Interruptive Spatial Arrangement
1000 Words Group Involvement
Spider Girl Loose In London
Taking an unknown artist to create a performance, a one off show, to engage the audience in something unfamiliar, shocking. Thinking outside the box, letting the artist be the curator, the performer and the director. Giving a brief set by our group providing set rules to form a performance by. Our chosen artist was Serene Metcalfe, her artistic approaches range from Performance Art, Film and Photography to Text, Sculpture, and Illustration. She doesn't want to restrict herself to a few mediums, as she eventually wants to be able to express herself through every medium. She is interested in herself and the relationship she holds with her surrounding environment and her development as a human being in our ever-changing world with particular focus on absence and exploring the significance of her cultural background whilst also taking into consideration the psychology of the viewer. Her work is ever changing and she doesn’t really know what she is trying to explore or succeed in her artistic outcomes but finds comfort in making art so makes it anyway. We were inspired by the film –‘the five obstructions,’ by Jorgen Leth, where remaking works, applying rules to fix ideas, which takes away the problem. We have created a response in the way to shape our rules and regulations for the artist to comply with. Looking for artists on ‘art curator’ and other sites to set the brief, going through the notions of whether to form something political, or in response to current events but performed with a twist. Our involvement would be much smaller to allow the artist to obtain control and have the ability to reflect her practice through our performance piece.
The five obstructions:
1. The performance must interact with the space. This will allow for an element of spontaneous adaption to the piece as the exact location of the performance is as of yet undecided. The space may subvert the artist whilst they are trying to subvert the audience.
2. The performance must involve audience participation. The piece must subvert an audience from their daily tasks and allow them to change the performance as they see fit.
3. The performance must remain non-religious.
4. As a follow up to the previous restriction the piece has to remain clear and understandable so it cannot be mistaken from its concept. 5. There will be no use of props or extra objects in the performance. This puts the limitations to solely one’s body and the way this can be used to subvert the mundane. This is the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to break out of their usual practice and change the way they work. We are a group of Fine Art students who are in the process of arranging a live performance based in Trafalgar Square, London and are looking for an artist to collaborate with, to create an intervention within ‘the street’. The performance should be subversive and draw in an audience.
With these limitations set the task was left into the artists hands. I began by researching local performance groups, armature dramatic societies and schools to participate but all wanted to charge a fee, and with a very limited budget it was not optional. With me, the question always arose of what is more important, space or audience? But the narrative is what draws the other. You could be still and execute apiece so well that passer-by automatically stops to involve them. The space does have the potential to achieve higher success, dependant on the appeal of it, the higher up it is, the more distinguished the more the audience will desire to be there. One without the other does not quite work. Our choice of space was grounded at Trafalgar Square, so we had a huge potential to draw a crowd in. Serene’s concept from crawling on the ground,’’ I sit and watch the businessmen and women following each other across the busy streets as if they were ants. Everything in our lives has become so structured– we are like robots of the city. Although this feels unnatural, this isn’t far off from the structure of insects travelling together.’’ It is the idea of formalism; the structured society that we live in, that we continue our daily routine day by day. It is a break in the familiarity of the everyday; the regulated formations of people that walk through London, executioning their own obligatory performaces.
As the show day started we handed out leaflets to promote the performance piece, as you can imagine the reaction to handouts is not always welcoming! We had constructed our piece to the artist in a way where she was meant to accommodate and draw in an audience, but to our expense, she was slightly on the shy side. The crawl itself I did enjoy, the plane of it all with passersby walking across and sidestepping looks good on film. Luckily with Trafalgar Square, it has an air about it; the buzz and business of it will always compliment a performance piece there. I do believe though that this concept would of worked better if the artist had drawn a larger crowd in as the response and reactions to the crawl would of added speculation and a desire to question what was going on. Another issue I found with the artist was with the lack of communication she made to passersby to actually be involved with the performance itself, ideally there would have been u to 10 participants involved in the crawl which again, would of added to the complete act. Reflecting on this experience, I have enjoyed finding an artist to work with, exploring their ideas with our own. I would like to redo this task but on a larger scale to ensure that the audience is immersed fully with our thoughts and notions.
Taking an unknown artist to create a performance, a one off show, to engage the audience in something unfamiliar, shocking. Thinking outside the box, letting the artist be the curator, the performer and the director. Giving a brief set by our group providing set rules to form a performance by. Our chosen artist was Serene Metcalfe, her artistic approaches range from Performance Art, Film and Photography to Text, Sculpture, and Illustration. She doesn't want to restrict herself to a few mediums, as she eventually wants to be able to express herself through every medium. She is interested in herself and the relationship she holds with her surrounding environment and her development as a human being in our ever-changing world with particular focus on absence and exploring the significance of her cultural background whilst also taking into consideration the psychology of the viewer. Her work is ever changing and she doesn’t really know what she is trying to explore or succeed in her artistic outcomes but finds comfort in making art so makes it anyway. We were inspired by the film –‘the five obstructions,’ by Jorgen Leth, where remaking works, applying rules to fix ideas, which takes away the problem. We have created a response in the way to shape our rules and regulations for the artist to comply with. Looking for artists on ‘art curator’ and other sites to set the brief, going through the notions of whether to form something political, or in response to current events but performed with a twist. Our involvement would be much smaller to allow the artist to obtain control and have the ability to reflect her practice through our performance piece.
The five obstructions:
1. The performance must interact with the space. This will allow for an element of spontaneous adaption to the piece as the exact location of the performance is as of yet undecided. The space may subvert the artist whilst they are trying to subvert the audience.
2. The performance must involve audience participation. The piece must subvert an audience from their daily tasks and allow them to change the performance as they see fit.
3. The performance must remain non-religious.
4. As a follow up to the previous restriction the piece has to remain clear and understandable so it cannot be mistaken from its concept. 5. There will be no use of props or extra objects in the performance. This puts the limitations to solely one’s body and the way this can be used to subvert the mundane. This is the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to break out of their usual practice and change the way they work. We are a group of Fine Art students who are in the process of arranging a live performance based in Trafalgar Square, London and are looking for an artist to collaborate with, to create an intervention within ‘the street’. The performance should be subversive and draw in an audience.
With these limitations set the task was left into the artists hands. I began by researching local performance groups, armature dramatic societies and schools to participate but all wanted to charge a fee, and with a very limited budget it was not optional. With me, the question always arose of what is more important, space or audience? But the narrative is what draws the other. You could be still and execute apiece so well that passer-by automatically stops to involve them. The space does have the potential to achieve higher success, dependant on the appeal of it, the higher up it is, the more distinguished the more the audience will desire to be there. One without the other does not quite work. Our choice of space was grounded at Trafalgar Square, so we had a huge potential to draw a crowd in. Serene’s concept from crawling on the ground,’’ I sit and watch the businessmen and women following each other across the busy streets as if they were ants. Everything in our lives has become so structured– we are like robots of the city. Although this feels unnatural, this isn’t far off from the structure of insects travelling together.’’ It is the idea of formalism; the structured society that we live in, that we continue our daily routine day by day. It is a break in the familiarity of the everyday; the regulated formations of people that walk through London, executioning their own obligatory performaces.
As the show day started we handed out leaflets to promote the performance piece, as you can imagine the reaction to handouts is not always welcoming! We had constructed our piece to the artist in a way where she was meant to accommodate and draw in an audience, but to our expense, she was slightly on the shy side. The crawl itself I did enjoy, the plane of it all with passersby walking across and sidestepping looks good on film. Luckily with Trafalgar Square, it has an air about it; the buzz and business of it will always compliment a performance piece there. I do believe though that this concept would of worked better if the artist had drawn a larger crowd in as the response and reactions to the crawl would of added speculation and a desire to question what was going on. Another issue I found with the artist was with the lack of communication she made to passersby to actually be involved with the performance itself, ideally there would have been u to 10 participants involved in the crawl which again, would of added to the complete act. Reflecting on this experience, I have enjoyed finding an artist to work with, exploring their ideas with our own. I would like to redo this task but on a larger scale to ensure that the audience is immersed fully with our thoughts and notions.
Final Event
We are a group of Fine Art students who are arranging a live performance based in Trafalgar Square, London to create an intervention within ‘the street’. The performance is subversive and draws in the audience.
This performance piece is heavily inspired by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth’s The Five Obstructions and as such will adhere to five restrictions. 1. The performance must interact with the space. This will allow for an element of spontaneous adaption to the piece. The space may subvert the artist whilst they are trying to subvert the audience. 2. The performance must involve audience participation. The piece must subvert an audience from their daily tasks and allow them to change the performance as they see fit. 3. The performance must remain non-religious. 4. As a follow up to the previous restriction the piece has to remain clear and understandable so it cannot be mistaken from its concept. 5. There will be no use of props or extra objects in the performance. This puts the limitations to solely one’s body and the way this can be used to subvert the mundane. |
This is a great opportunity to see artist Seren Metcalfe give a unique performance at the chosen location of Trafalgar square. Come along to see what will be unveiled!
Artist website
http://serenmetcalfe.co.uk
We publicised our event on Facebook inviting our peers, also making leaflets and handing them out to passerby in Trafalgar Square, naturally this idea isn't everyone's favourite lunch time exercise! The reaction of the groups around varied from curious wonder of whats going on to not noticing the crawling girls by their feet. Overall this experience of getting an artist has been challenging but rewarding as you are able to set a brief and hear the many options of performance, meetings and researching the artists who presented ideas. I would like to do a task like this again but more well sort out, with a bigger budget, and more performers to really complete and reflect the concept fully.
Artist website
http://serenmetcalfe.co.uk
We publicised our event on Facebook inviting our peers, also making leaflets and handing them out to passerby in Trafalgar Square, naturally this idea isn't everyone's favourite lunch time exercise! The reaction of the groups around varied from curious wonder of whats going on to not noticing the crawling girls by their feet. Overall this experience of getting an artist has been challenging but rewarding as you are able to set a brief and hear the many options of performance, meetings and researching the artists who presented ideas. I would like to do a task like this again but more well sort out, with a bigger budget, and more performers to really complete and reflect the concept fully.
Serene Metcalfe
Seren Metcalfe is a conceptual artist from York, UK and is currently studying a Foundation diploma in Art and design at Leeds College of Art. Her artistic approaches range from Performance Art, Film and Photography to Text, Sculpture, and Illustration. She doesn't want to restrict herself to a few mediums as she eventually wants to be able to express herself through every medium. She is interested in herself and the relationship she holds with her surrounding environment and her development as a human being in our ever changing world with particular focus on absence and exploring the significance of her cultural background whilst also taking into consideration the psychology of the viewer.Her work is ever changing and she doesn’t really know what she is trying to explore or succeed in her artistic outcomes but finds comfort in making art so makes it anyway.
We are a group of Fine Art students who are in the process of arranging a live performance based in Trafalgar Square, London and are looking for an artist to collaborate with, to create an intervention within ‘the street’. The performance should be subversive and draw in an audience. This performance piece is heavily inspired by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth’s The Five Obstructions and as such will adhere to five restrictions.
1. The performance must interact with the space. This will allow for an element of spontaneous adaption to the piece as the exact location of the performance is as of yet undecided. The space may subvert the artist whilst they are trying to subvert the audience.
2. The performance must involve audience participation. The piece must subvert an audience from their daily tasks and allow them to change the performance as they see fit.
3. The performance must remain non-religious.
4. As a follow up to the previous restriction the piece has to remain clear and understandable so it cannot be mistaken from its concept. 5. There will be no use of props or extra objects in the performance. This puts the limitations to solely one’s body and the way this can be used to subvert the mundane. This is the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to break out of their usual practice and change the way they work. The performance can be 10 minutes or longer depending on the proposed idea or concept and the chosen artist must attend the performance. Depending on travel costs and other financial needs, finance can be discussed once we have made contact.
1. The performance must interact with the space. This will allow for an element of spontaneous adaption to the piece as the exact location of the performance is as of yet undecided. The space may subvert the artist whilst they are trying to subvert the audience.
2. The performance must involve audience participation. The piece must subvert an audience from their daily tasks and allow them to change the performance as they see fit.
3. The performance must remain non-religious.
4. As a follow up to the previous restriction the piece has to remain clear and understandable so it cannot be mistaken from its concept. 5. There will be no use of props or extra objects in the performance. This puts the limitations to solely one’s body and the way this can be used to subvert the mundane. This is the perfect opportunity for anyone looking to break out of their usual practice and change the way they work. The performance can be 10 minutes or longer depending on the proposed idea or concept and the chosen artist must attend the performance. Depending on travel costs and other financial needs, finance can be discussed once we have made contact.
Old Ideas
Ideas - manifesto, visual artist, dance, play, flash mob
Space - London based, public space, needed space for the audience to participate, to surround the artist comfortably. Leicester square/Trafalgar square. The audience is always there, in the busiest parts of London there is always an option for press. The question always arose of what is more important, space or audience? But the narrative is what draws the other. You could be still and execute a piece so well that passer-by automatically stop to involve themselves. The space does have the potential to achieve higher success, dependant on the appeal of it, the higher up it is, the more distinguished the more the audience will desire to be there. One without the other does not quite comprehend.
Taking an unknown artist to create a performance, a one off show, to engage the audience in something unfamiliar, shocking. Thinking outside the box, letting the artist be the curator, the performance and the director. Giving a brief set by our group providing set rules to form a performance by.
Inspired by the film – the five obstructions, by Jorgen Leth, where remaking works, applying rules to fix ideas, which takes away the problem. We have created a response in the way shape our rules and regulations for the artist to comply with. Looking for artists on ‘art curator’ and other sites set the brief. Going through the notions of whether to form something political, or in response to current events, we almost settled on the idea of making our own Oscars but with a political twist. However our involvement would be to deer for the artist so taking a step back the idea of the artist having control would be the main focus of the piece.
Statement – ‘’We are a group of Fine Art students studying at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. We are in the process of arranging a live performance based in Trafalgar Square, London. We are looking for an artist to collaborate with, to create an intervention within ‘the street’. The performance should be subversive and draw in an audience. The performance can be 10 minutes or longer depending on the proposed idea or concept and the chosen artist must attend the performance. Depending on travel costs and other financial needs, finance can be discussed once we have made contact. The piece should take place the week of the 4th of April 2016. The performance can be simple or complicated, however ideas will be discussed once we have made contact. The piece will also follow five obstructions.’’
1. It must involve audience participation
2. It has to interact with the space.
3. Has to be non-religious
4. No use of props or extras
5. Its meaning has to clear and understandable.’
From here it is a waiting for a response then seeing what the artist has to offer. With high hopes of the greatest performance piece.
Space - London based, public space, needed space for the audience to participate, to surround the artist comfortably. Leicester square/Trafalgar square. The audience is always there, in the busiest parts of London there is always an option for press. The question always arose of what is more important, space or audience? But the narrative is what draws the other. You could be still and execute a piece so well that passer-by automatically stop to involve themselves. The space does have the potential to achieve higher success, dependant on the appeal of it, the higher up it is, the more distinguished the more the audience will desire to be there. One without the other does not quite comprehend.
Taking an unknown artist to create a performance, a one off show, to engage the audience in something unfamiliar, shocking. Thinking outside the box, letting the artist be the curator, the performance and the director. Giving a brief set by our group providing set rules to form a performance by.
Inspired by the film – the five obstructions, by Jorgen Leth, where remaking works, applying rules to fix ideas, which takes away the problem. We have created a response in the way shape our rules and regulations for the artist to comply with. Looking for artists on ‘art curator’ and other sites set the brief. Going through the notions of whether to form something political, or in response to current events, we almost settled on the idea of making our own Oscars but with a political twist. However our involvement would be to deer for the artist so taking a step back the idea of the artist having control would be the main focus of the piece.
Statement – ‘’We are a group of Fine Art students studying at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. We are in the process of arranging a live performance based in Trafalgar Square, London. We are looking for an artist to collaborate with, to create an intervention within ‘the street’. The performance should be subversive and draw in an audience. The performance can be 10 minutes or longer depending on the proposed idea or concept and the chosen artist must attend the performance. Depending on travel costs and other financial needs, finance can be discussed once we have made contact. The piece should take place the week of the 4th of April 2016. The performance can be simple or complicated, however ideas will be discussed once we have made contact. The piece will also follow five obstructions.’’
1. It must involve audience participation
2. It has to interact with the space.
3. Has to be non-religious
4. No use of props or extras
5. Its meaning has to clear and understandable.’
From here it is a waiting for a response then seeing what the artist has to offer. With high hopes of the greatest performance piece.
Kitchen Project
Flip Flop
Presentation
Reviewing our group show, photos and presentation
Presentation reflecting our project, on what we have achieved and to what we would change. I think we had great success with our work, the outcome was more than expected and with the artists themselves such as Rosie Hammick and Joey Baker attending too. We worked very well as a group each handing out tasks and performing equally. We brought energy to the exhibition that would not usually be at a private view, giving it a new take on the typical art display.
Group statement
Flip-flop: noun. Informal. A sudden or unexpected reversal, as of direction, belief, attitude or policy.
Flip-flop will be an evening long exhibition in the kitchen of 3 Dollis Drive held on the evening of January 22nd from 6 – 9 pm. Organized by a group of Fine Art students studying at UCA Farnham, the purpose of this show is to transform the everyday kitchen into an absurd party landscape in order to explore the informal energy in art.
To do this, the show will include works ranging from painting, sculpture, performance and film that all explore colour and narrative in an unexpected way Through the curation of these diverse works in a domestic space, this exhibition aims to create an environment that abolishes quiet contemplation and replicates the ecstasy of creating art.
We are a collection of students from UCA Farnham studying Fine Art in our second year, and we are curating a kitchen exhibition. This show aims to put energy back into art by transforming the everyday space of the kitchen into an absurd party landscape. We want to create a new space to experience art, where quiet contemplation is abolished and is replaced by an atmosphere that mirrors the ecstasy of creating art. We are looking for works that focus on the absurd; bold and ‘free’ artworks. Works can range across all mediums but we have restrictions regarding space. As this exhibition is being curated in a kitchen there is space for works in domestic spaces such as cupboards and drawers.
Flip-flop will be an evening long exhibition in the kitchen of 3 Dollis Drive held on the evening of January 22nd from 6 – 9 pm. Organized by a group of Fine Art students studying at UCA Farnham, the purpose of this show is to transform the everyday kitchen into an absurd party landscape in order to explore the informal energy in art.
To do this, the show will include works ranging from painting, sculpture, performance and film that all explore colour and narrative in an unexpected way Through the curation of these diverse works in a domestic space, this exhibition aims to create an environment that abolishes quiet contemplation and replicates the ecstasy of creating art.
We are a collection of students from UCA Farnham studying Fine Art in our second year, and we are curating a kitchen exhibition. This show aims to put energy back into art by transforming the everyday space of the kitchen into an absurd party landscape. We want to create a new space to experience art, where quiet contemplation is abolished and is replaced by an atmosphere that mirrors the ecstasy of creating art. We are looking for works that focus on the absurd; bold and ‘free’ artworks. Works can range across all mediums but we have restrictions regarding space. As this exhibition is being curated in a kitchen there is space for works in domestic spaces such as cupboards and drawers.
Artists contributing |
Joey Baker |
Joey Baker
Klaus Pinter Fern O'carolan Olga Guse Luke Faulkner (ToyNoiz) Rosie Hammick |
Joey Baker is a 21 year old Fine artist, illustrator and designer living and working in London, Uk. His work focuses on the meaning behind the human experience, investigating life and death and everything in between through the observation of ancient philosophies and art to modern science and maths. His commissioned artworks include a range of different works including poster designs, t-shirt designs, company logos, book covers, tattoos, paintings, drawings, album artwork and murals.
|
ToyNoiz
Creating music out of children's toys and trinkets. This unusual technique is hilarious yet fantastic, he takes classic songs and transforms them with his unique sound. His style of work fits perfectly into concept and theme, our project is about bringing the fun back into art; the freedom of experimentation and the celebration of difference, stepping away from the norm and highlighting the passion and frenzy in the work.
Curation writing tasks
You are the curator, what would be your ideal exhibition, who would be the artist
where would it be, why? What would be the meaning and who would be your audience?
Art is subjective; everything you see is a form or comparative of it. The architecture around you, the transport you take, the careful handiwork of interiors and exteriors design and the images we are faced with each day. In the modern, technological world we subside in, the materialism of society takes over; with advertising and commercial products at every corner, we constantly miss the beauty of artwork by being distracted by the newest image of chocolate with fewer calories than apples.
I would take the past and replicate it with the modern, adding, reliving the former masterpieces of those countless artists who often get overlooked by the culture and ever developing society we frame artwork in today. The greats, Michelangelo, Raphael and Di Vinci, without sounding too much like the cast of teenage mutant ninja turtles; I would dress the city in the pieces that mattered the most. Adding significance to the disused, often meaningless spaces. These spaces we use everyday, the buses and tubes used for commuting, taxis we end our drunk nights out in, the spaces where you have the time to study your surroundings, where the time we travelling seems to be endless. Turning those spaces into portable galleries, advertising the works for those who would not necessarily choose to view it. A very polite appreciation forced upon us, like advertising but with a higher value. You don’t need to see more images of shoes or drinks, but a wider sense of art, an acknowledgement. The Renaissance was traditionally considered the era of rebirth, a rallying of the human spirit after the “dark ages” blotted out the accomplishments of the great empires of Greece and Rome; the cradle of humanism, an age of discovery, and a pinnacle of artistic, intellectual, and literary accomplishment. As the era that saw the recovery of the philosophy, drama, literature, and political treatises of classical antiquity, and developed its aesthetic and rhetorical forms in imitation of these models, the Renaissance was considered the repository of the moral, political, and philosophical truths of classical learning and so it was credited with regenerating, safeguarding, and furthering the essential tenets of Western civilization. Without sounding too white middle class…there is an education needed! A replication of the Sistine Chapel on the roof of the number 2 bus, would certainly give a new life to travelling. The mundane tasks we face would have a new lease of life to it, energy.
‘Art on the Underground is a pioneer in commissioning contemporary artworks that enrich the journeys of millions on the Tube every day. From large-scale commissions at Gloucester Road station to the pocket Tube map cover commissions, Art on the Underground has gathered a roll-call of the best artists over 15 years, maintaining art as a central element of Transport for London’s identity and engaging passengers and staff in a sense of shared ownership.’ This is the way I’d precede, taking companies that promote the idea of different scenery with funding from local councils that support art and the underground company there would be resources to play and work with. The audience would be endless, at every stop there would be something new, at marble arch there’d be a Raphael, large in scale and asking you to stop, take the time to stare, understand it. I think art is made to be experienced, whether or not you have the chance to acquire it first hand, the original; it won’t matter as you can interpret it in a new light, with a modern twist. Walter Benjamin writes that “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence.” You may think that the replica loose its authenticity, however it gains more through the multiple appreciation and new acknowledgement. The work receives more and more through the hundreds of people who have the chance to discover it. This idea of viewing, in a fresh and innovative way; one where everyone stands equally in its presence.
I would take the past and replicate it with the modern, adding, reliving the former masterpieces of those countless artists who often get overlooked by the culture and ever developing society we frame artwork in today. The greats, Michelangelo, Raphael and Di Vinci, without sounding too much like the cast of teenage mutant ninja turtles; I would dress the city in the pieces that mattered the most. Adding significance to the disused, often meaningless spaces. These spaces we use everyday, the buses and tubes used for commuting, taxis we end our drunk nights out in, the spaces where you have the time to study your surroundings, where the time we travelling seems to be endless. Turning those spaces into portable galleries, advertising the works for those who would not necessarily choose to view it. A very polite appreciation forced upon us, like advertising but with a higher value. You don’t need to see more images of shoes or drinks, but a wider sense of art, an acknowledgement. The Renaissance was traditionally considered the era of rebirth, a rallying of the human spirit after the “dark ages” blotted out the accomplishments of the great empires of Greece and Rome; the cradle of humanism, an age of discovery, and a pinnacle of artistic, intellectual, and literary accomplishment. As the era that saw the recovery of the philosophy, drama, literature, and political treatises of classical antiquity, and developed its aesthetic and rhetorical forms in imitation of these models, the Renaissance was considered the repository of the moral, political, and philosophical truths of classical learning and so it was credited with regenerating, safeguarding, and furthering the essential tenets of Western civilization. Without sounding too white middle class…there is an education needed! A replication of the Sistine Chapel on the roof of the number 2 bus, would certainly give a new life to travelling. The mundane tasks we face would have a new lease of life to it, energy.
‘Art on the Underground is a pioneer in commissioning contemporary artworks that enrich the journeys of millions on the Tube every day. From large-scale commissions at Gloucester Road station to the pocket Tube map cover commissions, Art on the Underground has gathered a roll-call of the best artists over 15 years, maintaining art as a central element of Transport for London’s identity and engaging passengers and staff in a sense of shared ownership.’ This is the way I’d precede, taking companies that promote the idea of different scenery with funding from local councils that support art and the underground company there would be resources to play and work with. The audience would be endless, at every stop there would be something new, at marble arch there’d be a Raphael, large in scale and asking you to stop, take the time to stare, understand it. I think art is made to be experienced, whether or not you have the chance to acquire it first hand, the original; it won’t matter as you can interpret it in a new light, with a modern twist. Walter Benjamin writes that “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence.” You may think that the replica loose its authenticity, however it gains more through the multiple appreciation and new acknowledgement. The work receives more and more through the hundreds of people who have the chance to discover it. This idea of viewing, in a fresh and innovative way; one where everyone stands equally in its presence.
Notes
Ideas- To transform and recreate the art of the Sistine chapel, taking the master of all art, Michelangelo and modernising it to the 21st century. The substance of his work would be remade to the streets of London, taking the inside of a through way to a tube station and coating the ceiling with the figures that have been a symbol since the 15th century.
The Renaissance was traditionally considered the era of rebirth, a rallying of the human spirit after the “dark ages” blotted out the accomplishments of the great empires of Greece and Rome; the cradle of humanism, an age of discovery, and a pinnacle of artistic, intellectual, and literary accomplishment. As the era that saw the recovery of the philosophy, drama, literature, and political treatises of classical antiquity, and developed its aesthetic and rhetorical forms in imitation of these models, the Renaissance was considered the repository of the moral, political, and philosophical truths of classical learning—and thus it was credited with regenerating, safeguarding, and furthering the essential tenets of Western civilization.
Paul notes
Benedict drew, video artist- London artist jubilee line. Matt’s gallery exhibition.
Relate back to your work, surrealism, and abstract, figurative.
As a curator you are a mediator, can include writers, poetry, shows, cultural projects that you bring together that explore dialogue. Research those who surround the genre not just painters. Make brainstorm divide into, space-ideas-context-production-artists-audience. Types of space, think outside the box not just galleries, think materials, cars, car yard junk yard would be interesting, trains, in a restaurant when you order a food and an image comes out.
The idea of the tunnels of the underground entrances, could incorporate the idea of the Sistine chapel with the art on the ceiling but modernising the work into surrealist and abstract images and prints that reflect our society and culture. Relating to the conscious and subconscious mind.
Henri Lefebvre- the production of space, the privacy of space and how it can be reappropiated, reappropiation, the potential.
Hegel- space is a product and result of historical residue
Nietzsche & Schopenhauer- the past has a power in u, constituting us now as who we are, determining the meaning of what we now do. We create space through innate perceptions of power. Knowledge that guides us towards ‘will’
Marxist- historicity driven forward by the forces of production and by industrially revolutionary rationality.
Guy Debord- Spatial alienation exists, as a result of capitalist production of frozen time.
All space is coded- commodities would have no value without projecting into codified space. Ideology needs space to be activated. State, religion, gathering space to act, education, capital production, social hierarchy, prisons. Everyone needs spaces.
Art and space- museums: colonialism, taste, historical ideology, cultural narrative of dominance, the state, permanence, order.
Galleries: elitist, commerce, currency, temporal, primacy of the movement of time, vision, taste, selection, newness and the contemporary.
Commercial galleries: common, standards, nostalgia, populism, appealing to certain demographic or social economic groups, repetitive and frozen time.
Some community based ‘art spaces’ focus upon the concept that ‘art’ - repetitive cultural signs.
Art and site as reappropriation – as with Debord, a revision and occupation to emphasise former use, anti-ideology
Churches, factories, domestic spaces, military, schools, sites, etc.
Rehearsing forms of revolutionary ideas of occupation and re-appropriation to dissolve capitalist spectacle and ideology.
Ruin lust- the ideas and expectation behind ruin exhibition.
Tate Britain, Robinson institute- exhibition. Structure, industrial.
Psycho architecture- Hayward gallery, about the structure of the building changing the nature of the building. Changing the space.
Martin Creed, Christopher Williams, Jeremy Deller, Jim Shaw, Thomas Herscal, Ellie Harrison, Chi Yen,
Representing work and bringing it together in a surprising way. Jim Shaw- thrift store art, charity shop found artists display their work.
Intro – summary 200 words
Main- proposal is a document that outlines the particulars of the exhibition. Describe the exhibition contents and curatorial thesis. 300 words, link the artists, if others are to be included. Provide a complete inventory of works to be shown. Estimate the space required. Images of proposed work. Details of ideas and project, audience, meaning. Describe each piece of work included. Show any previous work of artists if new work were to be made.
Conclusion- 250 words
British art show 8 – magazine research
Grieg
Look into structures for curation project, artists, contemporary artists and audience.
Out of context, two way dialogue, how does the tube station mean something, why is it in there question it, cross of two sites, the use of loss time, the ceilings each vehicle other than just tubes the buses the tops on the inside, taking away the distraction of phones, getting engagement from the audience. Maybe all the classic renaissance artists, Raphael etc something to make people slow down, maybe add contemporary artists.
Ideas- To transform and recreate the art of the Sistine chapel, taking the master of all art, Michelangelo and modernising it to the 21st century. The substance of his work would be remade to the streets of London, taking the inside of a through way to a tube station and coating the ceiling with the figures that have been a symbol since the 15th century.
The Renaissance was traditionally considered the era of rebirth, a rallying of the human spirit after the “dark ages” blotted out the accomplishments of the great empires of Greece and Rome; the cradle of humanism, an age of discovery, and a pinnacle of artistic, intellectual, and literary accomplishment. As the era that saw the recovery of the philosophy, drama, literature, and political treatises of classical antiquity, and developed its aesthetic and rhetorical forms in imitation of these models, the Renaissance was considered the repository of the moral, political, and philosophical truths of classical learning—and thus it was credited with regenerating, safeguarding, and furthering the essential tenets of Western civilization.
Paul notes
Benedict drew, video artist- London artist jubilee line. Matt’s gallery exhibition.
Relate back to your work, surrealism, and abstract, figurative.
As a curator you are a mediator, can include writers, poetry, shows, cultural projects that you bring together that explore dialogue. Research those who surround the genre not just painters. Make brainstorm divide into, space-ideas-context-production-artists-audience. Types of space, think outside the box not just galleries, think materials, cars, car yard junk yard would be interesting, trains, in a restaurant when you order a food and an image comes out.
The idea of the tunnels of the underground entrances, could incorporate the idea of the Sistine chapel with the art on the ceiling but modernising the work into surrealist and abstract images and prints that reflect our society and culture. Relating to the conscious and subconscious mind.
Henri Lefebvre- the production of space, the privacy of space and how it can be reappropiated, reappropiation, the potential.
Hegel- space is a product and result of historical residue
Nietzsche & Schopenhauer- the past has a power in u, constituting us now as who we are, determining the meaning of what we now do. We create space through innate perceptions of power. Knowledge that guides us towards ‘will’
Marxist- historicity driven forward by the forces of production and by industrially revolutionary rationality.
Guy Debord- Spatial alienation exists, as a result of capitalist production of frozen time.
All space is coded- commodities would have no value without projecting into codified space. Ideology needs space to be activated. State, religion, gathering space to act, education, capital production, social hierarchy, prisons. Everyone needs spaces.
Art and space- museums: colonialism, taste, historical ideology, cultural narrative of dominance, the state, permanence, order.
Galleries: elitist, commerce, currency, temporal, primacy of the movement of time, vision, taste, selection, newness and the contemporary.
Commercial galleries: common, standards, nostalgia, populism, appealing to certain demographic or social economic groups, repetitive and frozen time.
Some community based ‘art spaces’ focus upon the concept that ‘art’ - repetitive cultural signs.
Art and site as reappropriation – as with Debord, a revision and occupation to emphasise former use, anti-ideology
Churches, factories, domestic spaces, military, schools, sites, etc.
Rehearsing forms of revolutionary ideas of occupation and re-appropriation to dissolve capitalist spectacle and ideology.
Ruin lust- the ideas and expectation behind ruin exhibition.
Tate Britain, Robinson institute- exhibition. Structure, industrial.
Psycho architecture- Hayward gallery, about the structure of the building changing the nature of the building. Changing the space.
Martin Creed, Christopher Williams, Jeremy Deller, Jim Shaw, Thomas Herscal, Ellie Harrison, Chi Yen,
Representing work and bringing it together in a surprising way. Jim Shaw- thrift store art, charity shop found artists display their work.
Intro – summary 200 words
Main- proposal is a document that outlines the particulars of the exhibition. Describe the exhibition contents and curatorial thesis. 300 words, link the artists, if others are to be included. Provide a complete inventory of works to be shown. Estimate the space required. Images of proposed work. Details of ideas and project, audience, meaning. Describe each piece of work included. Show any previous work of artists if new work were to be made.
Conclusion- 250 words
British art show 8 – magazine research
Grieg
Look into structures for curation project, artists, contemporary artists and audience.
Out of context, two way dialogue, how does the tube station mean something, why is it in there question it, cross of two sites, the use of loss time, the ceilings each vehicle other than just tubes the buses the tops on the inside, taking away the distraction of phones, getting engagement from the audience. Maybe all the classic renaissance artists, Raphael etc something to make people slow down, maybe add contemporary artists.
Curation writing tasks
What is a curator? Why do we need to mediate art?
Curators are individuals with a passion to find, contextualize, and organize information, it means to preserve, in the sense of maintaining the traditional culture of art. It means to be the selector of new work; connecting the audience to art history, and it means displaying or arranging the work. Before 1800, few people went to exhibitions, now hundreds of millions of people visit them every year, it’s a mass medium and a ritual. The curator sets it up so that it becomes an extraordinary experience and not just illustrations or specialised books. In activating critical attention and directing public attention, a curator's most important job may be simply the selection of art works to display.
This sounds simple, but the choices a curator makes and the relationships with artists, collectors, and other institutions are necessary in order to have choices are all determined by that person. In my eyes to complete all these tasks and fulfil the brief is an art form in itself. They can show the evolution of an artist or group, relate art to historical events, and even without essays or descriptive labels, show us why these particular works were chosen, help us work out why the particular piece we're looking at now is important. Artists often curate their own work however can be blinded on what is the best way to present it and communicate it to the audience, having a curator does that for you. Curators are essential eyes. To coin a phrase, an artist who is his own curator is a connoisseur wearing a blindfold.
In art culture today with so much going on, we need to mediate art. We need order and commercial style to keep the audience interested; the most obscure and radical designs of curation are the ones that are most memorable. As the technological world ever evolves we view art online too easily so the need to step out and physically view work needs to be worth seeing, you want to be stunned. The man who made curation an art, Hans Ulrich Obrist, quickly made a name for himself as a self-consciously innovative exhibition-maker interested in working closely with artists and mounting shows in unconventional spaces. “Exhibitions are kind of ephemeral moments, sometimes magic moments, and when they’re gone, they’re gone,” His role as a curator is to showcase his voice and aesthetic vision throughout that moment. Exhibitions are always ideological, they are forms of communications, so that communication needs to be memorable.
Curator Paul O’Neill identifies with a change in the understanding of the role of the curator: no longer seen as the carers of institutional collections, curators would instead become the authors of a critically engaged and experimental form of exhibition practice. The role has evolved, often seeming of higher importance than the artist himself or herself, the increased importance of the curator as author within cultural production, presenting curators as the agents responsible for the production of value within exhibition history. Today’s curator is more like a television producer than an academic scholar. They need to capture the attention of the audience through entertainment and engagement. Curators need to be open, curious, communicative and collaborative. They are sociologists and anthropologists as much as they are art historians. Contemporary museum and arts audiences have numerous options when it comes to their entertainment, and it is up to museums and arts organizations to make sure their programming evolves and stays competitive; otherwise, they run the risk of going extinct. Curators create the character that people connect to and invest in by sharing their knowledge with audiences on many levels. Frequently throughout exhibitions you see the curators name first, or receiving higher praise towards them than the artist themselves, this, I think will continue as art becomes more commercial. The modern art world revolves around money, and reproducing that money to create more. It’s a cycle but comes with benefits, with chances of exhibiting your work; it will lead you in the right direction. Working with advanced curators will lift your name and is a chance to network, which in turn will increase your knowledge basis, public view and press release. It’s all about who you know and what you do with it, the art world is something that can be very selective and elitist, however in the absence of art, curators would be out of work, so in that respect, there is a balance on both sides.
This sounds simple, but the choices a curator makes and the relationships with artists, collectors, and other institutions are necessary in order to have choices are all determined by that person. In my eyes to complete all these tasks and fulfil the brief is an art form in itself. They can show the evolution of an artist or group, relate art to historical events, and even without essays or descriptive labels, show us why these particular works were chosen, help us work out why the particular piece we're looking at now is important. Artists often curate their own work however can be blinded on what is the best way to present it and communicate it to the audience, having a curator does that for you. Curators are essential eyes. To coin a phrase, an artist who is his own curator is a connoisseur wearing a blindfold.
In art culture today with so much going on, we need to mediate art. We need order and commercial style to keep the audience interested; the most obscure and radical designs of curation are the ones that are most memorable. As the technological world ever evolves we view art online too easily so the need to step out and physically view work needs to be worth seeing, you want to be stunned. The man who made curation an art, Hans Ulrich Obrist, quickly made a name for himself as a self-consciously innovative exhibition-maker interested in working closely with artists and mounting shows in unconventional spaces. “Exhibitions are kind of ephemeral moments, sometimes magic moments, and when they’re gone, they’re gone,” His role as a curator is to showcase his voice and aesthetic vision throughout that moment. Exhibitions are always ideological, they are forms of communications, so that communication needs to be memorable.
Curator Paul O’Neill identifies with a change in the understanding of the role of the curator: no longer seen as the carers of institutional collections, curators would instead become the authors of a critically engaged and experimental form of exhibition practice. The role has evolved, often seeming of higher importance than the artist himself or herself, the increased importance of the curator as author within cultural production, presenting curators as the agents responsible for the production of value within exhibition history. Today’s curator is more like a television producer than an academic scholar. They need to capture the attention of the audience through entertainment and engagement. Curators need to be open, curious, communicative and collaborative. They are sociologists and anthropologists as much as they are art historians. Contemporary museum and arts audiences have numerous options when it comes to their entertainment, and it is up to museums and arts organizations to make sure their programming evolves and stays competitive; otherwise, they run the risk of going extinct. Curators create the character that people connect to and invest in by sharing their knowledge with audiences on many levels. Frequently throughout exhibitions you see the curators name first, or receiving higher praise towards them than the artist themselves, this, I think will continue as art becomes more commercial. The modern art world revolves around money, and reproducing that money to create more. It’s a cycle but comes with benefits, with chances of exhibiting your work; it will lead you in the right direction. Working with advanced curators will lift your name and is a chance to network, which in turn will increase your knowledge basis, public view and press release. It’s all about who you know and what you do with it, the art world is something that can be very selective and elitist, however in the absence of art, curators would be out of work, so in that respect, there is a balance on both sides.
Forms of curation & the development over history
An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition".
Such expositions may present pictures, drawings, video, sound,
installation, performance, interactive art, new media art or
sculptures by individual artists, groups of artists or collections of a specific form of art.
Such expositions may present pictures, drawings, video, sound,
installation, performance, interactive art, new media art or
sculptures by individual artists, groups of artists or collections of a specific form of art.
Curation, in the traditional sense of the word, brings to mind galleries full of artwork and museums full of dinosaur skeletons. Libraries. Archives. A professional curator is in charge of selecting, collecting, displaying, and caring for/maintaining whatever sort of media is their specialty. They usually have some kind of degree (or multiple degrees) in their field, and are impressive people in the breadth and scope of their knowledge. I have a great deal of respect for them and the work they do.
Of course, ‘curation’ is a term that has taken on new meaning for the internet age, so a separate definition is in order.
‘Curation,’ for the purposes of this book, means the intentional identification, collection, (sometimes) repackaging, augmenting, updating, and sharing of content.And these days, ‘content’ is about as vague a term as you can utter. Images, movies, games, collections of written words of any length; these are all content in the broadest sense. When someone speaks of ‘curating content’ and they don’t have some kind of advanced degree and a gallery or museum to fill, the definition expressed above is probably what they mean.
That’s not to say the modern incarnation of the curator can’t be as important in its own way as the classical model. Just as a museum curator must select from all the obtainable artwork in the world to determine what will be displayed in a given wing of their building, so must the art blogger determine which pieces and artists and openings to share with the world. Just as the art gallery curator must decide what lighting and hanging mechanisms are appropriate for a given show, so must the online style expert determine whether Pinterest or Instagram or Facebook or Tumblr (or a combination of all four) is the best platform through which to present a new line of scarves to her audience.
Curators, whether in the traditional sense or the online redefinition, are gatekeepers in an age when traditional gates are crumbling all around us. And theirs are gates we seek out because they can take us someplace new and exciting, in welcome contrast to the old type of gatekeeper, whose main priority is keeping out the riffraff. Curators welcome others to see the world as they see it, and to experience whatever it is they’re passionate and knowledgeable about.As such, being a curator is a responsibility. It gives you a voice and allows you to display your expertise (whether blossomed or budding) and taste, while also potentially gaining the ear (or eyes, or pocketbooks) of multitudes. Curation is a megaphone in that it can help you build an audience and a reputation. It allows you to express yourself, and to share that expression with others. It also allows you to take part in creation by assisting those who create.
By filtering and remixing and organizing and presenting others’ work, you’re presenting, in a sense, completely new work.
Think of it like a mix tape. You didn’t create the music, but in choosing the tracks and arranging them just so, you’ve told the listener something about yourself and something about the music. You’ve made something new from an assortment of finished works. And if you do it right, all three parties — you, the listener, and the creators of the work you’re presenting in this new way — stand to benefit from your curation.
Of course, ‘curation’ is a term that has taken on new meaning for the internet age, so a separate definition is in order.
‘Curation,’ for the purposes of this book, means the intentional identification, collection, (sometimes) repackaging, augmenting, updating, and sharing of content.And these days, ‘content’ is about as vague a term as you can utter. Images, movies, games, collections of written words of any length; these are all content in the broadest sense. When someone speaks of ‘curating content’ and they don’t have some kind of advanced degree and a gallery or museum to fill, the definition expressed above is probably what they mean.
That’s not to say the modern incarnation of the curator can’t be as important in its own way as the classical model. Just as a museum curator must select from all the obtainable artwork in the world to determine what will be displayed in a given wing of their building, so must the art blogger determine which pieces and artists and openings to share with the world. Just as the art gallery curator must decide what lighting and hanging mechanisms are appropriate for a given show, so must the online style expert determine whether Pinterest or Instagram or Facebook or Tumblr (or a combination of all four) is the best platform through which to present a new line of scarves to her audience.
Curators, whether in the traditional sense or the online redefinition, are gatekeepers in an age when traditional gates are crumbling all around us. And theirs are gates we seek out because they can take us someplace new and exciting, in welcome contrast to the old type of gatekeeper, whose main priority is keeping out the riffraff. Curators welcome others to see the world as they see it, and to experience whatever it is they’re passionate and knowledgeable about.As such, being a curator is a responsibility. It gives you a voice and allows you to display your expertise (whether blossomed or budding) and taste, while also potentially gaining the ear (or eyes, or pocketbooks) of multitudes. Curation is a megaphone in that it can help you build an audience and a reputation. It allows you to express yourself, and to share that expression with others. It also allows you to take part in creation by assisting those who create.
By filtering and remixing and organizing and presenting others’ work, you’re presenting, in a sense, completely new work.
Think of it like a mix tape. You didn’t create the music, but in choosing the tracks and arranging them just so, you’ve told the listener something about yourself and something about the music. You’ve made something new from an assortment of finished works. And if you do it right, all three parties — you, the listener, and the creators of the work you’re presenting in this new way — stand to benefit from your curation.
Curation- from the blog by Colin Wright
Curation is creation. Creating something that didn’t exist before, using building materials that are themselves finished work. And if you do it right, you’re adding value in the process. It’s important to recognize that, just as not all creation is valuable, not all curation is valuable, either. Look around the web and you’ll see what I mean: endless lists and photo albums and directories. Some are valuable to someone, even if not many people. Some are incredibly valuable to a large audience. Some will never be visited by anything other than search engine keyword bots; adding to the noise, rather than helping to break through it. I never thought of myself as a curator until I attracted my first thousand followers on Twitter. I already had a significant blog following by the time I started using Twitter in earnest, so I didn’t notice the numbers or appreciate their significance for months. So many people were subscribing to my real work, it was hard to take seriously the number of people following my social media updates, which were mostly links to things I found interesting. At around the thousand mark, I realized a few things. First was that most people would never reach a thousand followers. It didn’t seem like what I shared was radically different from everyone else; links and brief updates and such, but there must have been something different to account for all those digits.
Second was that there was real value for my own work when more people followed my social media accounts. Folks were sharing my blog posts and books with their own followers, and my words were spread far and wide. I started to receive messages from people I hadn’t spoken to in ages who had read a blog post I wrote after it was posted to their girlfriend’s Facebook wall. These networks provided legs my blog would never have, solo. Finally, there were people who used Twitter and Facebook very, very intentionally. They had gazillions of followers and built their audiences almost completely on the strength of their social network reputations. There was something to this ‘tweeting’ thing, and I wanted to figure out what it was. As it turned out, the secret wasn’t much of a secret at all. Nor was it a marketing gimmick or trick. What these truly successful online personalities were doing that the rest of us weren’t was treating their feeds and timelines like products, not marketing channels. Their streams and timelines were curated experiences through which they expressed a distinct point of view or provided some kind of service. Remarkably, not many people care about your opinion of a new movie, what you think of a certain celebrity, how good your food is, or that your cat farted. Your friends may care (or pretend to care), but such information isn’t relevant to many people beyond your primary circle of friends and family. The same is true with context-free selfies on photo services and videos of you insulting someone in your high school class. Who cares? Who even knows who these people are? It’s like telling a stranger about a dream you had: the conversation is one way, and the person on the other end has zero reason to know or care what the hell you’re talking about. Those who find success on social networks, and anywhere else one might share things, are those who share with a purpose. You may be the most fascinating person in the world, but chances are unless you’re famous already, no one will care what you have to say, if they even find you to begin with. If you share more intentionally, however, and focus your sharing energies on, say, interesting scientific facts or the worst-dressed celebrities, there’s a good chance your work will find its way to those who might enjoy it. An audience who actually appreciates what you’re sharing. For the past four years I’ve been traveling the world in order to discover and experience new things and explore different perspectives. I love to learn, and I spend hours a day reading books, blogs, essays, and anything else I can get my hands on. The only excuse I need to hunt down more information on a topic is that I find it fascinating. I decided to focus my social networking efforts on the same, very broad, subject matter, eschewing gossip and crosstalk and other traditional trappings of social networks. Just to see what would happen. My following bloomed. People were suddenly hopping aboard like I was the last bus home, and I started to receive messages from people who knew nothing about my other activities (blogging and writing books and giving talks and so on), but wanted to thank me for the great work I was doing on Twitter. The great work I was doing on Twitter. It was bizarre, but revelatory. Social media could be useful. My links and commentary on interesting things I discovered was something others found valuable. I discovered that my lifestyle provided me with an advantage: time to wade through a massive amount of media and share the ones I find to be most interesting. By rummaging through the mess and sharing the good bits, I acted as a filter for the thousands of people who followed my tweets, which helped them find more of the kinds of blog posts and books and videos they enjoyed, but seldom had the chance to locate on their own. Granted, not everyone has the same taste as me. I spend an inordinate amount of time reading about science and publishing and design and sociology and philosophy and myriad other things that may not be palatable to most (or even many). But there are tools available today that make this process easier than ever before, so although my tastes may not be for everyone, there’s almost certainly someone out there who is spending their time and energy curating a feed full of media you’ll enjoy. Curation is creation because it pulls new value from things that might otherwise go unnoticed; un-utilized.Like television channels or radio stations, online curation allows audiences to find a channel and get more of what they love. And like TV and radio, online curation involves selecting the right combination of finished products to present in a new way; a new context, in a new collection, to a new audience, or alongside new insight.
WHY CURATE?I spend some of my time each day sharing links to the things I read. This is time with which I could be doing anything else, and I choose to spend it curating an ever-growing list of articles, books, essays, and other material I find interesting.Why? It’s a good question, and there are several answers for me, personally.I curate because I believe in the things I’m sharing. I suspect they could enrich the lives of others the way they’ve enriched mine. The same way I’d tell a friend about a band I know they’d like based on my knowledge of their tastes, I share the good work I come across because I know what the people who follow me like. I know they like what I like; if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be following me.I curate because it helps build my audience. I’m an author, a blogger, and an entrepreneur. I live and die by the size and enthusiasm of my audience, and that means I’m at my best when I have many different ways to reach out and show people what I’m about; who I am; what I do; the kinds of things I produce and associate myself with. Curating is an excellent way for me to share something up front; to begin my relationship with someone else, a stranger, by giving them something of value (a directory of interesting things I’ve come across) for free. It’s also an excellent way to show my expertise in certain fields. I’m well-read on many subjects, and I do my best to stay up to date on others I’m only now learning about. By sharing the best information I can find on these topics, I can show others I know what I’m talking about. This makes it more likely the things I share on those topics in the future (which could be my own work, or the work of someone else I want to promote) will be taken seriously.
I also curate because it’s an easy way for me to create value and share it with the world.I spend a good portion of my day reading and researching and learning, and taking an extra ten, maybe twenty seconds to share an article or video doesn’t account for much of my time. Because of the tools I have available, my curatorial tasks don’t take much time, and the payoff is more exposure to more ideas for more people. A pretty good investment.Finally, I just really enjoy sharing interesting things with other people. I’m the type of guy you either love or hate talking to, because any conversation you have with me invariably spirals into a long dialogue about some obscure moment in history, a new development in technology, or a metaphor for philosophy that gets way out of hand. I love to talk about the things that interest me, and the tools I use allow me to share these passions with others without missing a beat.Ask anyone who’s taken the time to think about why they curate, and I’m sure you’ll get a slightly (or radically) different answer.Some people focus more on the selfish pleasure they get from the experience of curating, while others do it purely for the profit, while still others prefer the non-monetary payoff they enjoy as a result.Whatever your motivation, curate enthusiastically and everyone involved will end up better for your efforts.
...
Who is your audience?
This is an important question for anyone who creates or builds anything, and curators are no different.
It can be a difficult question to answer, because your actual audience may differ from your intended audience; a fact that some curators fail to notice due to lack of metrics and stats, or by simply not considering that there may be others interested in what they’re putting out into the world.There are many ways to figure out who’s already listening to what you have to say, and the simplest is to ask. If you’re curating primarily through a social network, talk to the people on the other end; those who are following you. Take a look at their profiles, and try to figure out what demographics are dominating your roster. You can also do an informal roll-call, asking people questions or simply asking them to introduce themselves. I find the latter method works wonders in solidifying a disparate group into a community: the more you know about them, and the more they know about each other, the easier it is to find commonalities. Once you know who’s following your work, you can decide whether or not to make changes to better serve your audience. Let’s say you’re operating a Harry Potter fan-fiction website, and you find a large number of your followers are also fans of Dr. Who. This knowledge gives you some options; maybe you expand your offerings to provide the best curated fan-fiction for Harry Potter, Dr. Who, and several other popular fictional worlds. Or maybe you start up a sister-site for the Dr. Who enthusiasts to enjoy. Or maybe you ignore this information, because you don’t particularly care for Dr. Who, and the folks who do clearly enjoy Harry Potter as well, or they wouldn’t be regulars at your site.These are all viable options, and what you do with the information gleaned from your analytics comes down to what you hope to accomplish.
It can be a difficult question to answer, because your actual audience may differ from your intended audience; a fact that some curators fail to notice due to lack of metrics and stats, or by simply not considering that there may be others interested in what they’re putting out into the world.There are many ways to figure out who’s already listening to what you have to say, and the simplest is to ask. If you’re curating primarily through a social network, talk to the people on the other end; those who are following you. Take a look at their profiles, and try to figure out what demographics are dominating your roster. You can also do an informal roll-call, asking people questions or simply asking them to introduce themselves. I find the latter method works wonders in solidifying a disparate group into a community: the more you know about them, and the more they know about each other, the easier it is to find commonalities. Once you know who’s following your work, you can decide whether or not to make changes to better serve your audience. Let’s say you’re operating a Harry Potter fan-fiction website, and you find a large number of your followers are also fans of Dr. Who. This knowledge gives you some options; maybe you expand your offerings to provide the best curated fan-fiction for Harry Potter, Dr. Who, and several other popular fictional worlds. Or maybe you start up a sister-site for the Dr. Who enthusiasts to enjoy. Or maybe you ignore this information, because you don’t particularly care for Dr. Who, and the folks who do clearly enjoy Harry Potter as well, or they wouldn’t be regulars at your site.These are all viable options, and what you do with the information gleaned from your analytics comes down to what you hope to accomplish.
750 words essay
Introduction – 150 words - Main body – 400 words - Conclusion – 200 words
Introduction – 150 words - Main body – 400 words - Conclusion – 200 words
Notes
- Curators are individuals with a passion for a content area to find, contextualize, and organize information.
- There is a difference in curating your own projects/work and Curating in a museum. In a museum it also requires research, idea development and refinement, project management, budget management, programming considerations, educational training, decisiveness, and even interior decorating skills.
- It means to preserve, in the sense of safeguarding the heritage of art. It means to be the selector of new work. It means to connect to art history. And it means displaying or arranging the work. But it's more than that. Before 1800, few people went to exhibitions. Now hundreds of millions of people visit them every year. It's a mass medium and a ritual. The curator sets it up so that it becomes an extraordinary experience and not just illustrations or specialised books.
- The issue is showing more of the style of the curator than the artist, it was important to be close to artists and not subordinate their work to the curator's vision. I've realised that the curator's role is more that of enabler.
- Curating is a great way to make connections with other artists and art professionals, to expand ideas about your own work, to create a dialogue within a particular community, or to give an idea a public face. Whether in a traditional gallery space or a public site, curating can give an artist experience and exposure, which may lead to a job, new work, or a newly defined community.
- In summoning critical attention and directing public attention, a curator's most important job may be simply the selection of art works to display.
- This sounds simple, but the choices a curator makes, and of course, the relationships with artists, collectors, and other institutions that are necessary in order to have choices to make--are fully an art form in themselves. One painting is just a painting. Just two or three paintings are a body of work. They can show the evolution of an artist or group, relate art to historical events, and even without essays or descriptive labels, show us why these particular works were chosen, help us work out why the particular piece we're looking at now is important.
- When contemporary artists look at each other's work in a museum or group gallery show, this influences the future direction of art in the city, or in the scene. Curators are essential eyes. To coin a phrase, an artist who is his own curator is a connoisseur wearing a blindfold.
- Why mediate art?
- We need to mediate art because it allows us to order and find links between other artists work, to find what brings out the best in the piece. When compiling a section of work you find the best qualities in them, that they can sit together with and gel well.
- Displaying work brings out the best in the piece, you want to present it in the best way possible so it can be enhanced.
Monday 30th Nov Paul notes
- Summarise in 4 lines what I am going to do, with a focus point on painting, dating back to the early 20th century and we need to mediate art because art is part of the world. Look in contemporary art and the curator. Look at the history of curation.
- Look at the Vienna biennales and other ones, documenter. Research and condense.
- Art began to see itself as an object, and needed to get out of that, it became about money. We need the rich, but it is a problem. Critical theory, the difference between the object and the critical object. Corporeality of the art- the physical interaction with the art, with our bodies.
- Relational aesthetics- book- the idea that art has to engage with the public.
- The first papers of surrealism- marcel Duchamp- string piece, physical thing over others work. The curation of that is still relevant today. 1942- How the experience relates to the frame. The curator stops the audience being passive, something more physical.
- 1924- Frederic Heisler- the pieces could be moved around, modern idea.
- Fontarna, artist – organic space, effects the space. Richard Hammond, ica abstract painting, Yves Klien, the void- 1958. Ahemnd, filled the gallery till you couldn’t get in. 1960Alan Capro, audience interaction- 1961-
- Compare curation over the world- the difference from USA to Europe in styles.
- The artist takes control over the display and conception of his work, needs to effect and work with space. Culture in the framework.
- Moving away from the idea of perfection, to connect to real life, you lose the perfection.
- A curator, the artist becomes their medium, to play/conduct with and alter/arrange.
- Artist, writer, critic, curator – the contemporary artist. Clarifying, framing and reframing. Demystifying the structures of the art world.
- Joseph cursoph – play on Magritte’s this is not a pipe, use with a chair, contemporary.
- With painters you experience work in the classic way, you stand in front of it to experience it. The way you curate it you control how you experience, it’s necessary, its dematerialised and the range of art, the diversity of art is so extensive, that it needs to be organised to be appreciated. Painting for example needs to be praised still in such a technological world.
- Keeping the audience interested with the most obscure and radical designs of curation with the digital world you view art online so easily so travelling to the gallery needs to be worth seeing. The shock factor.
- The white cube
- Arts material, objectivity, medium specificity, visuality, autonomy.
- The personality of the artist is shifted towards the curator, the curator is praised for the arrangement of the work, not the artists themselves.
- Deleuze- the role of the mediator- group – to keep things moving, keeping the interest. To be spontaneous, how this relates to art, the curation of which makes no sense, or is unexpected, transforming it. Changing the way your work is read. The artist’s work is demystified, made visible.
- Books- culture of curating and the curating of cultures – paul o’niel/ on curating – essays on international curating /hans ulrich-history of curating / the role of the curator.
- Curation from the beginning to contemporary.