation, abandoned land and fishponds at Long Valley. 
 Farm worker collecting lettuce at Long Valley.
Packing greens, Long Valley.
 
Long Valley between baskets and sky-scrapers.
 
Very green lettuce, Long Valley.
Highly equipped bird photographers.
Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences in the Mid-levels of Hong Kong.
Visit starts here, don't get distracted.
 Model of Kowloon tower block which suffered the worst outbreak of SARS in 2003.
Display of the Old Pathological Institute. "Medical students" c. 1912 examining rats for Bubonic plague.


Transitions in Midwifery display.


 In the basement: traditional Chinese Herbalist shop 'Cun An Tan' Equipment.
 Model of ear acupuncture points.
"Inoculation of calf with cowpox to produce vaccines against Smallpox" exhibit.
Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong Park.
Display of tea pots introducing the history of Chinese tea drinking, from the Tang dynasty (618 – 907) to the 20th century.
Introducing the various styles in making tea beverage practiced in China at different times of the day and in different geographical points.
 Compressed tea cake packaging.


All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
 2013, birdwatching, display, Heman Chong, Hong Kong, Incidents of Travel, museums, Nature Reserve, photo, residency, Spring Workshop, tour, Witte de With
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Interview with Steven ten Thije, Research Curator, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, sixth in the #OpenCurating research series

 Wed, Jan 2 2013
Play Van Abbe, Part 2: Time Machine (10 April–24 September 2010). Curated by Steven ten Thije (guest curator) and Diana Franssen, Curator and Head of Research. Exhibition view of: Raum der Gegenwart, (1930) 2009 scale 1:1, various materials. Installation: 430 x 860 x 610 cm. Collection Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Photo: Peter Cox, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

As Research Curator at the Van Abbemuseum, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Steven ten Thije is part of the team of one the first public museums for contemporary art to be established in Europe. Under the directorship of Charles Esche since 2004, the museum has defined itself through "an experimental approach towards art’s role in society", where "openness, hospitality and knowledge exchange are important". Ten Thije is also a lecturer and researcher at the University of Hildesheim, Germany, where he is studying for a doctorate in the genealogical analysis of the exhibition curator. He was co-curator of the Spirits of Internationalism (Van Abbemuseum, 2012), and alongside Esche, with curators Christiane Berndes, Annie Fletcher, and Diana Franssen, he was guest curator of Play Van Abbe (2011). Subtitled The museum in the 21st Century, this was a four-part multifaceted programme of exhibitions, research and events in which the Van Abbemuseum reflected on the meaning and role of the art museum. Using its collection to articulate questions about the public's reaction to art and its contexts, the Van Abbemuseum probed its own history and purpose alongside how cultural production has reflected the social and political dynamics of the last twenty years.



–

 ABOUT #OPENCURATING

 Drawing on the emerging practices of so-called 'Open Journalism' – which seek to better collaborate with and use the ability of anyone to publish and share – #OpenCurating is a research project that investigates how contemporary art projects may function beyond the traditional format of exhibition-and-catalogue. #OpenCurating is concerned with new forms of interaction between publics – whether online followers or physical visitors – with artworks and their production, display and discursive context.

 The project is articulated around a series of ten new interviews with curators, artists, writers and online strategists published as a free digital edition [read here the published ones so far], a Twitter discussion moderated around the hashtag #OpenCurating and a finissage event in Barcelona (date TBA).

 #OpenCurating is a research project by Latitudes produced through La Capella. BCN Producció 2012 of the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona. 










Content partners: Walker Art Center

 




Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
 #OpenCurating, 2012, audiencia, collection, curating, Eindhoven, exhibition-making, museums, openness, research, Steven ten Thije, Van Abbemuseum
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The Indianapolis Museum of Art's transparency initiatives

 Wed, Dec 12 2012
Part of our interest in the #OpenCurating research we are currently carrying out is to look at how museums and curatorial departments are engaging in new ways with their audiences and the means through which "open" initiatives are being promoted and implemented in exhibition-making and via other types of programming.

 The Indianapolis Museum of Art has created two really dynamic initiatives which promote transparency throughout the museum's operations: a real-time statistics "Dashboard" including data such as the museum's energy consumption, works of art currently on display, the value of the museum's endowment, their operating expenses, average time of visits to the website, etc. 

The tool was implemented in 2008 and is the brainchild of museum director Maxwell L. Anderson, an active advocate of implementing new media technologies to advance public interest in art. 



The data can be compared to previous years (stats for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), filtered by museum departments (Buildings, Education, Conservation, Curatorial, Finance...) as well as by topics (Art, Greening the IMA, Attendance...). 
 Dashboard data of the curatorial.

 However admirable this tool is, the curatorial dashboard falls rather short on the depth of information, only offering statistics for the "number of acquisitions" and the "number of works with gaps in WWII-Era Provenance". They do not reveal full data sets of their departmental operational budget, for instance. This might show there is still some resistance to really open up  to show other kind of costs (shipping, insurance, exhibition display, fees paid to artists (or not?)...) or even interesting insights such as (air)miles travelled by the curatorial staff, or the amount of paper used for their publications, just to mention a few. 

 Some of these topics (how to articulate institutions and organisations complex needs in seeming transparent, responsible and benevolent) were addressed in Latitudes' 2008 exhibition "Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities" (Archive Books, 2008) and in its catalogue essay "Shades of Green: a conversation between the curators", as well as in the essay by Stephanie Smith "'Alas for the dreams of a Dreamer!': Art Museums and Sustainability" included in the Latitudes-edited publication "Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (RSA, 2006).

A second initiative we find quite relevant is the "Deaccessioning database", which classifies pieces that have been deaccessioned at the museum since 2007 (following IMA's policy, see pdf here), explaining provenance, the reasons for its deaccession, listing the recipient and the day of sale, etc.
 Deaccessioned Artworks page www.imamuseum.org/art/collections/deaccession

Take for instance "Houses in the Snow", a 1929 canvas by Maurice de Vlaminck sold via Sotheby's in 2009 for $173700; or the 1889 suite of prints "Les Misères Humaines" by Gaugin, which were transferred to the Musée de Pont-Aven in 2009. Fascinating and revealing, isn't it?
Deaccessioned file for Maurice de Vlaminck's 1929 canvas.



 #OpenCurating, 2.0, 2012, Greenwashing, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Land Art, museums, statistics, technology, transparency
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