Details

This panel discussion brings together curator Gabi Ngcobo (Director, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam) and composer and installation artist Neo Muyanga (The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg) to reflect on critical institutional practices across contemporary visual arts and music theatre. 

It examines how artists and curators engage with, subvert and reimagine institutional frameworks in museums, biennales and festivals, challenging the hierarchies of knowledge, authorship and cultural authority in the process. Examples of Muyanga‘s and Ngcobo‘s projects will anchor the conversation about curatorial practices.

The panel will explore how cross-disciplinary dialogue between the visual and performing arts can generate shared strategies for institutional critique, renewal and more equitable cultural infrastructures. The event is organised and moderated by Prof. Dr Elize Mazadiego (World Art History) and Prof. Dr Lena van der Hoven (Music Theatre), both from the University of Bern. It forms part of the MUSIKTHEATER–MACHT–GESELLSCHAFT series, the SMG Section Bern and the Global Studies Doctoral Program.