On Failure: Error and Defeat in the Arts of the Dutch Republic
Traditionally, history writing has strongly underrepresented failure and overrepresented success. However, recent years have witnessed a surge of publications on risk taking, bankruptcy, crises and disasters that counter the progressive logic of success. In addition, thedecision in 2019 of the Amsterdam Museum to discontinue the use of the term “golden age” marked a clear change in perspective. What will the impact of these new developments decision be for early modern art history?
Jointly with Tom van der Molen, curator of the Amsterdam Museum and the Dutch Art Historical Yearbook, the ASCEM proposes a workshop and a general discussion to reflect on the consequences of studying art through the concept of failure. Topics includeartistic failure, artist’s disability, doomed plans for land drainage, shrinking cities, a fateful Māori-European encounter, and the killing of the De Witt brothers.
The event marks the launch of volume 76 of NKJ (Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek) edited by Stijn Bussels, Hanneke Grootenboer, Natasha Seaman and Joost Keizer.
Organisation: Hanneke Grootenboer, Professor of Early Modern Art and Visual Culture, UvA; Stijn Bussels, Professor of Art History before 1800, Universiteit van Leiden; Joost Keizer, Professor of Early Modern and Modern Art History, Radboud Universiteit.
Speakers
Tom van der Molen, curator Amsterdam Museum and Dutch Art Historical Yearbook
Koen Bulckens, curator 16th and 17th century, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen
Marianne Eekhout, history curator, Dordrecht Museum
Braden Scott, Assistant Professor, Early Modern Art & Architecture, University of Manitoba (via zoom)
Laura Valterio, postdoctoral fellow, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence
Marte Sophie Meessen, PhD candidate early modern art history, Radboud Univeristeit
Nicole Ganbold, PhD candidate The Dutch Global Age, Universiteit Utrecht
Minke Walda, Lecturer in the History of Architecture, Universiteit Utrecht
