A two-day symposium was held alongside the special exhibition "R.B. Kitaj (1932-2007). Obsessions" in October 2012.
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View into the Yellow Studio in L.A., 2007
© R.B. Kitaj Estate, photo: Robert Wedemeyer
The first part of the symposium entitled "R.B. Kitaj and the Heroes of the Modernism" explored Kitaj's innovative artistic contribution as a draftsman, painter, and interpreter of his art.
The second part entitled "Diasporic Art - At Eye Level with Freud and Kafka" considered identity in the modern age, which became a major theme of Kitaj's life and work. In his analysis of his own "Jewishness," he derived the idea and concept of a "Jewish" art from the experience of Diasporic existence.
Some talks were held in English, others in German.
A cooperation with the Berlin Academy of the Arts and the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Program
Thursday 25 October 2012
3 pm: Words of Welcome
- →Cilly Kugelmann, Jewish Museum Berlin
- →Robert Kudielka, Academy of the Arts, Berlin
3 - 5.45 pm: The Artist
- →"Going to Bed with History" - Some observations on R.B. Kitaj's painting from his early London years
- →R.B. Kitaj's Studio as a "Museum of Obsessions" - A search for identity with heightened senses in the fields of art history, psychoanalysis and Messianism
- →Michael S. Cullen: Questions of a Reading Painter
- →Moderator: Michael Diers
6.15 - 7 pm: Guided Tour/Film about R.B. Kitaj
- →Tour led by the curator Eckhart Gillen through the exhibition "R. B. Kitaj (1932 - 2007) Obsessions"
- or:
- →"Kitaj…In the Picture," Documentary by Jake Auerbach, UK 1994, original English version, 40 min.), →more
7.30 pm: Lecture
→David N. Myers: Kitaj - Commentary on an Eccentric Jewish Life
Download David N. Myers' talk (PDF, 66 KB)
Friday 26 October 2012
10 am - midday: The Tate War
- →Antony Lerman: British Society and the Tate War
Download Antony Lerman's talk (PDF, 115 KB)
- →Anne Vira Figenschou: The Tate War. The Sandra-Series
Download Anne Vira Figenschou's talk (PDF, 114 KB) - →Moderator: Cilly Kugelmann
1 - 1.45 pm: Guided Tour/Film about R.B. Kitaj
- →Tour led by the curator Eckhart Gillen through the exhibition "R. B. Kitaj (1932 - 2007) Obsessions"
- or:
- →"Kitaj…In the Picture," Documentary by Jake Auerbach, UK 1994, original English version, 40 min.), →more
2 - 4 pm: Diaspora
- →Isolde Charim: Diasporic Society
- →Yael Bartana: And Europe will be stunned?
- →Moderator: Inka Bertz
When: Thursday, 25 October 2012, 3pm - 8.30pm, and Friday, 26 October 2012, 10am - 4pm
Where: Jewish Museum Berlin, Lindenstr. 9-14, 10969 Berlin, Old Building, second level, Great Hall
Admission: free
