IN. PRACTICE

As the Renaissance Society enters our second century, we continue to grapple with a number of questions concerning the past, present, and future of the contemporary art institution. In. Practice—a two-day gathering organized on the occasion of the Renaissance Society's Centennial—offers a series of inquiries anchored in concerns relevant to practitioners from a variety of international contexts and scales.

The “In.” of the title refers not just to institution, but also nods to words like independence, in-betweenness, interaction, intention, and invention, concepts fundamental to these discussions. The event approaches “practice” in both senses of the word: as a way of working developed over a long period, but also as a perpetual experiment into the boundaries of exhibition-making and identity-building.

A full list of speakers and schedule follows; please visit our website for more information.

In. Practice is a free event, but registration is required.

FRI NOV 20, 5-9PM

Friday night offers early symposium registration, extended hours viewing of Paul McCarthy: Drawings, and the opening reception for Let Us Celebrate While Youth Lingers and Ideas Flow: Archives 1915–2015 at the Gray Center Lab.

SAT NOV 21, 10AM-5PM
MODELS AND CONDITIONS

The Saturday program addresses global conditions that exert influence over institutions and the production of new works, knowledge, and identity; a number of institutional case studies in functional and theoretical terms; institutional and artistic needs; and the power of the image.

• Nina Möntmann on the evolving role of art institutions in response to recent global, social, and economic shifts
   
• Sarah Rifky on Beirut (2012–2015), an art space in Cairo, Egypt investigating politics, economy, education, ecology, and the arts
   
• Aaron Flint Jamison and Robert Snowden of Yale Union on Yale Union, an art institution in Portland, Oregon founded by artists Jamison and Curtis Knapp in 2011
   
• Park McArthur on needs (What do artists need from institutions, and the inherent difference of the inverse question: What do institutions need from artists?)
   
• Irena Haiduk and Kerry James Marshall in conversation with W.J.T. Mitchell on inclusion, exclusion, and the making of the art historical image canon

SUN NOV 22, 10AM-3:30PM
TIME AND MATERIALS

Sunday investigates materiality, both in and out of the artist’s studio; institution as material; the relationship between the origins of conceptualism and ever-evolving modes of production and dissemination; and the manifestation of archival tendencies in artistic research and practice.

• William Pope.L in conversation with Anthony Huberman on temporality, power, and institutionalism
   
• Anne Rorimer and Karen Archey in conversation with Hamza Walker on how conceptualism, immateriality, and dispersion nest within the contemporary art institution
   
• Ranjit Hoskote on retaining a critical relationship to narrative, the archive, and the phantom of the art historical
   
• Alberta Mayo on custody, caretaking, and the individual as institution and anomaly
   
• Ranjit Hoskote and Alberta Mayo in conversation with Blake Stimson