SKOR-Lezingen II : Miwon Kwon

As part of SKOR’s annual lecture, American art historian, Miwon Kwon, discussed her book: One Place After Another: Site Specific Art and Locational Identity.

In this book Miwon Kwon describes the development of ‘site-specific art’ from the 1960s until the present. She sketches out her intractable concept of ‘site-specific art’ in which the literal relationship between public art and public space is no longer the central focus. Instead the social, economic and cultural-political conditions in which art is being produced and presented forms the core. Artists travel from city to city within the global art circuit in order to make ‘location-bound’ art on demand. According to Kwon the role of the artist has changed from a producer of esthetic objects to a ‘cultural-artistic service’.
Moreover, contemporary social developments (i.e. the network society, increased mobility and globalization etc.) have made it impossible for humans to conceive of the city as being a union of locations with fixed meanings. How does art relate to this issue of modern-day urban alienation? And will art be able to strike a balance between the nostalgic longing for place and identity and the recognition of our nomadic age? Art critic Sven Lütticken discussed the above with Miwon Kwon and - together with artists, Arnoud Holleman and Barbara Visser and architecture historian Wouter Davidts – tested her theories on the present-day reality.

Miwon Kwon is an Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of California in Los Angeles. In her research and publications, she focuses on contemporary art, architecture, public art and ‘urban studies’.