IN SESSION: Contemporary Pasts: Curating Archives and Collections for the Present

Dr Ben Cranfield, Senior Tutor for MA Curating Contemporary Art at the RCA, in conversation with Patrick Flores, Professor of Art Studies at the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines and Curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila, consider the potential for contemporary art and curating to offer new ways of engaging with archives. The event was chaired by Dr Rosie Ram, Associate Lecturer in MA Curating Contemporary Art and Course Leader of the Curating Contemporary Art and Design short courses at the RCA.

Speakers

Patrick Flores

Professor of Art History and Criticism, Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines

Patrick Flores is Professor of Art Studies at the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines and Curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila. He is the Director of the Philippine Contemporary Art Network. He was a Visiting Fellow at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1999. Among his publications are Painting History: Revisions in Philippine Colonial Art (1999); Past Peripheral: Curation in Southeast Asia (2008); Art After War: 1948-1969 (2015); and Raymundo Albano: Texts (2017). He was a Guest Scholar of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles in 2014. He was the Artistic Director of Singapore Biennale 2019 and Convener of the Forums for the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022.

Links to Patrick's work:

https://www.taiwaninvenice.org/forums

https://www.taiwaninvenice.org/

https://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/art-events/exhibitions/singapore-biennale-2019

Dr Ben Cranfield

Senior Tutor, Curating Contemporary Art MA, RCA

Ben is interested in the curatorial as a contemporary cultural phenomenon and a mode through which to consider our relationship to the contemporary moment. Formerly a lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London for over eight years, Ben has a keen interest in the relationship between theory, practice and alternative forms of pedagogy. Prior to working in academia he was a gallery manager and exhibition organiser and in 2007/8 he co-curated the year-long series ’60 Years of Curating’ at London’s ICA. Ben co-curated with Dr Louise Owen the interdisciplinary conference Conventions of Proximity, Birkbeck 2016, resulting in a special issue of the Journal Performance Research, titled ‘On Proximity’ (June 2017). He has organised events and spoken at numerous arts venues, including London’s ICA, Nottingham Contemporary, The Bluecoat, Liverpool, Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, London, and 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London. In 2010/11 he led a year-long Knowledge Transfer Partnership project investigating notions of creativity with A New Direction, a cultural-education sector bridge organisation for children and young people.

Dr Rosie Ram

Associate Lecturer, Curating Contemporary Art MA | Course Leader Curating Contemporary Art and Design, RCA

Specialising in modern and contemporary art and visual culture, Rosie is a curator and researcher whose interests include artistic research methodologies, photographic images, and the archive. Rosie is Associate Lecturer in MA Curating Contemporary Art and Course Leader of the Curating Contemporary Art and Design short course programmes. She is also a tutor on the College-wide unit, AcrossRCA. Rosie is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, visual culture and curating. Her research has been published across print, film and online formats. She has curated displays, taught, and programmed events at Tate Britain, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Central Saint Martins, and Chelsea College of Arts. Most recently, Rosie co-curated Vital Fragments: Nigel Henderson and the Art of Collage at Tate Britain (2019-20) and co-convened the international conference and workshop programme Cutting Edge: Collage in Britain, 1945 to Now (2021). In 2021, she completed her AHRC-funded PhD at the RCA, Image as Method: Nigel Henderson and the Art of Research. This was supported by an AHRC International Placement Scheme fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art (2018). Prior to her doctorate, Rosie worked at Chisenhale Gallery in East London.