Liverpool Biennial Professor of Exhibition Research

From 1991-2002, we treated 58 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using the humanised monoclonal antibody, Campath-1H, which causes prolonged T lymphocyte depletion. Clinical and surrogate markers of inflammation were suppressed. In both the relapsing-remitting (RR) and secondary progressive (SP) stages of the illness, Campath-1H reduced the annual relapse rate (from 2.2 to 0.19 and from 0.7 to 0.001 respectively; both p < 0.001). Remarkably, MRI scans of patients with SP disease, treated with Campath-1H 7 years previously, showed no new lesion formation. However, despite these effects on inflammation, disability was differently affected depending on the phase of the disease. Patients with SPMS showed sustained accumulation of disability due to uncontrolled progression marked by unrelenting cerebral atrophy, attributable to ongoing axonal loss. The rate of cerebral atrophy was greatest in patients with established cerebral atrophy and highest inflammatory lesion burden before treatment (2.3 versus 0.7 ml/year; p = 0.04). In contrast, patients with RR disease showed an impressive reduction in disability at 6 months after Campath-1H (by a mean of 1.2 EDSS points) perhaps owing to a suppression of on-going inflammation in these patients with unusually active disease. In addition, there was a further significant, albeit smaller, mean improvement in disability up to 36 months after treatment. We speculate that this represents the beneficial effects of early rescue of neurons and axons from a toxic inflammatory environment, and that prevention of demyelination will prevent long-term axonal degeneration. These concepts are currently being tested in a controlled trial comparing Campath-1H and IFN-beta in the treatment of drug-naïve patients with early, active RR MS.

The thesis examines how information technologies have changed the practice of curating. It proposes an interdisciplinary approach that directly links curating (often understood as an activity of artistic programming), computing (the activity of computer programming) and a relatively recent interest in software art (in which programming is understood as artistic practice). Although there is much contemporary critical work and practice that is described as art-oriented programming or software art, the thesis aims to explore a perceived gap in discussions around software curating.
Curators working with online technologies are presented with the challenge of how to respond to new artistic forms that involve programming: for instance program-objects that display dynamic and transformative properties, and that are distributed over socio-technological networks. Although there are many examples of social platforms and highly relevant examples of online ‘art platforms’, these still largely operate in display mode replicating more conventional models of curating and the operations of art institutions in general. The tendency is for these curatorial online systems to concentrate on the display of executed code and pay less attention to source code. New sensibilities are required that simultaneously reflect the significance of source code as art, and software not as a production tool or a display platform but as cultural practice that is analogous to curating. What is distinctive about the thesis is that it speculates on a curatorial model that emphasises the analogy to programming. Consequently, the thesis argues for online software systems that display properties of curating but reprocess established definitions by deliberately collapsing firm distinctions between the fields of programming, artistic practice and curatorial practice.
To consider these issues, the thesis brings together a number of inter-related fields of critical inquiry and situates curating in the context of theories of immateriality, a critical discourse around software art practice, and an understanding of open systems. The key issue for the thesis becomes how power relations, control and agency are expressed in new curatorial forms that involve programming and networks; in other words, the thesis is concerned with the politics of curating in/as (an) open system(s). Indeed, curating itself can be described in terms of open systems, implying a state in which there is continuous interaction with the socio-technological environment. The system is opened up to communicative processes that involve producers/users and to divergent exchanges that take place and that disrupt established social relations of
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production and distribution. Thus, and importantly for an understanding of the power relations involved, software opens up curating to dynamic possibilities and transformations beyond the usual institutional model (analogous to the model of production associated with the industrial factory) into the context of networks (and what is referred to by the Autonomists as the ‘social factory’). The suggestion is that the curatorial process is now closely integrated with the dynamic socio-technological networks and with software that is not simply used to curate but demonstrates the activity of curating in itself. Consequently, the thesis offers an expanded description of curating with respect to software in which agency is reconstituted to include alternative dynamics of networks.
The curatorial model is not only theorised but also deployed in the production of experimental software for curating source code (kurator) that forms the practical part of the doctoral research. In addition to a written thesis and software, two further projects produced during the registration period 2002-2008 are included in support of the overall thesis: a conference Curating, Immateriality, Systems (CIS) (Tate Modern, London 2005) and an edited book Curating Immateriality: The Work of The Curator in the Age of Network Systems (CI) (Autonomedia, New York 2006). The kurator software is a further development of the conference and subsequent book, and offers an online, user-moderated curatorial system for further public modification. In so doing, the argument is that the curatorial process is demonstrably a collective and distributed executable that displays machinic agency. This is what is referred to in the thesis as software curating.

The paper addresses the issue of new developments in the field of curating in the context of information technologies. It explores the emergence of an interdisciplinary approach that directly links the field of curating with computer programming and a relatively recent interest in software art. Although there is much contemporary critical work and practice that is described as art-oriented programming or software art, the paper responds to a perceived gap in discussions about software curating. It is important to emphasise that in this context software curating is not to be understood as the activity of curating software art works (in other words the activity of bringing software artworks into public domain) but as integrating software and programming in the curatorial process per se. Furthermore, the paper reflects upon the recent rise of popularity of social technologies and their relevance for curating. The underlying suggestion is that curating responds to this by developing new forms that increasingly involving socio- technological networks and that can be characterised as socially driven and distributed over networks.

First published as journal article in Vague Terrain: Digital Art / Culture / Technology, issue 11, 2008.

Curating Immateriality: The Work of the Curator in the Age of Network Systems, Krysa. J., (ed.) New York: Autonomedia. ISBN: 1-57027-173-93.

Contributors: 0100101110101101.ORG & [epidemiC], Josephine Berry Slater, Geoff Cox;
Alexander R. Galloway & Eugene Thacker, Olga Goriunova & Alexei Shulgin, Beryl Graham, Eva Grubinger, Piotr Krajewski, Jacob Lillemose, low-fi, Franziska Nori, Matteo Pasquinelli, Christiane Paul, Trebor Scholz, Grzesiek Sedek, Tiziana Terranova, Marina Vishmidt

The site of curatorial production has been expanded to include the space of the Internet and the focus of curatorial attention has been extended from the object to processes to dynamic network systems. As a result, curatorial work has become more widely distributed between multiple agents, including technological networks and software. This upgraded 'operating system' of art presents new possibilities of online curating that is collective and distributed - even to the extreme of a self-organising system that curates itself. The curator is part of this entire system but not central to it.

The subtitle of the book makes reference to the essay 'The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems' (1988), in which Bill Nichols considered how cybernetics transformed cultural production. He emphasised the shift from mechanical reproduction (symbolised by the camera) to that of cybernetic systems (symbolised by the computer) in relation to the political economy, and pointed to contradictory tendencies inherent in these systems: 'the negative, currently dominant, tendency toward control, and the positive, more latent potential toward collectivity'. The book continues this general line of inquiry in relation to curating, and extends it by considering how power relations and control are expressed in the context of network systems and immateriality.

In relation to network systems, the emphasis remains on the democratic potential of technological change but also the emergence of what appears as more intensive forms of control. Can the same be said of curating in the context of distributed forms? If so, what does this imply for software curating beyond the rhetoric of free software and open systems?

The site of curatorial production has been expanded to include the space of the Internet and the focus of curatorial attention has been extended from the object to processes to dynamic network systems. As a result, curatorial work has become more widely distributed between multiple agents including technological networks and software. This book reflects on these changes and asserts that the practice of curating cannot be dissociated from social and technological developments. It is therefore concerned with the politics of curating - with how power relations and control are expressed in the contemporary forms that curating takes and offers in the context of network technologies. Consequently, the book intends to examine the work of the curator, and the inherent structures of curatorial control in relation to the current socio-political and technological
formations.

Published as chapter in Digital Art: fractures, proliferative preservation and affective dimension,Yara Guasque (ed). Coleção Fast Forward / UFG/Media Lab. ISBN: 978-85-68359-00-6. Proceedings of the 5th National Symposium of the Brazilian Association of Cyberculture Researchers (ABCiber 2011).

Chapter published in  Silicon Dreams: Art, Science, Technology in the European Union, a  report from the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Madrid, commissioned 2010. In connection with the exhibition Silicon Dreams, Tabakalera, San Sebastian,  February - March 2010, Spain.

Kurator - a proposal for an experimental, permutational software application capable of curating exhibitions, Joasia Krysa, 2013

In 1953, Gordon Pask, the English cybernetician and psychologist, created what is widely thought of as the first cybernetic art machine. Musicolour was essentially an interactive display that turned music into light, and comprised an input device for receiving sound, a computer, and an output device for lights. The computer part included an element of machine-learning that enabled it to interact with musicians. For instance, if the music was repetitious it could prompt the musicians to vary their performance. The element of learning, based on feedback and interaction, is what makes it possible to consider it a cybernetic machine and not simply a passive light show.

Can curating be conceived in similar terms, like Pask’s machine, characterised by participation, interactivity and feedback as necessary elements in performing the curatorial functions of selecting and organising diverse materials (material objects, or data, or media, ideas, concepts) in particular ways to produce meaning? If curating (as a process), and/or a curator (as figure) can be imagined as a system in this way, what does this imply for curating today in the age of the networked commons? One problem that immediately arises is that although machines can select and organise data well, they are not so good at producing meanings as they don’t understand the symbols they work with. So the proposal for an experimental, permutational software application capable of curating exhibitions is a speculation on how curatorial practice might be informed by ideas of self-organisation and how human and non-human agencies might work in combination to address this possibility? In other words, the idea is to conceive of curating processes that unfold through the logic of socio-technological systems and to build an online software-driven platform that follows curatorial protocols. At the same time this process is opened up to wider networked contingencies – in excess of a pre-defined curatorial or centralised plan as such. My hypothesis is that the curatorial process, already a collaborative activity involving multiple agents (artists, audiences, curator, etc.), can be even more widely distributed to programmers, networked users, technological networks, and software itself – all of which can constitute the curatorial. The process can be seen to be increasingly and more overtly collective and distributed in this way - even to the extreme of imagining a self-organising system that curates itself - reconfiguring the traditional understanding of the term curating as caring for objects or collections - and extended to caring for wider social relations across humans and machines across complex networks.

Published in Networks, Lars Bang Larsen (ed.), London and Cambridge/MA: Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-85488- 221-2 (Whitechapel Gallery), ISBN 978-0-262-52575-6 (The MIT Press).

‘Ada Lovelace: There Never Was a Note G’, introduction to a notebook 55 Ada Lovelace, author Joasia Krysa, published in dOCUMENTA (13) series 100 Notes – 100 Thoughts. Also published as a chapter in The
Book of Books, edited Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Hrsg. documenta und Museum Fridericianum Veranstaltungs-GmbH and Hatje Cantz. ISBN 978-3-7757-3084-6.

‘The Episodic in Computational Worlds. A conversation with Franciszek Krysa Cox (aged six)' is a chapter in The Two Sided Lake: Scenarios, storyboards and sets from Liverpool Biennial 2016, (eds. Rosie Cooper, Sandeep Parmar, and Dominic Willsdon), Liverpool University Press. SBN: 9781781383407.

This text is an extensively annotated  conversation with the 6 years old Franciszek about his experience of playing computer game Minecraft. It explores its main characters and  features, creating multiple new worlds and moving through these worlds, and what makes it episodic.  The text was  commissioned for Liverpool Biennial 2016 publication entitled The Two Sided Lake: Scenarios, storyboards and sets from Liverpool Biennial 2016. The text in the publication serves as a way of conceptualising  Liverpool Biennial 2016 exhibition strand that related to 'Software', and directly linked to one of the exhibition projects 'Minecraft Infinity' project commissioned for the biennial.

Curatorial Alternatives to What?
From alternative forms to the everyday technologies

The emergence of curatorial projects such as äda’web in 1995 and Gallery 9 in 1997 might be seen as defining moments in the curatorial encounter with information technologies, and at the same time as informing the development of a distinct curatorial approach that has led to what can be broadly described as information-oriented curating. This is not to say that curators were not interested in information technologies before then, indeed a number of exhibitions as early as the 1960s focused explicitly on technology-based art, addressing the increasing impact of technology, and introducing concepts of cybernetics, programming and software to art. However, projects such as äda’web and Gallery 9 can be seen to directly influence a trajectory of thinking about curating that places information at its core.  Initially, curators began to explore the potential of online spaces simply as presentation and production venues, then through the development of dedicated software driven curatorial platforms, and most recently through the appropriation of social networks and participatory platforms.

Chapter published in WRO 2011 Alternative Now, (eds.) Violetta Kutlubasis- Krajewska and Piotr Krajewski, WRO Media Art Foundation, Wroclaw.

The paper explores the expanded concept of public interface by establishing a link to the field of curating, in particular curating in the context of technological systems (or what commonly is
referred to as ‘online curating’) and the context of the art market. The suggestion is that curatorial and technological apparatuses combine to reveal detail on the art market and its inextricable link to capitalist logic that is ever more adapting itself to the demands of the immaterial economy. The paper speculates on how the curator can be understood as an interface between the public and the art market and indeed the broader immaterial economy that
lies behind it. Perhaps this has always been the case, but the significance is that new paradoxical models of curating exist for online contexts that both affirm and contest its logic.

Published in proceedings of the conference Public Interfaces, journal Vol. 1, No.1, 2011, Christian Ulrik Andersen, Geoff Cox, Jacob Lund (eds.), Aarhus University. ISSN: 2245-7755.

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􏰒􏰛􏰒􏰝􏰞􏰒􏰠 This volume brings together ideas and projects that emerged from the public programme of the 10th anniversary edition of Liverpool Biennial (July-October 2018), responding to a line from the poem The Gods of Greece by German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805): ‘Beautiful world, where are you?‘ The line evokes the lost grandeur, beauty and meaning embodied by mythical Greece, translated to our contemporary not-so beautiful reality.

At irregular intervals between May and October 2018, an eclectic list of speakers from fields as diverse as economics, biology, linguistics, media theory, architecture and painting were invited to directly address or indirectly refract Schiller’s question, as part of the new programme of talks curated for Liverpool Biennial 2018 by The Serving Library.[2] Designed to run in parallel with exhibitions and projects elsewhere in the city, the programme was presented at Exhibition Research Lab[3] alongside The Serving Library’s collection and an installation of Paul Elliman’s new work commissioned for Liverpool Biennial 2018 entitled Vauxhall Astra 2020.[4] Developed and expanded from this initial context, the contributions to this volume include Morehshin Allahyari in conversation with Christiane Paul, as well as from Ryan Avent, Jessica Coon, Meehan Crist, Candice Hopkins, Mark Miodownik, Jussi Parikka, Alexander Provan, Forensic Architecture (presented in the talks programme by Eyal Weizman) and Paul Elliman, whose graphic identity for Liverpool Biennial 2018 is represented in the cover image. The volume is conceived by Joasia Krysa.

􏰡􏰝􏰆􏰛 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰂􏰍Published by Liverpool Biennial, ISSN: 2399-9675
https://www.biennial.com/journal/issue-8/introduction-beautiful-world-where-are-you 􏰂􏰝􏰆􏰞􏰝􏰅􏰛􏰛􏰒 􏰆􏰡 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰢􏰣􏰟􏰕 􏰅􏰌􏰌􏰖􏰙􏰒􏰝􏰗􏰅􏰝􏰤 􏰒􏰠􏰖􏰟􏰖􏰆􏰌 􏰆􏰡 􏰥􏰖􏰙􏰒􏰝􏰂􏰆􏰆􏰚 􏰦􏰖􏰒􏰌􏰌􏰖􏰅􏰚 􏰧􏰨􏰍􏰚􏰤􏰏􏰁􏰄􏰟􏰆􏰜􏰒􏰝 􏰩􏰣􏰢􏰪􏰫􏰎 􏰝􏰒􏰗􏰂􏰆􏰌􏰠􏰖􏰌􏰞 􏰟􏰆 􏰅 􏰚􏰖􏰌􏰒 􏰡􏰝􏰆􏰛 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰂􏰆􏰒􏰛 􏰔􏰕􏰒 􏰓􏰆􏰠􏰗 􏰆􏰡 􏰓􏰝􏰒􏰒􏰄􏰒 􏰜􏰤 􏰓􏰒􏰝􏰛􏰅􏰌 􏰂􏰆􏰒􏰟 􏰉􏰝􏰖􏰒􏰠􏰝􏰖􏰄􏰕 􏰬􏰄􏰕􏰖􏰚􏰚􏰒􏰝 􏰧􏰢􏰭􏰐􏰮􏰯􏰢􏰪􏰣􏰐􏰫􏰰 􏰱􏰦􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰖􏰡􏰍􏰚 􏰲􏰆􏰝􏰚􏰠􏰎 􏰲􏰕􏰒􏰝􏰒 􏰅􏰝􏰒 􏰤􏰆􏰍􏰳􏰱 􏰔􏰕􏰒 􏰚􏰖􏰌􏰒 􏰒􏰙􏰆􏰑􏰒􏰗 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰚􏰆􏰗􏰟 􏰞􏰝􏰅􏰌􏰠􏰒􏰍􏰝􏰎 􏰜􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰤 􏰅􏰌􏰠 􏰛􏰒􏰅􏰌􏰖􏰌􏰞 􏰒􏰛􏰜􏰆􏰠􏰖􏰒􏰠 􏰜􏰤 􏰛􏰤􏰟􏰕􏰖􏰄􏰅􏰚 􏰓􏰝􏰒􏰒􏰄􏰒􏰎 􏰟􏰝􏰅􏰌􏰗􏰚􏰅􏰟􏰒􏰠 􏰟􏰆 􏰆􏰍􏰝 􏰄􏰆􏰌􏰟􏰒􏰛􏰂􏰆􏰝􏰅􏰝􏰤 􏰌􏰆􏰟􏰏􏰗􏰆 􏰜􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰖􏰡􏰍􏰚 􏰝􏰒􏰅􏰚􏰖􏰟􏰤􏰀􏰔􏰕􏰖􏰗 􏰙􏰆􏰚􏰍􏰛􏰒 􏰜􏰝􏰖􏰌􏰞􏰗 􏰟􏰆􏰞􏰒􏰟􏰕􏰒􏰝 􏰖􏰠􏰒􏰅􏰗 􏰅􏰌􏰠 􏰂􏰝􏰆􏰊􏰒􏰄􏰟􏰗 􏰟􏰕􏰅􏰟 􏰒􏰛􏰒􏰝􏰞􏰒􏰠 􏰡􏰝􏰆􏰛 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰂􏰍􏰜􏰚􏰖􏰄 􏰂􏰝􏰆􏰞􏰝􏰅􏰛􏰛􏰒 􏰆􏰡 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰢􏰣􏰟􏰕 􏰅􏰌􏰌􏰖􏰙􏰒􏰝􏰗􏰅􏰝􏰤 􏰒􏰠􏰖􏰟􏰖􏰆􏰌 􏰆􏰡 􏰥􏰖􏰙􏰒􏰝􏰂􏰆􏰆􏰚 􏰦􏰖􏰒􏰌􏰌􏰖􏰅􏰚 􏰧􏰨􏰍􏰚􏰤􏰏􏰁􏰄􏰟􏰆􏰜􏰒􏰝 􏰩􏰣􏰢􏰪􏰫􏰎 􏰝􏰒􏰗􏰂􏰆􏰌􏰠􏰖􏰌􏰞 􏰟􏰆 􏰅 􏰚􏰖􏰌􏰒 􏰡􏰝􏰆􏰛 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰂􏰆􏰒􏰛 􏰔􏰕􏰒 􏰓􏰆􏰠􏰗 􏰆􏰡 􏰓􏰝􏰒􏰒􏰄􏰒 􏰜􏰤 􏰓􏰒􏰝􏰛􏰅􏰌 􏰂􏰆􏰒􏰟 􏰉􏰝􏰖􏰒􏰠􏰝􏰖􏰄􏰕 􏰬􏰄􏰕􏰖􏰚􏰚􏰒􏰝 􏰧􏰢􏰭􏰐􏰮􏰯􏰢􏰪􏰣􏰐􏰫􏰰 􏰱􏰦􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰖􏰡􏰍􏰚 􏰲􏰆􏰝􏰚􏰠􏰎 􏰲􏰕􏰒􏰝􏰒 􏰅􏰝􏰒 􏰤􏰆􏰍􏰳􏰱 􏰔􏰕􏰒 􏰚􏰖􏰌􏰒 􏰒􏰙􏰆􏰑􏰒􏰗 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰚􏰆􏰗􏰟 􏰞􏰝􏰅􏰌􏰠􏰒􏰍􏰝􏰎 􏰜􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰤 􏰅􏰌􏰠 􏰛􏰒􏰅􏰌􏰖􏰌􏰞 􏰒􏰛􏰜􏰆􏰠􏰖􏰒􏰠 􏰜􏰤 􏰛􏰤􏰟􏰕􏰖􏰄􏰅􏰚 􏰓􏰝􏰒􏰒􏰄􏰒􏰎 􏰟􏰝􏰅􏰌􏰗􏰚􏰅􏰟􏰒􏰠 􏰟􏰆 􏰆􏰍􏰝 􏰄􏰆􏰌􏰟􏰒􏰛􏰂􏰆􏰝􏰅􏰝􏰤 􏰌􏰆􏰟􏰏􏰗􏰆 􏰜􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰖􏰡􏰍􏰚 􏰝􏰒􏰅􏰚􏰖􏰟􏰤􏰀􏰔􏰕􏰖􏰗 􏰙􏰆􏰚􏰍􏰛􏰒 􏰜􏰝􏰖􏰌􏰞􏰗 􏰟􏰆􏰞􏰒􏰟􏰕􏰒􏰝 􏰖􏰠􏰒􏰅􏰗 􏰅􏰌􏰠 􏰂􏰝􏰆􏰊􏰒􏰄􏰟􏰗 􏰟􏰕􏰅􏰟 􏰒􏰛􏰒􏰝􏰞􏰒􏰠 􏰡􏰝􏰆􏰛 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰂􏰍􏰜􏰚􏰖􏰄 􏰂􏰝􏰆􏰞􏰝􏰅􏰛􏰛􏰒 􏰆􏰡 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰢􏰣􏰟􏰕 􏰅􏰌􏰌􏰖􏰙􏰒􏰝􏰗􏰅􏰝􏰤 􏰒􏰠􏰖􏰟􏰖􏰆􏰌 􏰆􏰡 􏰥􏰖􏰙􏰒􏰝􏰂􏰆􏰆􏰚 􏰦􏰖􏰒􏰌􏰌􏰖􏰅􏰚 􏰧􏰨􏰍􏰚􏰤􏰏􏰁􏰄􏰟􏰆􏰜􏰒􏰝 􏰩􏰣􏰢􏰪􏰫􏰎 􏰝􏰒􏰗􏰂􏰆􏰌􏰠􏰖􏰌􏰞 􏰟􏰆 􏰅 􏰚􏰖􏰌􏰒 􏰡􏰝􏰆􏰛 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰂􏰆􏰒􏰛 􏰔􏰕􏰒 􏰓􏰆􏰠􏰗 􏰆􏰡 􏰓􏰝􏰒􏰒􏰄􏰒 􏰜􏰤 􏰓􏰒􏰝􏰛􏰅􏰌 􏰂􏰆􏰒􏰟 􏰉􏰝􏰖􏰒􏰠􏰝􏰖􏰄􏰕 􏰬􏰄􏰕􏰖􏰚􏰚􏰒􏰝 􏰧􏰢􏰭􏰐􏰮􏰯􏰢􏰪􏰣􏰐􏰫􏰰 􏰱􏰦􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰖􏰡􏰍􏰚 􏰲􏰆􏰝􏰚􏰠􏰎 􏰲􏰕􏰒􏰝􏰒 􏰅􏰝􏰒 􏰤􏰆􏰍􏰳􏰱 􏰔􏰕􏰒 􏰚􏰖􏰌􏰒 􏰒􏰙􏰆􏰑􏰒􏰗 􏰟􏰕􏰒 􏰚􏰆􏰗􏰟 􏰞􏰝􏰅􏰌􏰠􏰒􏰍􏰝􏰎 􏰜􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰤 􏰅􏰌􏰠 􏰛􏰒􏰅􏰌􏰖􏰌􏰞 􏰒􏰛􏰜􏰆􏰠􏰖􏰒􏰠 􏰜􏰤 􏰛􏰤􏰟􏰕􏰖􏰄􏰅􏰚 􏰓􏰝􏰒􏰒􏰄􏰒􏰎 􏰟􏰝􏰅􏰌􏰗􏰚􏰅􏰟􏰒􏰠 􏰟􏰆 􏰆􏰍􏰝 􏰄􏰆􏰌􏰟􏰒􏰛􏰂􏰆􏰝􏰅􏰝􏰤 􏰌􏰆􏰟􏰏􏰗􏰆 􏰜􏰒􏰅􏰍􏰟􏰖􏰡􏰍􏰚 􏰝􏰒􏰅􏰚􏰖􏰟􏰤􏰀

This issue presents the proceedings from Liverpool Biennial’s 2016 conference The Biennial Condition: On Contemporaneity and the Episodic that took place in Liverpool in October 2016.[1] Drawing directly on the conference, it brings together the curatorial thinking behind the 2016 Biennial with ideas from Aarhus University’s research project The Contemporary Condition.[2] It aims to reflect on biennials both as the privileged site for the production of contemporaneity in art and exhibition making, and as episodic instances of contemporary art on a global scale.

This journal features diverse contributions that attempt to address these questions, from a range of curators, artists and researchers. Part of the Liverpool Biennial 2016 Curatorial Faculty, Raimundas Malasauskas and Francesco Manacorda discuss how the exhibition was designed using polyphony, multiverses, contingency, time travel and repetition as display mechanisms and narratological tools. Building on much of his previous work, art historian, art critic and artist Terry Smith explores biennial exhibitions in terms of what he calls ‘contemporary composition’.Artistic Director of European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 and the 2014 Biennale of Sydney, Juliana Engberg reflects on biennials as ‘occurences’ and through the logic of topology in which constituent parts can be seen to be interrelated. As well as providing the cover image for the journal, artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset make a visual contribution through documentation of their 2009 curated project The Collectors, to reflect their biennial experiences: from participating as artists to curating the upcoming 15th Istanbul Biennial 2017. Curator Elisa Atangana reflects on her experience of the Kampala Art Biennial 2016 and the issue of mobility as a marker of social change. In a transcript of her conference talk, Marina Fokidis discusses Documenta 14 held in both Athens and Kassel in 2017, and how the sharing of different pasts, presents and futures impact upon the agency of the biennial form. Lastly, in a glossary form that reflects the object of study of their research project The Contemporary Condition, Geoff Cox, Jacob Lund, Anne Kølbæk Iversen and Verina Gfader introduce twelve key concepts (contemporary contemporary; chronophobia; random access memory; real-time; presentism; arrested movement; migration; algo-rhythm; pre-acceleration; iconomy; time stamp and loop).


Published by Liverpool Biennial
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This volume brings together ideas and projects that emerged from the public programme of the 10th anniversary edition of Liverpool Biennial (July-October 2018), responding to a line from the poem The Gods of Greece by German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805): ‘Beautiful world, where are you?‘ The line evokes the lost grandeur, beauty and meaning embodied by mythical Greece, translated to our contemporary not-so beautiful reality.

At irregular intervals between May and October 2018, an eclectic list of speakers from fields as diverse as economics, biology, linguistics, media theory, architecture and painting were invited to directly address or indirectly refract Schiller’s question, as part of the new programme of talks curated for Liverpool Biennial 2018 by The Serving Library.[2] Designed to run in parallel with exhibitions and projects elsewhere in the city, the programme was presented at Exhibition Research Lab[3] alongside The Serving Library’s collection and an installation of Paul Elliman’s new work commissioned for Liverpool Biennial 2018 entitled Vauxhall Astra 2020.[4] Developed and expanded from this initial context, the contributions to this volume include Morehshin Allahyari in conversation with Christiane Paul, as well as from Ryan Avent, Jessica Coon, Meehan Crist, Candice Hopkins, Mark Miodownik, Jussi Parikka, Alexander Provan, Forensic Architecture (presented in the talks programme by Eyal Weizman) and Paul Elliman, whose graphic identity for Liverpool Biennial 2018 is represented in the cover image. The volume is conceived by Joasia Krysa.

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Liverpool established its international reputation as a pre-eminent gateway for shipping, trade and the movement of people in multiple, sometimes troubling, ways. The city created to service this exchange – dense in buildings, public spaces and infrastructure, financed with colonial profits – became a major port of the British Empire. Today, Liverpool presents an even more complex story, having undergone serious decline since the industrial period, followed by intense regeneration when it became European Capital of Culture in 1998, and now part of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’.

Set against this backdrop, with Liverpool as both subject and stage, the Design & Empire [working title] symposium challenged some of the aspects of Liverpool’s imperial legacy whilst reflecting on wider current practices within design and visual culture. How does one reflect the other? How does Empire materialise in contemporarycultural practices? How can we discuss this without becoming part of the problem?

This volume of Stages presents a partial record of these conversations, some related projects and other responses from a selection of participants: Cooking Sections, Christian Ulrik Andersen, Frederico Duarte, Paul Elliman, Emily King, Prem Krishnamurthy, Mae-ling Lokko and Christopher Kulendra Thomas.

Published by Liverpool Biennial
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This essay explores the relationship between research and curatorial practice, focusing on exhibition-making practices and the understanding of exhibition as not simply the display of objects of research but as the site of research, and consequently as a form of critical inquiry and knowledge production in itself. Taking Exhibition Research Lab (ERL)—an academic research centre and a public venue located at Liverpool School of Art and Design - as a case in point, the essay extends the discussion to consider the specificity of the context within which such practices take place.

Edited by Joasia Krysa and Manuela Moscoso journal Stages #9 explores AI and curating at the time of the 11th edition of Liverpool Biennial,The Stomach and The Port.  What can the practice of curating learn from AI, what can AI learn from curating, and how can both learn from questioning knowledge forms derived from colonialist frameworks of humans and machines? Contributors: Nora Khan, Suzanne Treister, Kate Crawford and Trevor Paglen, Victoria Ivanova and Ben Vickers, Murad Khan, Eva Jäger, Leonardo Impett, Magdalena Tyzlik-Carver, Elvia Vasconcelos.

Curating, Biennials, and Artificial Intelligence  is an editorial introduction to journal Stages vol 9 entitled The Next Biennial Should be Curated by A Machine.

Considering the rapid developments in automation (such as AI) and how our relation to it has changed, it poses questions about the implications for contemporary art;  the limits of and possibilities for curatorial practice under these conditions, and the relevance and future of cultural institutions and global biennials in particular in the post-pandemic world. What are the lessons to be learnt. What can the practice of curating learn from AI, what can AI learn from curating, and how can both learn from questioning knowledge forms derived from colonialist frameworks of humans and machines?

The Next Biennial Should be Curated by a Machine is a research proposition - an inquiry into the relationship between curating and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the possibility of developing an experimental system  capable of curating, based on human-machine learning principles.

The project takes the form of a series of research and artistic experiments that explore the application of machine learning algorithms (a subset of AI) to curation of large scale periodic contemporary art exhibitions, such as biennials, to reimagine curating as a self-learning human-machine system.

Making reference to the e-flux 2013 project ‘The Next Documenta Should Be Curated by an Artist’ which questioned the structures of the art world and the position of curators within, this project extends the question to machines.It asks how the counterpoint of automata might offer alien perspectives on conventional curatorial practices and curatorial knowledge? What would the next Biennial be like if machines intervened in the curatorial process, and helped to make sense of vast amounts of art world data that far exceeds the productive capacity of the human curator alone?