Vision Forum is an organisation that carries out research in contemporary art and organises events that transgresses the boundaries between performance, exhibition, workshops and education. It grew from a series of events organised by Curatorial Mutiny in collaboration with KSM at Campus Norrköping, Linköpings Universitet in Sweden 2005-2007. Vision Forum took its present form in 2008. It does not have a physical location or a program, but responds to the needs of the group of artists, curators and researchers that are part of the network at any given moment. Its members are mostly based in Europe and have carried out projects all over the continent, in North America, Australia and Asia. In 2009, Steven Whitmarsh, a Dutch brain researcher joined the group showing that the organisation can host members outside of the artistic community. A strategy that has been developed further in subsequent years.
Workshops and Public Presentations
In 2008-09, Vision Forum organised two major projects. (Anti)Realism brought together young contemporary visual artists based in Sweden, China, Great Britain, the Netherlands and France. The first part of the project was a practical workshop that took place in Guangzhou, China, in September 2008. The European participants developed collaborative projects with their Chinese peers that focused on time-based art.
”The title and the conceptual framework of the workshop (Anti)Realism was created to look into the differences and similarities of how we look at reality (both as individuals and as members of different cultures) and how that can be used to further our understanding and appreciation of life. The project allowed the participants to both understand differences between European cultures, as well as how these differ from Chinese contemporary art and life.”
The results of the workshop were presented to the public at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art and a second were later developed into an exhibition which was shown at Verkstad in Sweden, Ècole Régional de Beaux Arts de Besaçon in France and at Adele C in Italy. Parallel to (Anti)Realism Vision Forum created four workshops in Rome, Zürich, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. These involved a completely different group of artists and curators from (Anti)Realism and focused on architecture, artistic production, curation and presentation respectively.
In 2009-10, Vision Forum focused on four major projects or “nodes”. They were each made up of a number of artists and curators who, like the Vision Forum workshops in 2008-09 met regularly. The nodes were held together by all doing research on time and temporality in different ways. “If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse” was curated and developed by 1:1 Projects in Rome. The project was focused on workshops in Rome, Skopje and Paris. At the last meeting, the participants reformulated themselves into “OuUnPo” (Workshop for Alternative Universes), inspired by French literary group Oulipo. The participants organised a public event at MACRO in Rome and at Tate Britain in London in spring 2010 under the new name. Ouunpo has since then carried out events in Porto, Athens, Belgrade, Amsterdam-Nijmegen, Stockholm-Norrköping in collaboration with art and science institutions like Deste Foundation and Max Planck Institute. Australian artist duo A Constructed World started “Speech and What Archive?” which continued its activities in 2010-13. The node focused on alternative forms of communication and organised events in Paris, Nice, San Francisco and Melbourne working with art institutions like Villa Arson and CCA. Curator Claire Louise Staunton carried out research which later lead to the creation of the temporary gallery “Inheritance Shenzhen” in the Chinese region of Guangdong. This project was developed in Milton Keynes in 2011 with a large exhibition, seminar and publication. They then travelled to Chandigar and as an outcome of this research the node presented an exhibition about British architect Jane Drew and the artistic work that flourished around her at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London in 2014.
The fourth major project realized in 2009-10 was The Invisible Generation. It was conceived by artist Per Hüttner and Curator Daniele Balit and created new meeting places between art and its audiences. A great number of projects were realized in Melbourne, Shenzhen, Beijing and Kiev in 2009-2010. For each city the program and artist list was totally new. No, project was ever repeated twice. The project always allowed the audience to meet art in new and unexpected situations and played with or confused the audiences’ expectations about what art is, where it normally appears and what shape it should take. In the introduction to the project in the catalogue Gerrie van Noord writes:
“The Invisible Generation is a collection of artistic interventions that spread virally across the continents of our globe. It used the artistic and curatorial network of Vision Forum as a platform to multiply and make its way into the perception of people in unexpected spaces of selected cities around the world. The project takes its starting point in performative traditions, but focuses on practices and events that cross over into other time-based activities such as sound, film, video, literature, theatre and workshops and draws inspiration from other related fields such as journalism, fashion and design, but also from those further removed like mathematics and physics”
Since September 2011 Vision Forum organizes two international workshops a year in Östergötland in Sweden. These bring together members of the different international nodes (in 2012 Vision Forum ran 10 nodes) and interact with local institutions and art organizations. This means that the research carried out in the individual nodes have started cross referencing and exchanging methodology between each other. Vision Forum, through its structure, develops modes of communication and knowledge production that make use of current technology. The nodes of the network also allow a deeper dialogue with their audiences that, in their turn, are inscribed into in numerous interconnected networks. It has become increasingly clear that the network focuses on research about how art uses, retains, distributes and develops knowledge along with how this can be fed back into the everyday lives of art's audience. This ties in with Vision Forum's founder Per Hüttner's work that can be exemplified by projects like I am a Curator”, Democracy and Desire and (In)Visible Dialogues and have allowed them to participate in collective work in the Caribbean and in biennials in Brazil. The methodology builds on Deleuzian ideas about knowledge and creativity and has been developed in Vision Forum’s nodes and networks, particularly in OuUnPo. This idea of exchange is based on co-producing knowledge with the collaborating institutions and audiences, rather than a top down knowledge distribution. The strategy that they call "collapsing the global with the local" is currently being developed by the network in collaboration with Global Art and the Museum at ZKM in Karlsruhe.
Residency and Interdisciplinary Activities
In 2011 Vision Forum started publishing books and catalogues regularly to document its activities. The organisation also started to produce experimental films in a separate node called Vision Forum Film. Two films were in Production in 2012: "Effektivia" directed by Jesper Frilund and Marcus Fernstad and "The River" by Sino-Swedish director Ting Ting Yang (杨婷婷). In June 2013 Vision Forum opened an international residency program called "Norrköping Air." The program was initiated in collaboration with KSM at Linköpings universitet, IASPIS and offers three artists the opportunity to work in parallel Sweden for 3 months during the Swedish summer months. The project focuses on experimental art in public spaces, drawing inspiration from the Invisible Generation and similar projects and was developed in close dialogue with the centenary of Norrköping Art Museum.
2015
OuUnPo Sweden, The Fugue, Bonniers konsthall, Hallwylska Museet, IASPIS etc., Stockholm
2014
We Are what We Have Lost, OuUnPo Sao Paulo, MAM, Pinacoteca, Videobrasil etc.
OuUnPoeïses, Fondazione Orestiadi and CRESM, Nuova Gibellina, Sicilien, Italien
All the Worlds that you Word, GAM at ZKM i Karlsruhe, Tyskland
2013
Volume, 98weeks, Assabil Libraries, The National Library Archive etc., Beirut, Lebanon
Is Misunderstanding Misunderstood, 3rd Ghetto Bienniale, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
OuUnPo Japan, Godzilla and the Phoenix, Mori Art Museum, Spiral, Bankart 1929 and many more venues in Tokyo and Yokohama.
Temporality and Dis-Location of Self, four workshops in around Stockholm, Botkyrka konsthall, Hallwylska palatset and various public locations.
2012
OuUnPo Lebanon "QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS OF A SYNECDOCHIC UNIVERSE", Ashkal Alwan, Beirut Art Center, 98Weeks, Musée National de Beyrouth, UMAM Research and Documentation Centre and Batroun Projects.
Ouunpo-rto, Culturgest, Casa de Musica, Fundação Serralves and other institutions in Porto, Portugal.
Think Again, Mingshen Museum, Rockbund Art Museum, FCAC, 2666 Library, Shanghai, China.
Time Capsules and Conditions of Now, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK
2011
Ouunpo Greece "Orality", Deste Foundation, Six Dogs and public venues, Athens Greece
Community without Propinquity (curated by Claire Louise Staunton), MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK.
Vision Forum Autumn Meeting 2011 Arbetets Museum, Norrköpings konstmuseum etc., Sweden
(In)Visible Dialogues, curated by Lena Boëthius, Konstakademien, Stockholm, Sweden.
Ouunpo Serbia "Urgency and Leisure", Tesla Museum, Museum of Serbian History etc. Belgrade, Serbia.
2010
Ouunpo UK "Ponder Pause Process (a Situation)", Tate Britain, London, UK
Ouunpo Italy, MACRO, Rome, Italy
In the Limbo of the Signifier: Workshop on Linear Logic, Ars Longa, Paris, France
2009
New Creation Musée du temps, Besançon, France
The Stockholm Syndrome, Kungliga Konsthögskolan, Stockholm, Sweden.
2008
If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse, Press to Exit, Skopje, Macedonia
If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse, 1:1 Projects, Rome, Italy
Vision Forum, White Space, Zürich, Switzerland
Vision Forum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
(Anti)Realism, The Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China
2015
OuUnPo Sweden, The Fugue, Bonniers konsthall, Hallwylska Museet, IASPIS etc., Stockholm
V8skan, The Nobel museum, Stockholm
Assured Stability, V Art Center, Shanghai, China
2014
We Are what We Have Lost, OuUnPo Sao Paulo, MAM, Pinacoteca, Videobrasil etc.
OuUnPoeïses, Fondazione Orestiadi and CRESM, Nuova Gibellina, Sicily, Italy .
Poseidon will Recreate Lake Texcoco, Alam + Petrov och Villa Punk, Mexico City in collaboration with the City of Mexico City and the Embassy of Sweden.
2013
Is Misunderstanding Misunderstood, 3rd Ghetto Bienniale, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
OuUnPo Japan, Godzilla and the Phoenix, Mori Art Museum, Spiral, Bankart 1929 and other venues in Tokyo and Yokohama.
2012
Think Again, Mingshen Museum and FCAC, Shanghai, China.
The Entremet, The Museum of Contemporary Art Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
Speech and What Archive, Convivio, Micro Onde, Centre for Contemporary Art, l'Onde, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France
Time Capsules and Conditions of Now, Curated by Fatos Ustek, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK* Time Capsules and Conditions of Now, Curated by Fatos Ustek, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK
Speech and What Archive, A Floating Conversation, performance, CNEAI, Paris, France
2011
Community without Propinquity (curated by Claire Louise Staunton), MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK
Speech and What archive, Medicine Show Rotterdam, Paola Pivi's GRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
(In)Visible Dialogues, curated by Lena Boëthius, Konstakademien, Stockholm, Sweden
Quantum Police, curated by Anne Klontz, Valerie Lambert Gallery, Brussels; DKTUS Stockholm and Putting Out the Fire with Gasoline, Manufactura’s Studio, Wuhan
2010
This Image Is No More, GOOD TV, Wu Dao Ying Hu Tong, Beijing, China.
Dynasty, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
The Invisible Generation, Les Kurbas Center, Kiev, Ukraine.
Simultaneity, Curated by Anne Klontz, Rumänska kulturinstitutet, Stockholm and Platform China, Beijing.
The Invisible Generation, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (with Yan Jun)
Imminent
2009
The Invisible Generation, OCAT, Shenzhen, China
News for Tomorrow, Yan Jun, Beijing, China (With Birdcage, Paris)
The Invisible Generation, VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne
Do not Go Gentle ERBA and Musée du temps, Besançon, France"
Calabi-Yau Presents, Gerlesborgsskolan, Sweden; FACT, Liverpool and VCA Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne (3 parallel exhibitions in 3 countries).
INH-SZ Temporary Project Space, Shenzhen. Exhibitions, film programme, lecture series including Chu Yun, Guy Delisle, Christian Jankowski, Daniel Knorr, Liu Chuang, Map Office, Yang Yong. Directed by Claire Louise Staunton, Inheritance Projects [5]
2008
(Anti)Realism, Norrköpings konsthall, Norrköping, Sweden, ERBA Besançon, France and Adele C, Rome, Italy
Vision Forum, 1:1 Projects and Lift gallery, Rom, Italy.
2007
Privé och Publico, Galleri 54, Göteborg, Sweden (as Curatorial Mutiny)
Private Parts, Museet för glömska, Norrköping, Sweden (as Curatorial Mutiny)
2005
Participate? Basekamp, Philadelphia, USA (as Curatorial Mutiny)
Participate? Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen, China (as Curatorial Mutiny)
Ö- A Möbius Trip, Edited by Isabel Löfgren and Per Hüttner, design by Erik Månsson. Language: English. ISBN 978-91-980725-4-9
Verkstad: Rum För Konst, Edited by Susanne Ewerlöf and Erik Månsson, design by Erik Månsson. Language: Swedish. ISBN 978-91-980725-7-0
March 8 - August 30, Temporality and Dislocation, Edited by Anders Paulin. Language: English. ISBN 978-91-980725-2-5.
Sond – Spelens värld är större än spelvärlden edited by Niclas Fasth. Illustrations by William Sulka and design by Erik Månsson. Language: Swedish. ISBN 978-91-980725-5-6.
OuUnPo[RTO], edited by Claudia Squitieri and Samon Takahashi, texts by OuUnPo, designed by Åbäke published by Dent-de-Leone and Vision Forum, 2013.
Think Again, edited by Rudi Heinrichsen. Designed by Guo Xingling and published with Fei Art Center. Language: English and Chinese. ISBN 978-91-980725-0-1.
Vision Forum Film, edited by Rudi Heinrichsen, translated by Yan Rong and designed by Erik Månsson. Texts by Rudi Heinrichsen, Per Hüttner, Yang Tingting, Jesper Frilund and Rebbecca Catching. published by Vision Forum, 2013. ISBN 978-91-978934-8-0.
Anthology for Eskapism, edited by Acéphale for event at Göteborgs Konsthall 2013. Contributing artists and writers: Susanna Lundqvist, Acéphale, Rebecca Eskilsson, Sophie Mörner, Tereza Zelenkova, Ragnar Persson, Jonas Liveröd, Gertrud Sandqvist, Andreas Kittel, Nadine Byrne, Lina Hagelbäck, Leonora Carrington and Astrid Kruse Jensen. Design by Erik Månsson, 2013. ISBN 978-91-980725-1-8.
Time Capsules and Conditions of Now, Curated by Fatos Ustek, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK and Vision Forum 2012, ISBN 978-91-978934-6-6.
The Quantum Police, with texts by Anne Klontz; Johnny Ross and Willie Hansen (1969) and a short story by Wang Xiao Ping (in Chinese and English). Design by Erik Månsson, 96 pages in full coulour + 5 fold-out sheets. Published by Lambert Gallery and Vision Forum 2011, ISBN 978-91-978934-5-9.
SWANewspaper, 16 pages, colour, edited by Anna Hess et al. (Speech and What Archive). Published by A Constructed World 2011.
TRAVELS, 2011, edited by: Louise Nilsson and Lisa Boström, graphic design Karl dos Santos, Language English, contributions by: Hu Fang, Lillian Fellman, Marie Husson, Per Hüttner, Louise Höjer, Mako Ishizuka, Anna Kleberg, Björn Kusoffsky, Niklas Lundell, Isin Onol and Alessandra Sandrolini.
(In)visible Dialogues, 2011, Edited by Per Hüttner and Elias Arnér, languages: English and Swedish, 240 pages, design by Åbäke. Published by Dent-de-Leone. ISBN 978-91-978934-3-5 and ISBN 978-0-9561885-5-7
The Invisible Generation, 2011, 144 pages. Texts by Gerrie van Noord, Daniele Balit, Olav Westphalen and Per Hüttner. Language: English. Design by Marie. Published by Curatorial Mutiny and Vision Forum. ISBN 978-91-978934-2-8
The Imminent Interviews, 2010, 90 pages, languages: English and Chinese, published by Fei Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai and Vision Forum 2010, ISBN 978-91-978934-4-2
Salone D'alone, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Vinyl record with booklet. Published by Vision Forum and Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010
