Dalí Museum to host international Surrealism conference

Scholars, art historians, educators and experts will gather at the Dalí Museum this weekend for a celebration and examination of the first 100 years of the Surrealism movement. The 1924 publication of French writer and poet André Breton’s First Surrealist Manifesto is acknowledged as the launching point for Surrealism, which by then included literature, poetry and theater and would soon – thanks to visionaries like Salvador Dalí – encompass art, too.

Breton defined Surrealism as a means of revealing the “actual functioning of thought,” promoting self-expression that was unfiltered by convention or reflection.

“Institutions all over the world are celebrating the centennial this year with exhibitions, conferences and publications,” said Jennifer Cohen, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Dalí Museum. “Because Dalí was so crucial to shaping the movement, we felt it was essential to make our voice heard as well.”

The public is invited to attend the Friday and Saturday panel discussions. The event mirrors the museum’s first (and to date, last) Surrealism conference, in 2004.

According to Cohen, that conference “fostered critical perspectives on Dalí, as it was also the centennial of his birth. We wanted to celebrate this milestone regarding Surrealism more generally, while also creating a conference that will be as significant to the development of new scholarship as the one we produced two decades ago.

“To do so, we invited the original participants, each of which has since become a leader in the field of Surrealism, to create their own panels incorporating today’s emerging scholarship in Surrealism. Each one of the panels is chaired by one of the original participants, who has invited a new stable of scholars from around the world to foster the next generation of research. Many of these names will be new to our community.”

Three panels are scheduled each day. Friday’s topic is “Publishing, Circulating and Displaying Surrealism,” with panels on Breton’s Manifesto (9:30-11:30 a.m.), Surrealism and Postcards (1:30-3:30 p.m.) and Displaying Surrealism (4-6 p.m.).

“Dalí and Surrealism” is the topic for Saturday, with panels on Surrealism and Consumer Fetishism (9:30-11:30 a.m.), Via Dalí: Surrealism’s Internationalization by way of Salvador Dalí (1-3:30 p.m.) and Via Dalí: Surrealism’s Internationalization by way of Salvador Dalí II (4-6 p.m.).

Among the guests: Laura Bartolomé Roviras and Juan José Lahuerta (from Barcelona); Idoia Murga Castro and Estrella de Diego (from Madrid); Jordana Mendelson, director of New York University’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center; Robert Cozzolino and Gavin Parkinson, Minneapolis Museum of Art; Haim Finkelstein, author of numerous books about Dali and Surrealism; and others.

“It is a real luxury to be face-to-face with them and to discuss best practices in conservation and display,” said Cohen, “which can help shape how we present our collection for many years to come. It’s also a great moment to share our incredible library and archives, which we open to scholars studying Surrealism and Dalí, in addition to sharing our collection and special exhibitions with this esteemed group of experts.”

Cohen, Dalí Museum director Hank Hine and Chief Curator William Jeffett are part of the Displaying Surrealism panel Friday afternoon.

“Dalí,” Cohen pointed out, “was so inextricable from the movement, and there is still so much to discover, resulting in a full day dedicated to talks that touch upon his work.”

A key element of the museum’s manifesto, she said, is to “educate and engage audiences, including those interested in exploring the scholarly aspects of both the movement and Dalí’s work.”

Bringing the public into this conference, therefore, made absolute sense. “It was important to us that the conference be free and open to the public, since exposure to these ideas outside of the rarified realms of the museum profession and the ivory tower can have such significant ripple effects.”

Registration is required for free tickets – for details, visit the website.