Constructing Avant-Garde Museology

De Appel arts centre is organizing a lecture by the artist Arseny Zhilyaev on the 18th of February in the Artis Library. During his lecture artist Arseny Zhilyaev will give an introduction to the innovative museological projects from the late 19th to early 20th century in Russia and the USSR.

The Lecture will be followed by a conversation between the artist and curator Inga Lāce and the audience.

Please make reservations if you want to attend: reservations@deappel.nl

Entrance 3,-

The lecture Constructing the Avant-Garde Museology is the first in the series of events organized by Inga Lāce, the Curatorial Fellow of de Appel arts centre (2015-2016). The program of events is focussing on the theme of the institution as an ecosystem, exploring the potential of alternative modes of its thinking like plant-thinking, and ruminating on the future of institutions by looking at the examples in the history. Interest in the existing case studies, as well as imaginary scenarios will unfold throughout the programme.

In the focus of the lecture there will be institutional transformations and exhibition experiments carried out by artists of historical avant-garde, Marxist museologists and representatives of Russian cosmism. Through the history of speculation and real mutation of the concept of the museum, it will be possible to trace and imagine the futuristic projects and ways the social and even natural limits of humankind can be transcended.

Arseny Zhilyaev (1984) is an artist who lives and works in Moscow and Voronezh. Using artistic, political, scientific, and museological histories to uncover and propose potential futures, Zhilyaev explores a productive space between fiction and non-fiction. Within his recent projects, the artist casts a revisionist lens on the heritage of soviet museology and meaning of museum in Russian cosmism. His recent projects include participation in 13th Lyon Biennale and show “Future histories” with Mark Dion in V-a-c Foundation (2015). Zhilyaev is an editor of Avant-Garde Museology, E-flux and Minnesota Press (2015). Recent awards include the Innovation 2010 Russian state award in the sphere of contemporary art, the Soratnik [Companion-in- Arms] 2010 and 2012 awards, and a nomination for the Visible Award in 2013.

Artis Library is a nineteenth-century library located at Plantage Middenlaan 45 in Amsterdam. Since 2005 it has been part of the Special Collections at the University of Amsterdam containing books on the history of zoology and botany.