Would you have a minute?

Guest Speakers: Kay Walkowiak, Prof. Dr. Thomas Macho, Régis Moes

Moderator: Kerstin Thalau (Journalist, Luxemburg)

As part of Luxembourg Art Week 2024, we are delighted to invite you to an intellectually stimulating talk that delves into the philosophical intricacies of Kay Walkowiak’s exhibition, ‘Traces of Time’. This event will feature the esteemed philosopher and cultural historian, Prof. Dr. Thomas Macho, in conversation with the distinguished Luxembourgish journalist, Kerstin Thalau. Together, they will explore the profound themes of time, history, and cultural narratives that are intricately woven into Walkowiak’s diverse body of work.

The discussion will address several thought-provoking questions: What potential does art hold in capturing the essence of time? How can it artistically thematize and halt time, document it, and open up new perspectives? Furthermore, how can these artistic endeavors be preserved for future generations, whether in museums or archives, and made accessible in the future? Is this an ongoing race against time? What art historical and cultural-philosophical approaches and developments exist in this context? It is indeed the perfect moment to engage in this dialogue with an artist, a conservator, and a cultural philosopher!

The exhibition ‘Traces of Time’ is on display at Waassertuerm+Pomhouse (CNA) in Dudelange until November 24. It offers a critical reexamination of Western conceptions of time and dominant narratives of (Art) History. This talk will scrutinize how Walkowiak challenges these conventions and the ways in which art can either reinforce or subvert them. A focal point of the discussion will be the series Misfits (2024), created specifically for this exhibition. In this series, Walkowiak assembles delicate objects from the Musée national d’archéologie, d’histoire et d’Art’s (MNAHA) ceramic collection, highlighting the fragility of contemporary perspectives.

Kay Walkowiak, born in 1980 in Salzburg, lives and works in Vienna. He studied Sculpture and Multimedia, Photography and Video Art, and Expanded Expression in Vienna and Tokyo, alongside Philosophy and Psychology. His work blends installation, sculpture, video art, and photography, often exploring sociocultural approaches to form and questioning its role as a projection surface for timeless utopias. Walkowiak has exhibited internationally, including Vienna, Tainan, New Delhi, Tokyo, and Bangkok. His current exhibition, ‘Traces of Time’, runs until November 24 at the Waassertuerm+Pomhouse (CNA) in Dudelange.

Thomas Macho, director of the International Research Center for Cultural Studies at the University of Art and Design Linz, was a Professor of Cultural History at Humboldt University, Berlin, from 1993 to 2016. He earned his PhD in 1976 from the University of Vienna with a dissertation on music philosophy and habilitated seven years later in Klagenfurt with a work on death metaphors. His awards include the Aby Warburg Prize (2001) and the Sigmund Freud Prize (2019).

Régis Moes is a Luxembourgish historian, conservator, curator, and author. He studied history at the Université libre de Bruxelles, where his thesis on Luxembourg's colonial past earned him the Prix du meilleur mémoire from the Fondation Robert Krieps. Since 2014, he has served as the Curator of Contemporary Luxembourgish History, as well as Decorative and Popular Arts, at the Musée national d’histoire et d’art (MNAHA). In 2022, he curated a significant exhibition at the museum that brought Luxembourg’s colonial past into sharp focus.