Possession
The International Curators' Forum (ICF) is an open conceptual network that meets to discuss emerging issues of curatorial practice in the context of key events in the international arts calendar.
In a world defined by global markets the ICF's inaugural programme Tactical Interventions was a critical response to the international topology of the visual arts. The ICF staged two symposia and facilitated curatorial networking projects with over eighty arts professionals at the 52nd Venice Biennale, at Documenta XII in Kassel, at Skulpturprojekte'07 in Münster and at the Istanbul Biennial.
Following the success of Tactical Interventions, Possession is the programme for 2008, which focuses on the economic and symbolic function of the work, or art as a cultural medium and locus of power. Our programme opened with a salon discussion at Axel Lapp Projects in Berlin on the effects of the Berlin Biennale on the flourishing independent gallery scene. Our next activity was a curatorial trip for Arts Council England Inspire Fellows to the Dakar Biennial and an open symposium with Simon Njami and Fernando Alvin on the politics of exhibition and emerging strategies to consolidate investment in the curatorial infrastructure in Africa. This trip was followed by the concluding event of our spring programme and our first collaboration with Tate Britain: Robert Storr In Conversation. In this the first ICF master class, which was hosted by Tate Britain, Robert Storr was able for the first time since his tenure as Artistic Director of the Venice Biennale to address a British audience about his experience and also to explore the question of the future of the global biennial in the 21st century.
David A. Bailey Mark Waugh
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