The University of British Columbia’s Curatorial Lecture Series and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery present a talk by Jens Hoffmann, How To Do Things With Exhibitions: Art and Literature.

Over the last decades, exhibitions have become vehicles for intellectual, cultural and socio-political expression. Yet, only a few have managed to successfully achieve a particular critical insight into societal concerns regarding contemporary culture. In his presentation, Hoffmann will talk about his recent trilogy of exhibitions based on three of the most iconic American novels of the last two-hundred years: The Wizard of Oz, Moby-Dick and Huckleberry Finn (2008-2010). Hoffman will examine the relationship between literature, art and exhibition making and show how literature can provide us with a frame to understand the today’s political realities by looking at the past.

The Curatorial Lecture Series presents lectures on contemporary curatorial practice. It is organized by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in collaboration with the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, the Museum of Anthropology, and the Department of Anthropology, with the support of the Audain Endowment for Curatorial Studies; and the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia.