Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession)

Public lecture by Adam Szymczyk, moderated by Geeta Kapur

Presented in collaboration with Pro Helvetia- Swiss Arts Council, New Delhi and IIC | India International Centre (Multipurpose Hall, Kamadevi Complex)

Adam Szymczyk is the Artistic Director of documenta 14 and Director and Chief Curator at Kunsthalle Basel. He was co-founder of Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw, at which he worked as curator form 1997 till 2003, when he assumed his new post in Basel. At Kunsthalle Basel he organised exhibitions including Piotr Uklanski: Earth, Wind and Fire (2004); Tomma Abts  (2005); Gustav Metzger: In Memorium and Lee Lozano: Win First Don’t Last Win Last Don’t Care (both 2006); Micol Assael: Chizhevsky Lessons (2007); Danh Ho: Where the Lions Are (2009); Moyra Davey: Speaker Receiver (2010); Sung Hwan Kim: Line Wall (2011); Paul Sietsema and Adriana Lara: S.S.O.R. (both 2012), as well as group shows including Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession) (with Salvatore Lacagnina, 2010), How to Work/ How to Work (More for) Less (both n 2011). In 2008 he co-curated, with Elena Filipovic, the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art under the title When Things Cast No Shadow and in 2012 he curated Olinka, or Where Movement is Created at Museo Tamayo in Mexico City. He is a Member of the Board of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. In 2001 he was the recipient of the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement at the Menil Foundation in Houston.

The public lecture will be moderated by Geeta Kapur, a Delhi-based critic and curator. Books: Contemporary Indian Artists (1978); When was Modernism (2000); Ends and Means (Forthcoming). Editorial Advisor: Journal of Arts and Ideas; Third Text; Marg. Curatorial Projects include: Bombay/Mumbai (co-curation), Century City, Tate Modern (2001); subTerrain, House of World Cultures, Berlin (2003); Aesthetic Bind , Chemould; 50, Mumbai (2013-14); Jury Member: Venice, Dakar and Sharjah Biennales/Member, Asian Art Council, Guggenheim Museum; Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Visiting Fellow and lectures: universities and museums worldwide. Padma Shri (2009).