THE IMMORTALS

OR HOW TO HANDLE THE OLD STANDARD OF THE CANON IN A NEW CENTURY?

Very few museums in the world are in the unique position that they can pre-tend – due to their reputation and the quality of their collections – to offer a FAIR OVERVIEW of all the relevant art works that one period in time has brought forward.  Such an ultimate CHOICE of elected and so to speak “immortal” artists is commonly called the CANON.  Since World War II no other institution has put such a decisive CLAIM on the selection of that CANON of the 20th century than the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and for most of the century its choice has been crucially influential.  In Eu-rope since the 1970s Centre POMPIDOU in Paris is without any doubt the most powerful alternative.  In this seminar we will study the CANON as a weapon and a critical tool and by investigating the existing canon in Paris, we will try to imagine what new elements would strengthen a new EURO-PEAN CANON in the 21st century.

• Conceived and developed by Prof. Hans de Wolf (VUB)
• Advised by Prof. Dennis Laoureux (ULB)
• Supported by the French embassy in Brussels within the framework of  "l’année de la France" at VUB