“Is a constructed and mediative notion of institutional “identity” inherently part of a relationship between a contemporary art space, and its audience? Are the principles of branding and marketing at odds with the notion of a “critical” art space? How does the formation and maintenance of an “identity” relate to institutional policies, and political and economic positioning? This symposium opens with the premise that progressive theories around branding and marketing have come to occupy an equivalent arena to cultural production, in which the reading of complex codes and reflexive modes of address are paramount.”