Foreword (p. 7-8)
“The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary
Art” is a long-term research project on “the documentary.”
The project aims at situating these contemporary documentary
practices within current cultural production and at exploring their role
within mainstream media and activism. It also aims at investigating
the heritage of documentary practices in contemporary art, in
relation to the history of film, documentary photography, and television
as well as to video art.
“The Greenroom” is a collaboration between
Maria Lind, the
director of the graduate program, Center for Curatorial Studies,
Bard College (CCS Bard) and the artist, writer, and theoretician
Hito Steyerl. A reference group, consisting of the artists Petra Bauer,
Matthew Buckingham, Carles Guerra, Walid Raad, and
Hito Steyerl
has contributed to the research project in various ways. The research
project will run for approximately three years, having started
in March 2008. Its first public event, the exhibition “The Greenroom:
Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art (Part I),”
will take place 27 September 2008–1 February 2009 at the Hessel
Museum, at CCS Bard.
In many ways, “The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary
and Contemporary Art” is a “greenroom for documentary
practices,” not unlike a greenroom at a television station, where staff
and guests meet before and after filming and engage in discussions
which often differ from those in the limelight. Thereby the “just
before” and the “right after,” moments of less scripted performances
and unexpected encounters, are taken seriously. “The Greenroom:
Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art (Part II)” is
scheduled for Fall 2010.
The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College is a unique
exhibition, education, and research center dedicated to the study of
art and curatorial practices from the 1960s to the present day. With
the arrival of
Maria Lind as our director of the graduate program
in 2008, we have increasingly sought out new ways to integrate the
activities of a public institution in ways that provide new teaching, research, and public programming opportunities. “The Greenroom:
Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art,” is the
most ambitious of many recent initiatives at the center, one that we
hope provides an experimental model for future programs.
Tom Eccles
Executive Director, CCS Bard
