Swiss representation at Dhaka Art Summit 2018

The Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) is an international, non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia. With a core focus on Bangladesh, DAS re-examines how we think about these forms of art in both a regional and an international context.

The fourth edition of the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS), from 2 to 10 February 2018, will host a number of Swiss participants.

List of participating Swiss artists:
Koyo Kouoh, Founding Director, RAW Material Company, Dakar
Ursula Biemann, video artist
Eveline Wuethrich, FHNW Academy of Art and Design
Roman Kurtzmeyer, an art historian and independent curator
Dr Rachel Mader, Head of the Research Center for Arts & Public Affairs at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences – Arts & Design

2 February 2018 / Panel discussion
Decolonizing and Building Art Institutions in the Global South
Koyo Kouoh (Founding Director, RAW Material Company, Dakar) will be part of the panel discussion.
Time and venue: 2 – 3:20 pm at the Festival auditorium

2 February 2018 / Video installation
Opening of Deep Weather by Swiss artist Ursula Biemann –  a video installation that alludes to the world ecology as an interconnected system in which the effect of heavy fossil fuel extractions made in the boreal woods of Northern Canada are experienced by Delta inhabitants in Bangladesh who struggle by hand to protect themselves from raising sea levels.

5 February 2018 / Workshop
‘Imagine Art being Nature, Imagine How Art is Inventing A New Way of Sensing the Real’
Conducted by Eveline Wuethrich from FHNW Academy of Art and Design
Time and venue: 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm at the Educational Pavilion
*Participation is limited to a maximum of 30 participants through pre-registration

6 February 2018 / Workshop
‘Exhibition and Production as a Subject of Today’s Art’
A workshop and lecture by Roman Kurtzmeyer, an art historian and independent curator from Zurich.
Time and venue: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm at the Educational Pavilion
 *Participation is limited to a maximum of 30 participants through pre-registration – workshop for local participants

Education Pavilion and Programming
Committed to nurturing the next generation of artists and architects, the Education Pavilion brings together leading local and international faculty to give interdisciplinary workshops with the aim of recalibrating how the participants think about contemporary art. The pavilion has been conceptualized in collaboration with formal and informal education institutions, such as Harvard, South Asia Institute, TBA21–Academy, Open School East, Städelschule, and FHNW Academy of Art and Design and Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council.

Art mediation programme and the Tool Box
Pro Helvetia in partnership with the Dhaka Art Summit and Swissnex India initiated an arts mediation programme at the Kochi Muziris Biennale in December 2016, which was led by Dr Rachel Mader, Head of the Research Center for Arts & Public Affairs at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences – Arts & Design, and Lena Eriksson, an artist and art mediation researcher. This was followed by the second arts mediation workshop in Dhaka in October 2017 conducted by both Rachel and Lena with local artists and curators in Dhaka. The arts mediation workshops resulted in the creation of a special toolbox kit to help the local audience navigate and access the exhibitions and programmes. Pro Helvetia is supporting the production and translation of this exhibition guide-cum-mediation toolbox into Bengali.