(smow) blog compact: Irritation #13: Guus Beumer – The outdated exhibition format @ Hôtel Droog Amsterdam

We spend a lot of our time in exhibitions.

A lot.

And a lot more travelling to and from exhibitions.

But are we wasting our time?

Guus Beumer, director of Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, believes so.

And he is a man who has spent even more of his life in exhibitions than us. Both as viewer and as curator; perhaps most notably as artistic director of the 2009 Utrecht Manifest, Biennial for Social Design and as curator of the Dutch Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale.

On Thursday April 17th as part of Hôtel Droog’s Irritations series Guus Beumer will argue that the exhibition is an outdated format and that they are “costly, time consuming and mostly geared towards an older audience”

A position which of course poses the questions, what is one to do? What alternatives do we have? Or is Guus Beumer wrong, is the exhibition as relevant and useful a format as ever? Is the problem with those who curate exhibitions rather than those who view exhibitions?

All wishing to hear what Guus Beumer has to say, or let Guus Beumer hear what they have to say, and are in Amsterdam on Thursday are invited to take part at Hôtel Droog, Staalstraat 7B,1011 JJ Amsterdam.

The event begins at 8pm and entry is free.

Full details can be found at www.hoteldroog.com

Droog 20+ Up to a beautiful future @ Milan Design Week 2013. A waste of time, resources and money? Discuss!