Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Week 5 - Curators and Artists

"Allez! Cuisine!"
Snack Friday Alert



The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By an Artist

(Click on the link and peruse thoughts by various artists including, John Baldessari, Tino Sehgal, Marina Abramovic, etc)

The title of this project is less a demand than a question. A question that does not articulate a critique of previous Documenta exhibitions but rather investigates, in a provocative way, the relationship, which artists have to the profession of curating. Curators are showing more and more interest in setting up art exhibitions with greater creativity while artists are becoming more seriously involved in curating—note for example the participation of artists Gabriel Orozco and Rirkrit Tiravanija as co-curators of the 2003 Venice Biennial. For this project, following a continuous string of criticism from artists in regard to exhibition concepts that simply illustrate the curator’s ideas, a group of artists has been invited to reflect upon the conditions of the relationship between artists and curators. More importantly, the artists were asked to propose a brief concept of how they could imagine putting together an exhibition such as Documenta. An exhibition that would, from their particular point of view, represents an adequate form of exhibiting and presenting art within the model of a large-scale group exhibition.
- Jens Hoffmann



Hello All,
Here are the readings for what will be Week 5 - Curators and Artists.
The Robert Storr video above may be of interest. 
Storr is a painter/curator/critic/academic, the current Dean of Yale University School of Art and director of the 2007 Vennice Biennale.
There will be no required written responses due for this group of readings, but feel free to leave your comments about curatorial practices.
Reminder :: This week 9/27 is our snack extravaganza!
Be prepared for a timed writing assignment after meeting/eating/presentations.


Presentations: Artworks, Lies/Truths 9/27, Week 4 – Group 3: 
1. Leah Koontz 
2. Lucy Heurich
3.Claire Malecot 
4. Diandra Oliva
5. Veronica Perez



 We will meet at Tiger Strikes Asteroid next Friday, 10/4 at 4pm sharp for a little talk and to send you off on your writing assignment. TSA is located at 319 N. 11th Street,  Suite 2h. That is between Vine & Callowhill, same building as Vox Populi. 
Warm regards,
1a. Go On, 'Curate This Comment,' Simon, 2012
1b. My Curator Done Told Me, Friedman, Visual Thesaurus, 2010
1c. Is All the Stuff at Art Fairs the Same-ish?, Vartanian, Hyperallergic, 2013
2. Do Curators Need University Curatorial Programs?, Moser, C Magazine, 2008.
3. The Curators Moment. (Trends in the Field of International ContemporaryArt Exhibitions), Michael Brenson, Art Journal, 1998.
3a. Notes on the Arts: Curating the Past 50 Years as Ruin, Klein, East of Borneo, 2011
4. How an Art Scene Became a Youthscape, Benjamin Genocchio, The New York Times, 2004.
5. In the Realms of Flight and Fantasy, Lance Esplund, WSJ, 2010
6. Ellen Lupton, Curator of The Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum and  an "MCAD Visionary Woman!"

 Additional readings / video on the topic ::



Lupton and her husband, Abbott Miller co-curated and wrote the exhibition catalogue for SWARM, a 2006 exhibition at The Fabric Workshop and Museum. The show included works by Fred Tomaselli, Matthew Ritchie, Sara Sze, Julie Mehretu, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Shazia Sikander, to name a few. The catalogue can be found here.

1. Response to Moser, Jones, ICA Halifax, 2009.
2. Go Ahead, Expect Surprises, Cotter, 2007
3. The Whitney Biennial and the Failure of an Empire, Village Voice, 2008. 
4. Collectors and Their Collections:
a) di Rosa Preserve
b) Pamela and Richard Kramlich5. Complaint Box | Adult Art, NYT, Bernstein, 2009 (of note as we curate our show!)


"FRESH"


Louise Fishman On Fifty Years Of Fitting In While Sticking Out, Frank, Huff Post, 9/2012



Louise Fishman may be the first artist we've ever heard of to grow up with dreams of playing basketball. Eventually, she swapped one boys' club for another, immersing herself in abstract expressionism, a movement known for its machismo and occasional misogyny. A feminist and lesbian with a repertoire of muscular strokes and a gripping palette, Fishman managed to fit right in while sticking out.

Jerry Saltz on The Met's 'Regarding Warhol' Has Nothing to Say...
Saltz, NY Magazine, 2012
Whole Museum Visit Spent Feeling Guilty About Moving On From Paintings


The Onion, September, 2012

Photo by Rubens Ghenov
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 25, 2013 at 5:19 PM

    “A Subjective Classification of Things”

    The one of the common tropes of contemporary art was funny in it’s accuracy of lots of gallery work that I have seen. I feel like you could fill it out on a bingo sheet and win on almost any first Friday. I don’t know that tropes are necessarily bad something can fallow a trope and still be relevant and interesting. However if I personally never see another internet meme inspired “ironic” fine art piece it will be too soon.
    I am also fond of the fact that he called it a subjective classification.

    How an Art Scene Became a Youthscape

    I honestly think that lots of these changes are almost purely economic. It makes sense for young artists and young curators to group together to give themselves more economic pull (or influence).

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  2. leah koontzSeptember 30, 2013 at 9:01 AM

    My main concern with Curatorial Practice now days is that it seems that the trend is for curators to take on the position of artists. This is exciting in some ways and terrifying in others. I suppose this goes both ways since the artist also is taking on the role of the curator. I like the idea of work expanding outside of the white cube for both artists and curators but the roles become confused as contemporary art progresses. I wonder how this will manifest in the future. I think the idea of open-minded projects which allow them selves to evolve along with a genuine interest in working together allows for the best artist curator relationships and projects. I do not like the idea of one party either the artist of the curator having all the power... and this does not work anyone because each one needs the other.

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