If one were to attempt to assess the Art World Forum by the promise of its name, its naming, there is little doubt as to its success. For, the events of the day created nothing less than an open space in which all the participants not only spoke on, discussed, their areas of expertise, but stepped beyond (foris, ‘out of doors’) their personal fields. More than that, the ensuing conversations were exploratory — such that many positions were shifted, moved, turned around (versare). And, even when in disagreement (versus), interlocutors were always open to, always with (con), the other. In short, there were many potentially transformative moments — the possibility of transformation being nothing other than another name for art itself.
Jeremy Fernando, Jean Baudrillard Fellow & Reader in Contemporary Literature and Thought at the European Graduate School
