Project Statement 1/16/10

Curation as a medium for People-Knowing.

Everyday conversations, daily happenings and the simple choices that a person makes in their lifetime are a part of the human existence. Interesting relationships are made from these experiences. Using curation, editing and organization as a medium, how can we orchestrate an alternate view for people-knowing? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, “curator” is defined as one who has the care and superintendence of something; especially: one in charge of a museum, zoo, or other place of exhibit.

A current artist that has emphasized curation as an art or medium is Fred Wilson–an artist turned curator. Wilson mentions  “I am seeing museum space as a constructed kind of design space, as an installation environment. Very much like an artist you’re manipulating objects, light, color, spatial relationships. So I thought perhaps I could manipulate the space, make it kind of a trompe l’oeil of a museum space. Critiquing, as well, the notion of museum.” which has provoked a thought of what other areas can be explored when the curator of the museum/show/gallery collects, creates and curates?

Inspired by the curiosity for the various perspectives in which viewers experience a piece, whether it be object or Art, a curator can assume the role to edit the content accordingly, resulting in a new way to read or view the story.

Through various systems of collecting, curation as a medium for people-knowing is a thesis project that will investigate the use of daily happenings and everyday people as the contents of an exhibition, as well as exploring the diverse roles that a curator can assume in order to collate and present this material. What are the different ways to interview that would facilitate different modes of everyday conversation? Verbalization can be conscious, subconscious, direct or indirect. Through multiple ways of collecting these conversations, —which range from eavesdropped conversations about art at a museum, to direct answers from an interview about life choices, how can limitless content be edited down to display an unconsidered perspective?

In reaction to feeling that art has become less accessible to the public, the thesis project is a way to bring Art back to the people, by having the subjects of their everyday life provoke new perspectives. How can spaces of the future move forward to the antithesis of this current art world? Rather than focusing on the business aspects of what the art industry has become, could it transform into a space where there is no bureaucracy, ego or falsehoods? Pontus Hulten, a curator that has considered the museum an elastic space, discusses how in 1951, “things were infinitely easier then. Paintings didn’t have the value they do today. You could bring a Mondrian to the gallery in a taxicab. One of the shows was held in a bookstore.” How did the industry go from bringing a Mondrian painting to a gallery in a taxicab to current contemporary art becoming an object, not necessarily for the public, but only for the people who can afford it? Rather than putting so much emphasis on how the auction world, collectors and historians place value on artwork–what would happen if the public became essential to the content of the curated space?

Week 9

Week 9 Notes

How to organize/curate large collections with more thought
Conceptual Art–fluxus movement.
What is the actual intent of the work?
Curating new Media

Steve Dietz and Sarah Cook–Curating Media Art.

Eric Carle—The Lonely Firefly–electronic in the back of the book.
Designing a book that has low tech and still embodies the essence of book/graphic design

Exhibit as a magazine
I act as the Editor.
Comparing the role of the curator to a film director/producer
Brainstorming all the different types of relationship that a curator has with an artist
Curator’s relationship to the environment.
The different constraints a curator can give the artist
ESTABLISH an Agenda
Documenting the process–Lars Von Trier–8 obstructions
the apparatus becomes a part of the work

Design Research–
Different ways of collecting. For example Project with Jiyeon,
Getting her to write down her itinerary and me sythesizing the data
Different roles:
Advocate for the concept!
Time and Space–process driving it.
Investing a way of seeing
Designer will advocate the integrity of form
good design=cohesive and appropriate.
50/50 Relationship with artist
This As That

What am I communicating? The Value of things? How we see things?
New Ways of seeing.
Is there a way to record the imaginative space–
How do I want to present myself?
The space between Curator and Designer = collaboration
break out of traditional interpretation of curating
non-traditional space
How do you set up a space in the beginning?
Selecting the way to brainstorm—depends on who I am working with. varies from business to artists to designers. How do I create a non-creatives stuff? Curate a seminar? conferences? Establish a criteria that can be adopted. The language is important. New places and opportunities for growth.
Test the different levels of interaction.

Art for the Masses
How can I foster/help art be more accessible, and how do I facilitate that?

Curator: Who is it for and how do I make it happen?
Designer: Make it happen

Define the constituency

Curator as matchmaker?
Amplify, clarify, deliver the MESSAGE

Current Projects/studies

Experiment: Folding clothes.
How do you deconstruct a mundane motion event?
Study in sorting, processing.
Problem: Chaotic to order, which differs from the intentionally curated.

Norton Simon:Eavesdropping
Create a compliment manual for the Norton Simon Museum.
Eavesdropping at the Norton Simon in order to gather content on the multiple perspectives.

HONG G study
work with painter HONG G to curate/create a series.

In order to do this, I asked myself:

What are the different types of relationship a curator has with an artist?

1. Curator as a mediator for the Artist’s and contemporary events
2. Curator as a designer for a system which the artist can apply to their creation.
3. Curator as a facilitator for aiding in the Artists creation to exist in different spaces.
4. Curator as a facilitator for the Artists wants to the greatest extent possible
5. Curator as a diplomat for environment/space in which the Artist is creating within.
6. Curator and Artist as one.
7. Curator as a facilitator for collaboration amongst Artists
8. Curator as an advocate for the Artists concepts
9. Curator as a documentarian/producer for the Artists dialogue and process
10. Curator to challenge the Artists in environment they are creating within.

On going projects:

Collections

Project Luke