18 Mar 2011

Reconsidering the Historiography of the Historical Avant-Garde(s)

With recent major museum exhibitions on Dada and the Bauhaus, it has become clear that the discourse surrounding what Peter Bürger has termed in Theory of the Avant-Garde (1974) the 'historical avant-garde' has become dense enough to demand critical reconsideration. This one-day conference will explore the potential of historiography as a basis for a critical reconsideration of movements such as the Bauhaus, Constructivism, Dada, and De Stijl.

We are excited to support the presentation of three graduate student panels, with papers that foreground and critically engage with the historiography of the historical avant-garde(s) as an essential strategy for uncovering blind spots in existing discourse and exploring ways in which it can be redirected, revised, and if necessary, overturned.

The doctoral program in Art History at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York exists, by nature of its vertical campus, in close proximity to many other academic disciplines, including comparative literature, sociology, history, and philosophy. In an effort to encourage dialogue across these fields, we offer this conference as an opportunity for interdisciplinary dialogue and we look forward to welcoming participants and audience members working in a variety of fields and media.

Some of the papers at this symposium will be published online later this year in collaboration with the Journal of Art Historiography.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

1pm: SYMPOSIUM CONVENES
Opening Remarks: Professor Kevin Murphy, Executive Officer, CUNY Graduate Center Art History Program, and Professor of 19th- and 20th-Century European and American Architecture and Theory

1.10-2.40pm: BÜRGER'S AVANT-GARDE
Tessa Paneth-Pollak, Princeton University / Hans Arp's 'Typographical Microbes'
Rachel Silveri, Columbia University / Sophie Taeuber-Arp's Dadaist Design
Discussion Moderator:
Dorothee Brill, Curator, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin / Neo Dada: Repetition, Revision, Refutation

2.40-3pm: COFFEE & LIGHT SNACKS

3–4.30pm: CASE STUDIES: RECONSIDERING THE BAUHAUS
Introduction by: Rose-Carol Washton Long, Professor of Art History, CUNY Graduate Center
Christina Brungardt, CUNY Graduate Center / Form, Function and Design: Marcel Breuer's Furniture and Constructivism at the Bauhaus
Margaret Herman, CUNY Graduate Center / A Practical Model for Modern Architecture: J.J.P. Oud, Adolf Behne, and the Bauhaus
Morgan Ridler, CUNY Graduate Center / Ignoring the Bauhaus Wallpaper: A Reconsideration of the Successes and Failures of the Bauhaus
Discussion Moderator:
Dara Kiese, PhD Candidate in Art History, CUNY Graduate Center, and Curatorial Assistant for MoMA's Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity exhibition, 2009



4.45-6pm: FROM DOCUMENTATION TO HISTORIOGRAPHY
Pierluigi Serraino, University of California at Berkeley / [A]RCHITECTURE] + [P]HOTOGRAPHY + [A]RCHIVE: The APA factor in the Construction of Historiography Lori Cole, New York University / What is the Avant-Garde? The Questionnaire as Historiography
Discussion Moderator:
Romy Golan, Professor of 20th Century European Art, CUNY Graduate Center

6.00pm: WINE RECEPTION
In Art History Commons