In his lecture, Christian Rattemeyer attempts to critically confront prevalent interpretations of Melvin Edwards’ work, namely as over- or underdeterminations of content. He develops a model that recognizes historicity and formalism as complementary rather than opposing conceptual terms. In doing so, he picks up resonances of a historical design that can be located in documenta 11 conceived by Okwui Enwezor.
Christian Rattemeyer works as a freelance curator, author, translator, and is the director of ARTS&REC, an artist’s residency program in the northern Catskills. Prior to this, he was the director of the SculptureCenter in New York City (2019–2020) and the Harvey S. Shipley Miller Associate Curator of Drawings at The Museum of Modern Art in New York (2007–2019). At MoMA, he curated among others the exhibitions SURROUNDS: 11 Installations (2019), Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection (2017), Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America 1960–1980 (2015), and Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan (2012). Previously, he was curator at Artists Space in New York (2003–2007) and worked for documenta 11 (2002), documenta 10 (1997), and documenta 9 (1992) in his native city Kassel. He frequently publishes on contemporary art.
Language: German. Admission is free. No registration required.
