Situated Institutions, Relational Practices, Liminal Studios explored the civic role and agency of artistic, curatorial, and institutional practices amid rising societal divides, shrinking arts funding, and escalating socio-environmental crises. As outdated systems collapse and future ones remain undefined, cultural practitioners are rethinking internal methods and external connections within a rapidly shifting world.
This two-day symposium brought together projects that interwove the principles of Situatedness, Relationality, and Liminality, forming a vital framework for navigating this transitional moment. Situated practices respond to and are shaped by their contexts, while critically addressing the politics of locality. Relational approaches foster interdependence and collaboration to counter fragmentation, and liminal practices challenge binaries such as interior/exterior, organization/public, and process/presentation, reimagining authorship, access, and ownership.
The program featured artists, curators, institutional leaders, and cross-disciplinary professionals. Day one presented site-symbiotic practices rooted in socio-spatial contexts across the Italy-Slovenia border, Palestine, Stuttgart, Cameroon, and Mexico’s rainforest. These multidisciplinary projects explored how cultural production fosters socio-environmental sustainability under geopolitical pressure, connecting global perspectives with Maastricht’s civic imagination through public interventions and dialogue.
Day two featured presentations, screenings, and discussions encouraging reflection on institutional structures and future possibilities. Exchange groups enabled intimate dialogue, culminating in a collective assembly that delved into speculative models, decolonial strategies, and liminal methodologies for cultural transformation.