Marcel Broodthaers and America, a symposium

A two-day conference organized on the occasion of artist Marcel Broodthaer’s Centenary featuring panels, keynote addresses and a roundtable on this influential Belgian poet-turned-visual artist. Brookthaer is most-known for inventing new ways to give material form to language while working across mediums—poetry, sculpture, painting, artist’s books, printmaking, and film. Organized by Professor Joe Scanlan and made possible with generous support from the Humanities Council, 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, University Committee on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Department of Art & Archaeology

About Marcel Broodthaers

Marcel Broodthaers (Belgian, 1924–1976) worked primarily as a poet until the age of 40, when he turned to the visual arts. Over the next 12 years, his work retained a poetic quality and a sense of humor by inventing ways to give material form to language while working across mediums—poetry, sculpture, painting, artist’s books, printmaking, and film. From 1968 to 1972, he operated the Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles (Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles), a traveling museum dedicated not to his work as an artist but to the role of the institution itself and the function of art in society.

For all the banal and erudite references used by Broodthaers—from mussel shells and industrial signage to Aesop and Mallarmé—America is the one oft-cited reference in his writing and artworks that he never experienced firsthand. This lack of empirical knowledge lends an element of fantasy to Broodthaers’ idea of “America,” and these speculations are the likely reason why it remains one of the least examined aspects of his work. Whatever the case may be, Broodthaers must have based his idea of America on something. This conference promises to critically examine, both explicitly and obliquely, new theories on what that something might be.

Symposium Schedule: October 9

• 4:30-6:00 PM: Lectures (East Pyne)
• 6-7:30 PM: Reception (Upper Hyphen, East Pyne)

Lecture 1: Carolin Meister, “Marcel Broodthaers: Painting, Entertainment, and an Unknown Film”

Carolin Meister is a Princeton Humanities Council Short-term Belknap Fellow for 2024-25. She holds the Chair of Art History at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, where she served as Vice Rector from 2017 to 2023.

Symposium Schedule: October 10

• 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Lecture (East Pyne)
• 12:00-1:00 PM: Welcome Lunch (Upper Hyphen, East Pyne)
• 1:00-2:30 PM: Roundtable (Chancellor Green)
• 3:00-5:00 PM: Keynote Addresses (East Pyne)

Lecture 1: Hannah Bruckmüller, “Marcel Broodthaers’ Father Figures”

Respondent: Simon Wu

Dr. Hannah Bruckmüller is an Assistant Professor of Art History at the New Design University, St. Pölten, Austria. Her research focuses on intersections between art, literature, and publication practices, combining underrepresented archival material, critical historiography, and feminist thought.

Simon Wu ‘17 is a writer and a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University. His first book, a collection of essays titled Dancing on My Own, was published in June.

Admission: Free and open to the public, no registration required. Accessibility: East Pyne and Chancellor Green Rotunda are accessible venues. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at LewisCenter@princeton.edu