Can institutions learn (to get going)?

On 21 and 22 November 2024, the KinderKunstLabor will organise its first international symposium in cooperation with EDUCULT Vienna under the title Can Institutions Learn (to get going)? The conference venue is the KinderKunstLabor and the surrounding Altoona Park located between the city centre and the cultural district in St. Pölten, Lower Austria.

The symposium is dedicated to the learning institution, a much-discussed topic in the cultural sector. How can learning processes unfold within the institution? What conditions are needed to do so? And which new perspectives and mindsets can such learning processes stimulate in art institutions?

Together with the upcoming specialist publication of the same name, Can Institutions Learn (to get going)? will explore the potentials of networking, knowledge transfer, and the links between theory and practice in art institutions. The invited speakers provide insights into innovative research approaches and their respective institutions: underlying concepts, ongoing projects, specific targets, and future plans – but also the challenges and obstacles. The symposium is centred on the contribution by the first Researcher-in-Residence (August 2023 to February 2024), Anahita Neghabat, a social anthropologist, artist, and activist. In her lecture Let the Material Lead! Co-Creation through Methodological Diversity at the KinderKunstLabor, Anahita Neghabat presents excerpts and results from her research project.

Invited contributors: Sepake Angiama (Institute for International Visual Arts, London), Muhammet Ali Baş (Tangente St. Pölten Festival for Contemporary Culture), Johanna Bernkopf (KinderKunstLabor), Tom Braun (International University Cologne), Veronika Ehm (EDUCULT Vienna), Andreas Hoffer (Kunsthalle Krems), Dimana Lateva (KinderKunstLabor), Eva Leutgeb (KinderKunstLabor), Mona Jas (KinderKunstLabor), Matthias Pacher (cultural education NÖKU), Emily Pringle (practical research in art museums), Julien Segarra (KinderKunstLabor),  Eva Maria Stadler (University of Applied Arts Vienna), Leanne Turvey & Alice Walton (Tate Modern & Tate Britain), Aron Weigl (EDUCULT Vienna), Andrea Zsutty (ZOOM Children’s Museum Vienna), among others.

• 3.00 pm 
  dream.lab exhibition tour: Andreas Hoffer, Curator Kunsthalle Krems and KinderKunstLabor for Contemporary Art St. Pölten / Mona Jas, Artistic Director KinderKunstLabor
   
• 3.45 pm
  Welcome: Matthias Pacher, Arts Education and Mediation NÖKU
   
• 4.00 pm
  Paths of Desire: Mona Jas
   
• 4.15 pm
  Ways to listen (working title): Sepake Angiama, Artistic Director iniva London
   
• 4.45 pm
  Sharing: Leanne Turvey & Alice Walton, Senior Learning Curators: Schools and Teachers Tate Modern & Tate Britain
   
• 5.45 pm
  Coffee Break
   
• 6.00 pm
  Play Along: Eva Maria Stadler, Professor of Art and Knowledge Transfer and Head of the Institute for Art and Society at the University of Applied Arts Vienna
   
• 6.30 pm 
  Dream the Future (Workshop): Johanna Bernkopf, Learning Curator Early Childhood KinderKunstLabor / Eva Leutgeb, Learning Curator Schools and Outreach / Julien Segarra, Artist
   
• 7.30 pm 
  Get-Together and Book Launch, Can Institutions learn (to get going)?, Vienna: Passagen

• 9.30 
  Sharing: Anahita Neghabat, Predoc Researcher Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  Response: Emily Pringle, Researcher and Consultant in the fields of visual and community arts, museums and gallery education 
   
• 10.30 
  Coffee break 
   
• 10.45 
  Domino Talk: Tom Braun, Professor of Cultural and Media Education at the IU International University of Applied Sciences Cologne / Muhammet Ali Baş, Curator Tangente St. Pölten / Andrea Zsutty, Director Zoom Children’s Museum Vienna / Veronika Ehm, Research & Consulting EDUCULT Vienna
   
• 12.45 
  Conclusion: Aron Weigl, Executive Director EDUCULT Vienna
   
• 13.00 
  Lunch

You can find out more about the topic of learning institutions in "Können Institutionen (laufen) lernen?" (Can institutions learn (to get going)?), the first specialist publication of the KinderKunstLabor for contemporary art. Here, international experts have their say and provide insights into their working methods, experiences and thoughts on the topic.

With contributions by
Marjan Alemzadeh, Anna Aulich, Clare Britt, Veronika Ehm, Michael Hansen, Dorothea Hilliger, Andreas Hoffer, Renate Höllwart, Mona Jas, Karin Kraus, Julienne Lorz, Anahita Neghabat, Amanda Palmer, Louise Penfold, Emily Pringle & Rebecca Raue

Thanks to the generosity of the speakers, we are allowed to make their presentations available here in the spirit of free knowledge transfer.