Seminar 1: The Museum of Loss and Renewal: Object Becomes Subject

Today’s seminar in The Museum of Loss and Renewal: Object Becomes Subject touched upon many interesting topics such as the durational in public art and the relationship between art and anthropology. Loads to think about and digest, but here are some quick notes and links I’ve found since this evening.

Social Anthropologist, Prof Arnd Schneider mentioned Alfred Gell’s Art and Agency (1998) and the concept that art can be understood as the agency for creating a social nexus. In the first instance, it seems like some researching will help me to consider how the concept functions, though sounds relevant so I will endeavour! 

Caroline Van Eck writes in Gell's theory of art as agency and living presence response, 

“Gell defined art objects in performative terms as systems of actions, intended to change the world rather than encode symbolic propositions about it. Art works thus considered are the equivalents of persons, more particularly social agents.” And goes on to describe, “Agency is achieved through technical virtuosity. It can enchant the viewer: ‘The technology of enchantment is founded on the enchantment of technology’. But there are many varieties of this technique.”

Paul O‘Neill discussed a range of public art projects in terms of their durational aspects and his understanding of them as a researcher/viewer/participant. The time that was invested in these projects by the artists/communities was of significance, however O’Neill did not seem to mourn their individual ends. The communities themselves could potentially continue the projects, or more likely, the projects would disperse in different ways with their influence shown in other ways. O’Neill understands that this type of durational, (potentially dispersive) work counteracts the spectacle that is common in contemporary global culture. So, projects such as Jeanne Van Heeswijk’s The Blue House Project would counteract some of the large Bienalles.

The Museum of Loss and Renewal: Object Becomes Subject

The Museum of Loss and Renewal an ongoing project by Tracy Mackenna and Edwin Janssen is currently in stage 2 with Object Becomes Subject in Centrespace at the VRC. 

Above, is an image of the display cases in which Tracy and Edwin have curated objects bought from The Highland Hospice Charity Shops alongside two painted reproductions of historical masters' works, commissioned in China.

Van Gogh imagery dominates one case, with a jigsaw puzzle featuring one of his paintings placed with a vase, fruits and one of the commissioned paintings. This reminds us that works such as these have filtered through society becoming consumer goods; the question of value arises - how does the image translate through such merchandising? We are invited to consider the value of the selected objects, once donated to charity shops, then sold on again now placed in the different gallery context.

The notions of recycling, memory or history and life and death connect the cases, with fresh flowers slowly decaying and clothes that lie empty amongst objects donated to The Highland Hospice Shops. 

A slideshow on the other side of the space gradually moves through photographs of Tracy’s writing/drawing that has been annotated by her and Edwin with images from their postcard collection. This takes us through some of the poignant aspects of discussions that have happened during the project, since it’s launch at The Highland Institute of Contemporary Art (HICA) in September. Simple but descriptive comments on arts relationship to language (to paraphrase) “artworks are like words, they can be rearranged to make different paragraphs”, or the “web of interconnectedness” that applies to relationships, art and exhibition processes, or notes on loss, grief and personal relationships help to make sense of the title of this stage of The Museum: “Object Becomes Subject”.

Tracy and Edwin’s curatorial approach enables an access point into the research and production methods, as well as the ideas they explore, that make up the project. For instance, two of the display cases have pin board backings that display postcards of artworks by artists such as Van Gogh, Louise Bourgeois, Lucio Fontana and Ai Wei Wei, through this a formal mind mapping of ideas and connections is produced. 

The space is not static but a space for research, education and making; some of Tracy’s writing/recording of the discussions that are taking part within the project is materialising into a blanket. After the felting process, the blanket will be given to the Hospice members whose words helped shape it, providing it with another life/use/value. 


A library area, housed by recycled plinths that are painted yellow, allows the visitor to read Mark Dion’s Marvelous Museum, books on museum culture and curatorial practice, a book documenting Walker Evan’s Postcard collection, Grayson Perry's The Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman or Tracy and Edwin’s previous publications. This area acts like the pin board and the slide show to give us, as visitor, a way in to their research and an opportunity to take part in it ourselves. 

The space is, like I hope ATELIER PUBLIC in GoMA's Gallery 3 will become, highly productive, explorative and allows for consideration of methods of display and individual approaches to art.

Get ON IT!

I used to talk about my studio work as structured play. Unfortunately now I’ve graduated there doesn't seem to be much studio work going on, my life isn’t structured and I don’t do enough in the way of playing with materials... Need to get ON IT! 

Thoughts: ATELIER PUBLIC, GoMA

Having visited ATELIER PUBLIC on Saturday I realise one visit will never be enough to interpret the situation. Although the aspects that are easy to appreciate such as the study area at the back of the gallery, photographed above, and the decision to place unpainted plinths and shelves around the presentation space are helpful ways to frame the experience for the viewer: this felt like a place for ideas, with potential. 

The print-outs and wall vinyls highlight the questions being explored - what art is or can be and its value, authorship, social inclusion and encouraging children to be involved in art, the role of the curator, documentation... A multitude of questions, which are each valid, but they caused me some difficulty when combined with other curatorial decisions which on first impression don't quite fit with the outlined intentions of the exhibition. 

Firstly, to offer as art supplies multi-coloured tapes, papers, plastics, lollipop sticks and plasticine is something I struggled to understand. On the one hand, this may make the workshop space more accessible to children, but on the other hand it develops a very strong aesthetic, and scale, which makes it difficult for any maker/player/artist to express themselves freely. The exhibition space has a cartoon feel with people attaching faces, animals and seascapes to the wall, or writing slogans. These act as distinct pieces of work that don't act together. I think the materials are too limiting.

Secondly, there is a slight tension in the decision to invite artist contributors - if you are suggesting that children's play potentially creates art, and you are asking viewers to appreciate it/join in etc. then does it undermine the non-artist artists to invite these artist contributors? What is their value? What is their purpose/role? 

Perhaps as time goes on, and as the contributing artists appear, the space will take on different guises. Given further time to evolve, and to create a space to fully consider the outlined questions (rather than simply a workshop place to play) ATELIER PUBLIC may get somewhere very interesting. I hope it is given the freedom to do this.

ATELIER PUBLIC is open until Jan 15th 2012.

ATELIER PUBLIC, GoMA

"ATELIER PUBLIC is an exhibition that takes the form of a working artists’ studio. We’re interested in what happens in this space, and we invite you to make artworks that become part of the installation. This is a space for looking, thinking, touching, exploring and making.

It has a curator, a person who manages the space. They have also asked some artists, thinkers and makers with a particular interest in play, creativity and the imagination to come and engage with the space during the exhibition. These mini residencies will help to shape the space and record what happens.

Through ATELIER PUBLIC we aim to witness, document and share the work created and installed in the space, online as well as here in the gallery." Playable Spaces Wordpress

ATELIER PUBLIC, THE PUBLIC STUDIO, GoMA, 10th Nov - 15th Jan 2011.

As I'm off to Glasgow this weekend I've been having a look online to see what's happening and came across ATELIER PUBLIC! It sounds like an exciting project, and one which would create quite a few difficult balances for the curator involved who is said to "manage" the space. For example, will they intervene or direct the public's play? What level of decision making will there be by the "manager" to keep in the space and what to change/remove after the maker has gone? How many makers can contribute to the space before we start to loose/hide what has already been made? Is this a good thing - will the exhibition gain momentum from constantly changing? Will the "manager" feel productivity slow or judge quality as the weeks continue? 

We already see certain shots of the space and first experimentations on flickr, ATELIER PUBLIC which enables public access to your images. I wonder, who is taking these photographs and who determines what photographs get uploaded to the site? The documentation of this project will slice the project into fragments and frame each slice - in doing so placing a significance on individual sections of the installation out with the whole. This is not different to many other documentary shots of exhibitions, but in this instance could it potentially create a hierarchy within the installation -  where only what is deemed a success finds the wider public flickr platform, thus judging what is art or what has value and ignoring what is not?

I am intrigued to see the curator's interaction with the project as these relevant challenges are explored and look forward to becoming part of the ATELIER PUBLIC while in Glasgow this weekend. 

PKN Volume 1

Last night the worldwide fast-talking, speed slide showing, energising phenomenon made it to Dundee: PechaKucha night Dundee!

We are now one of over 400 cities across the world to encourage creative individuals to share their respective practices/interests/lives following the simple format - 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide.
We saw/heard about the V&A project, Vanilla Ink, the soon to be released Superman game designed by Tiger Games in Dundee, Dundee based textile designer Hilary Grant and much more.

Amongst the presenters and organisers there was certainly an appreciation of the creative potential of Dundee, and the 200 strong audience gathered from around the city and farther afield would suggest this positivity is shared.

The night ran smoothly and presenter after presenter gave us an interesting/insightful/informative 6mins 40sec. Frequently presenters drew on their personal history: Kirsty Maguire's family routes in architecture; how practicing meditation has highlighted to Rohan Gunatillake the importance that our attention be focussed on more meaningful and valuable things than the daily distractions of contemporary life, and Ross Fraser McLean's photographs and description of a recent experience in India during which he spent some time detained by snake charmers of the Sapera caste in North India.

The presentations were concluded with Sink, an Edinburgh based band who improvised along to 20 slides of photographs they had never seen before. The jazz/Balkan classical sounds brought the images to life and the audience watched intently as the band interacted with one another to create a mesmerising performance.

The next PKN Dundee should be early next year.

Dundee - Making Applications & Proposals, Cultural Enterprise Office

Attended an interesting event organised by the Cultural Enterprise Office at the McManus today.
There was a lot of information to take in about how to go about making an application for funding in the creative industries and it gave me a lot to think about...

What do I want to achieve and what do I need to do to get there?
Is funding necessary and available?
Why would a funder fund?

I was asked to write a 25 word proposal of a project of interest to me, and although I am not going to write it here as it was very rough, it did clarify my interest in the artist-as-curator or curator-as-artist role(s)/responsibilities. I need to spend some time thinking, reading and writing about this and perhaps a potential project will emerge. Then I can consider whether funding would be relevant to the project- perhaps not though in the first instance.

A gallery space which looks at the install process in a gallery space as the exhibition? A continual install/curation of existing/new works/found works? A re-invigoration of my degree show work that tests out other possibilities with that body of work?

Value, or perceived value, and potential (in it's many senses) seem to stick at the forefront of my mind.

Cooper Gallery Notes

New posts on Cooper Gallery Notes discussing the A CUT A SCRATCH A SCORE project and the exhibition currently installed at the Cooper Gallery.


                                                                                             

A CUT A SCRATCH A SCORE: a comic opera in three parts

Here's a link to ExhibitionDJCAD's blog that the Production Assistants kept up-to-date during the week of open rehearsals for A CUT A SCRATCH A SCORE: a comic opera in three parts.

No posts! There are no new posts on my blog!!

I have uncovered a different understanding of the word 'purpose' recently. In summary, I graduated went on to have a job, then another job, and after a couple of weeks time I got promoted and became full-time, this job was only temporary though and then I became a job hunting graduate... and since September my need to search and find and try has taken over. I'm trying.

When at University my purpose was to be a student, and that allows for a lot (knitting for one).

Sadly for now my purpose is to be on the prowl for work, filling out endless application forms and leaving my knitting and pewter and plaster and colour behind.

But... the sign of a new personally re-ignited purpose is here, symbolic like a light at the end of the tunnel (a glowing laptop, digitally reconnecting me to my past) I am writing a post.

The build up has been since my summer work ended, leaving me some time to find my way around Scotland to look at some of the things going on. In the last 2 weeks I invigilated the Shared Imagination exhibition in the VRC Centrespace situated within the DCA, Dundee, visited the Cupar Arts Festival I've been lucky enough to visit my sister in Glasgow and saw a few great pieces one of them, The Missing by Graham Fagen, a supportive tutor at DJCAD, (there's a YouTube video where he discusses the commission below).

And, I am in contact with DJCAD Exhibitions and have been working with them on A CUT A SCRATCH A SCORE, a really exciting project that involves artists, musicians, members of the public and will hopefully capture all of our attentions over varying sites within the city and through events within DJCAD too.

It's a strange time, having been away and now being back to DJCAD in a different capacity. It's proving to be interesting, informative and... I can't think of another 'i' word to follow this on poetically. But I feel (to twist around a phrase) away from home, at home.

Degree Show

Dundee Degree Show, DJCAD

View information about the Dundee Degree Show that my work will be exhibited in next week! Please come and see the shows, see information about dates/times here.

Frames in 507

507, Day 5

Wall as a work?

Degree Show Install

White Space, white walls

White Space. April 2011

Rust

Rust in the 'white space'

Stage/layer one of the board rust work, further images to follow.

White Space. April 2011

    Put a black square in a white cube.

Carol Hummel

“In my art practice, I’m interested in connections made and the trace I leave as I move through space, time and place.” 

My work is ontological in intention and traverses the socially constructed constraints of difference by exploring the ties that bind human beings to each other through culture, kinship, history, social interaction and friendship.

 Yarn

25' h x 15' diameter
     2011

"Best of Luck, Nuclear World" builds upon the Indian tradition of wrapping string around Banyan trees for good luck and to make wishes come true. Each day for 9 days, Carol Hummel wrapped this tree in the colors of the flags of the 9 countries that possess nuclear warheads. As the strings are wrapped, the colors weave together to form a colorful fabric, an analogy about the hope that by interweaving our cultures, we can create something of beauty instead of destruction. Country Number of Year Acquired Nuclear Warheads United States 9,600 1945 Russia 12,000 1949 United Kingdom (UK) 225 1952 France 300 1960 China 240 1964 India 80 1974 Israel 80 1979 Pakistan 90 1998 North Korea 10 2006

Global Arts Village Delhi

Knitted tree by the Global Arts Village Delhi, New Delhi, India,

Blossoming

Notebook

Here's my Notebook project as it stands. 

Since I'm an Art, Philosophy and Contemporary Practices student I have the Notebook module this semester, which allows me to push forward the thinking from my dissertation and connect it with my practice more than before. I have multiple A5 'notes on...' books that sit on top, each one focusses on its own topic, Heidegger's 'Origin of the Work of Art' or chapters about the museum institution taken from 'A Manual' etc. Below are A4 booklets with articles and images annotated and compiled to follow my own interests in art and curation. Still a bit more reading/writing to do and then make some paperweights but I am nearly at the point that it could be submitted!