Cristina Baldacci (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) invites Cecilia Alemani (Chief Curator, High Line Art, New York City & Artistic Director, 59th Venice Biennale) to speak about The Disquieted Muses (2020), the collectively curated exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia that is based on the archival material provided by the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts - ASAC. 

In this duet, Francesca Franco’s (University Of Exeter) research focus that has been on the history of early Computation Art and its pioneers, blends with Daniel Temkin’s (Artist & Writer, New York City) practice of visualizing the mathematical patterns of computers in order to enhance our understanding of the role and impact of computational art in contemporary art practice.

Mark Franko (Temple University, Philadephia) and Lucia Ruprecht (University of Cambridge) speak about the instigation of The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Reenactment (2017) weaving its connection with the forthcoming publication The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Memory. Their discussion raises key issues in witnessing versus belatedness and what each term affords in relation to representation, reconstruction and reenactment of past dance events.

Sven Lütticken (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) and Susanne Franco (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) discuss three key publications on the topic of Reenactment such as Life, Once more: Forms of Reenactment in Contemporary Art (2005); Over, Over and Over again. Reenactment Strategies in Contemporary Arts and Theory (forthcoming by ICI Berlin Press) and The Routledge Handbook of Reenactment Studies: Key Terms in the Field (2019).

In this conversation, Gerald Siegmund (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen) and Susanne Traub (Deputy Head of Division Contact for Dance & Performance, Goethe Institut München) trace the changes in the field of Reenactment in the German-speaking countries during the last 25 years.

Gabi Ngcobo (Artist, Educator and Independent Curator, Johannesburg) and Matteo Lucchetti (Curator, Visible Project, Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto & Fondazione Zegna) unpack the short-term history of the Center for Historical Reenactments (CHR) in Johannesburg speaking about the disclosure of silent and invisible parts of history and Reenactment as a decolonizing artistic practice.