Poaching is an illegal practice that ignores the definition of a territory in which all resources are owned by a power that regulates usage and access to these resources. Similar regulations exist in academic institutions that control speech on philosophy, sociology, history, political science, etc. In fact, the power of the museum is founded on the promise that institutional representation objectifies a certain history. The poachers ignore regulations and place their practice in between the structures of power and control. Though aware of the regulations in place, poachers contradict the rules through displacement and disagreement. Isn’t this also the role of the contemporary curator? And wouldn’t that mean that the assertion of professionalization in the field of curatorial studies would contradict the critical potential of curating? One could argue that the relationship between curator and artists is based on poaching because they are ultimately subverting the institution, but through artistic strategy.

About the Speaker
Hans D. Christ studied art and literature in Dortmund. In 1996, he founded with Iris Dressler the Hartware MedienKunstverein in Dortmund, which he directed until 2004. From 2002 to 2004, he also worked as curator at the Museum am Ostwall Dortmund. In 2004 he was co-curator of theSeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul. Since 2005, he is co-director of the Württembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) Stuttgart with Iris Dressler, and teaches regularly as an associate lecturer at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart. One of the main focuses of Christ and Dressler’s work at the WKV is to explore collaborative, transnational and transdisciplinary forms of curating. They have presented solo exhibitions of artists such as Stan Douglas (in collaboration with Staatsgalerie Stuttgart), Anna Oppermann (curator: Ute Vorkoeper), Daniel G. Andújar, Teresa Burga (curator: Miguel Lopez), Michaël Borremans, Pedro G. Romero (co-curator: Valentín Roma), Rabih Mroué (curator: Cosmin Costinas), and Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, and have also realized collaborative exhibition projects such as On Difference (2005, 2006), Subversive Practices (2009), Acts of Voicing (2012, 2013), and The Beast and the Sovereign (2015). Currently, they are working among other things on a solo exhibition of Ines Doujak and a project on the reception of the German Bauhaus in 1968. Christ is also a critic, who writes largely on contemporary art and its political and theoretical contexts.

About the Offsite Art Sonje Program
The Art Sonje Center initiated the Offsite Art Sonje Program in January 2016 to continue the museum’s educational role and extend its program venue while the Center is temporarily closed for renovation. Located near the Center, the Offsite Art Sonje hosts talk events on the last Wednesday of each month until the Center reopens in the fall. Its large window wall permits passersby to peer inside the space, blurring the line between inside and outside. The Offsite Art Sonje Program hopes to offer unique and meaningful experiences of museum programs to both the participants and the onlookers.