On 25 August at 19:00, the Office for Contemporary Art Norway presents a conversation between current ISP resident Goshka Macuga
and Juan A. Gaitán,
Senior Curator at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They will discuss three major projects by Macuga, ‘The Nature of the Beast’ (2009-10),
‘I Am Become Death’ (2009) and ‘Plus Ultra’ (2009). All three projects approach historical objects and documents by creating complex networks of reference, and
constitute poignant reminders of the profound relation between aesthetics and politics. Through the conversation Macuga and Gaitán will provide historical and
artistic context to each work and examine her use of the historical archive and exhibition making.

About the Speakers

Goshka Macuga (b. 1967 in Warsaw, Poland) is an artist based in London. Macuga attended
the Wojciech Gerson School of Art in Warsaw, Central Saint Martins School of Art, London
and Goldsmiths College, London. Macuga’s solo exhibitions include ‘The Nature of The Beast’ (2009-10) at Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK,
‘I Am Become Death’ (2009) at Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland; ‘Objects in Relation, Art Now’ (2007) at Tate Britain, London, UK; ‘Sleep of Ulro’ (2006)
in Liverpool. Group exhibitions include the 53rd Venice Biennale, ‘Fare Mondi/Making Words…’ (2009); ‘The Great Transformation: Art and Tactical
Magic’ (2008), Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt and the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2008). Macuga was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2008.

Juan A. Gaitán is the Senior Curator at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. Gaitán has curated many exhibitions internationally,
especially in Canada, Colombia and The Netherlands. He has published monographic texts on several contemporary artists and is currently writing on freedom of
expression and post-democratic politics. He has organised five
exhibitions under the general theme of ‘Morality’, the leitmotiv of Witte de With’s 2009-10 programme.

This event is made possible with the kind support of The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Oslo.