Art museums need to be futuristic in their vision: Dercon

Kochi: Noted scholar-cum-curator Chris Dercon has said that art museums need to be futuristic in their vision and must rethink about generating memories in ways other than wistful showcasing of vintage exhibits.

“Museums are not just about the past. They shouldn’t be fetish about just the archives and be steeped in nostalgia,” the former director of London’s Tate Modern art gallery said ahead of the screening of set of movies curated by him at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).

The Belgian said that the task of a museum was to make ownership for the public and not individuals.

Dercon was all praise for KMB curator Anita Dube. “Frankly, I had only heard her name and seldom got a chance to see her works or learn her viewpoints. I am highly impressed with the way Dube has ensured that the artists she has brought together not only communicate to us viewers, but between themselves as participants,” he said.

Later, Dercon, speaking at his segment of the 100-day Artist Cinema in the Biennale Pavilion, said he was “most fascinated” by those who had the courage to stop making art at a point of self-realisation. “Arts need to help and support each other. It is important to cooperate and do things together and find out new relationships between different disciplines," he added,

Eight films are being shown as part of the Dercon-curated programme titled ‘Convoys’ at the Pavilion in the KMB venue of Cabral Yard at Fort Kochi till December 21. The inaugural movie Jardin - ‘Theatre Bestiarium’(director: Gilles Coudert) was followed by ‘Repetitions’ (Marie Andre).

The other movies are Die Afrikanische Frau (Alexander Kluge), The Coming Society (Susanne Kennedy, Richard Janssen), Roi Soleil (Albert Serra), A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (ApichatpongWeerasethakul), Casanova Gene (LuiseDonschen) and Guards (Hito Steyerl).