Loulé Session

Given the nature of modern and contemporary art museum collections in the context of antiracist and decolonial discourses, we question: how do museums adopt new models and methodologies? How can institutions respond to the urgency of socio-political agendas and appeal to the action of society at large? How can museums shift from models rooted in ownership, permanence and perpetuity to models that privilege interaction, collaboration and sharing?

How can the de-modernization of contemporary art institutions happen? What models can be replicated in the art ecosystem? Should art institutions and presentation spaces look at processes in sectors beyond culture, where these processes are under discussion and underway? What skills should be used to start this process?

Clara Kim is The Daskalopoulos Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern where she is responsible for the research, acquisition and interpretation of art from Africa, Asia & Middle East. Her work at Tate aims to build new narratives, historiographies and curatorial methodologies on postwar art histories that chart transnational/transcultural connections and explore socio-political conditions shaped by postcolonialism and geopolitical order to challenge canonical readings. She also sits on the Steering Committee of the Hyundai Tate Research Center: Transnational. Outside of Tate, Kim curated Imagined Nations/Modern Utopias for the 2018 Gwangju Biennale and Condemned to be Modern for the Getty Foundation’s city-wide initiative Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles in 2017. Kim has held multiple curatorial positions over the last two decades including as Senior Curator of Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis); Gallery Director & Curator at REDCAT/CalArts (Los Angeles), and Senior Researcher at the Asian Cultural Complex (Gwangju, South Korea). She studied art history at the University of California, Berkeley and at the University of Chicago.

Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy is the Director at the Kunstituut Melly in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Prior to that, she was the Curator of Contemporary Art at Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in Caracas and New York from 2011 to 2017. In 2016-2017, she was also Guest Curator at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York. In 2013, Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy was Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the 9a Bienal do Mercosul | Porto Alegre in Brazil. Before, she was an agent of dOCUMENTA(13) in Kassel. In the past, Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy has been Director of Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and held curatorial positions in New York at Art in General and Americas Society. She is also a counselor for Fundación Alumnos47 in Mexico City, and is a board member of Creative Time in New York.

Rodrigo Saturnino. Digital sociologist, visual artist and graphic activist. Holds a PhD in Sociology from the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon and a Post-Doctorate at the Center for Communication and Society Studies of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Minho where he is currently developing research on digital Internet platforms and algorithmic racism. Rodrigo Saturnino published in several academic and scientific journals nationally and internationally. As a visual artist, develops a work with a focus on decolonial criticism. He has participated in several group and solo exhibitions in Portugal, such as at Feira Gráfica de Lisboa (2020), at Casa do Capitão (2021) with Gisela Casimiro, at Espaço Damas with the support of Dgartes (2021), at Festival Bairro em Festa from Largo Residências (2021), at Galeria Not a Museum (2021) and MAAT - Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022). In addition, he participated in festivals and projects, such as the Walk&Talk Azores 2020 Festival and the Community as Immunity Project, curated by Ana Cachola and supported by Dgartes and the Project “Primeiro Rascunho”  by Teatro do Bairro Alto, and Campo de Treino (2021), curated by SOS Racismo, Jota Mombaça and Filipa César. Saturnino is a Founding Member of the Black Union of Arts. He is currently developing a scenario for the project “Pê – Prefixo de Desumanização”, together with Cláudia Semedo, Gisela Casimiro, Kalaf Epalang, among other artists. The artist is also preparing a work together with Gisela Casimiro to be presented in September at the Municipal Galleries of Lisbon.

Mariana Pestana (1982) lives and works in Lisbon. She is an architect, curator and researcher. PhD in Architecture from Bartlett School of Architecture (2019), she creates cultural programs such as exhibitions, events and installations and among them The Future Starts Here (V&A, 2018) and Eco Visionaries (Maat, Royal Academy and Matadero, 2018-19) or the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial (2020-21).  She is co-founder and director of the interdisciplinary studio The Decorators and Guest Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon.