DARK Lunch talks during DARK WEEKends
There's a lot to do on weekdays too during the new art & science festival DARK WEEKends. On Monday, 23, Thursday, 26 and Friday, 27 October 27, from 12 to 1:30 p.m. you can join us for free at the GUM FORUM for some DARK Lunch talks. Three lunch talks on the cutting edge. Bring your lunch and immerse yourself in the darker sides of science & art. On Monday we'll focus on the management of human remains in museums and collections, on Thursday we'll discuss a special artistic & scientific project that explores the possibilities of skin color manipulation, and on Friday we'll take a closer look at looted art from World War II and the colonial period.
Monday, Oct. 23 - Human remains in museums & collections (English spoken)
Guests: prof. dr Manon Parry (UK), prof. dr. Freddy Mortier (BE) & Eleanor Crook (UK)
GUM FORUM
FREE
12u - 13u30
Medical, anatomical, archaeological and other (scientific) museums are challenged to think about the human remains in their collections. Their display is increasingly the subject of discussion. Moreover, a number of cases involve human remains collected as a "curiosity". Prof. Dr. Manon Parry, exhibition curator and professor of medical history at UV Amsterdam, defends the view that curiosity about the (dead) body is just deeply human, and that curators can frame that interest in an acceptable and useful way. Prof. Freddy Mortier, professor of ethics at Ghent University, developed a deontological code around exhibiting human remains. This can help museums and other institutions with human collections in developing an ethical framework. Finally, visual artist and restorer Eleanor Crook sheds a personal light on the matter. In her work, she draws inspiration just from these medical and scientific collections.
Thursday, Oct. 26 - The Calico Human Project: possibility and desirability of manipulating skin color with biomedical technologies (English spoken)
Guest: artist Kuang-Yi Ku (TW)
GUM FORUM
FREE
12u - 13u30
Calico Human is the result of 2 years of artistic research by artist Kuang-Yi Ku (Sheffield Hallam University) in collaboration with Prof. Chris Marine (KU Leuven) and his team at the VIB Center for Cancer Biology. Calico Human explores the possibility and desirability of manipulating skin color through the use of new biomedical technologies. By activating the melanin-producing ability of specialized cells (melanocytes), you could tan "safely" without causing skin damage, reducing the risk of melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. This project explores the complex relationships between race, migration, health, fashion and the future of biomedical services.
Vrijdag 27 oktober - "Les musées sont des prisons": het Belgische beleid rond roofkunst uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog en koloniale periode (Nederlands gesproken)
Te gast: dr Amber Gardeyn (BE) & prof. dr. Hugo DeBlock (BE)
GUM FORUM
GRATIS
12u - 13u30
Zijn musea gevangenissen voor erfgoed? Deze snedige uitspraak van de Congolese kunstenaar Ced’art Tamasala is het aanknopingspunt voor deze Lunch Talk. Rechtsgeschiedkundige Amber Gardeyn en GUM-conservator en antropoloog Hugo DeBlock wisselen, elk vanuit hun perspectief, van gedachten over twee donkere episodes uit de Belgische geschiedenis, waarvoor een rechtvaardig restitutiebeleid vandaag nog in volle ontwikkeling is.
