Friday 21 May 2010, 10.00–18.00

Despite the diverse processes that make up the curatorial, its presence in artistic culture and its power to organise the reception and distribution of art, curation seems to struggle to transform the conditions within which it operates. At this symposium, which is led by MA Curating students from Chelsea College of Art, Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Essex, invited speakers from a range of disciplines address the contingency of curation and its consequences for culture and society. Speakers include Andrea Philips, Roman Vassuer, Susan Hiller, JJ Charlesworth, Neil Webb, and Sound Theshold (Daniella Cascella and Lucia Farinati).

Tate Britain  Clore Auditorium
£20 (£10 concessions), booking recommended
Price includes drinks afterwards

    

Timetable

1000–1030         Registration and Coffee

1030–1045         Welcome by Eleanor Clayton, Tate Britain

1045–1100         Introductions by students from the three colleges

1100-1245          Panel 1 – The Autonomous Curator

                         JJ Charlesworth (Chair), Emma Dexter, Susan Hiller, Marie-Anne McQuay

1245-1345          Lunch

1345-1500          Panel 2 – Mediation as Production

                         Sound Threshold (Daniella Cascella and Lucia Farinati), Simon Hollington and Kypros Kyrianou, Ron Wright, Neil Webb

1500-1530          Break

1530–1645         Panel 3 – Curating Friction

                         Andrea Phillips (Mediator), Roman Vasseur, Munira Mirza

16.45–1700        Screening of “Just a Minute”

17.00–18.00       Drinks reception in the foyer

Panel Details:

 

Panel 1: The Autonomous Curator

The role of the curator as a singular author/auteur, working either inside or outside of institutions, is more dominant today than it has ever been. In recent years this has been especially compounded by the increasing growth and popularity of trans-national shows and Biennales that have further moved the contemporary curator away from the traditionally invisible mediating role into an increasingly internationally recognised autonomous figure. This panel will principally ask what the character and scope of this prevalent autonomy is for ‘the Curator’ today, and does the ‘hired-gun’ have more freedom to exercise greater creativity in the processes of making art visible?

JJ Charlesworth is a writer and critic as well as reviews editor at ArtReview magazine. JJ Charlesworth has been writing about contemporary art since he left Goldsmiths College London in 1996, where he studied art. He now writes regularly on contemporary art for magazines such as Art Monthly, Modern Painters, Time Out London and ArtReview magazine where he is associate editor. He is tutor in painting at the Royal College of Art, and is currently researching a doctoral thesis on British art criticism in the 1970s.

Susan Hiller is an artist and writer. Susan Hiller is known for an innovative artistic practice including group participation works such as Dream Mapping (1974); the museological/archival installations Fragments (1978), and Enquiries/Inquiries (1973 & 1975). Four of her major large-scale installation works are currently exhibited at Tate. Susan has co-edited numerous books about curating. The latest publication in the successful Producers series contains three conversations between leading contemporary curators. As well continuing with her independent artistic practice Susan is also Baltic Chair in Contemporary Art at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Emma Dexter is Director of Exhibitions at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London. Prior to this Emma held a number of key senior posts at public galleries and museums in the UK, including: assistant curator of fine art at Stoke-on-Trent’s City Museum and Art Gallery (1985 to 1987); from 1987-1990 she was Director of the Chisenhale Gallery, London; and, Deputy Director of Exhibitions at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and Director of Exhibitions from 1992-1999. Before moving to Timothy Taylor Gallery, Emma was a Senior Curator at Tate Modern from 2000-2007.

Marie-Anne McQuay is Curator at Spike Island, Bristol. McQuay joined the organisation in January 2007, where she works across the Exhibition, Residency and Public Programmes and has initiated numerous exhibitions for the galleries at Spike Island, including Craig Mulholland’s solo show Grandes et Petites Machines (2008) and Working Things Out (2007) a group show with new work by Milo Brennan, Richard Forster, Sara MacKillop, Sophie Macpherson, Haroon Mirza, Jonathan Owen and Andy Wake. She also co-ordinates the Associate Programme - a network of artists, curators and writers based in the city which launched in March 2007 and now has over 80 members. Previously Marie-Anne worked at FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology), Liverpool, developing collaborative commissions with artists that include Nick Crowe, Kristin Lucas and Dias & Riedweg before undertaking a Masters in Curating at Goldsmiths. She also maintains an independent practice as a writer and is currently Guest Editor of Leisure Centre.

 

Panel 2:    Mediation as Production - Collaboration, Authorship and Contingency

The blurring of the separation between the roles of ‘curator’ and ‘artist’, emphasised by an increase in collaborative practice and the artist increasingly taking on the tasks of the curator, raises important questions regarding the notion of authorship and highlights that curation is no longer a central column of power in the art world.By taking up the notion of mediation as production and creating a multi-authored curatorial event, we will be asking if these ‘expanded practices’ challenge received notions of creative agency.

Sound Threshold was established in 2007 by Daniela Cascella and Lucia Farinati, as a long-term research project that explores the relations between site, sound and text. The project is grounded on a shared background in literature, experimental music, art history, and on over a decade of experience in writing and in curating visual and sonic arts projects. Since its inception, Sound Threshold has developed a programme of events, talks and artists' commissions in collaboration with international organisations. www.soundthreshold.org

Simon Hollington and Kypros Kyprianou -

Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou are London based artists that have been working together since 1999. They work in a wide range of media, particularly video and installation. The social and political implications of manned flight in the twentieth century were the subject of Goodbye Vile Earth! SHP (2008). The trope of ‘when science goes wrong’ in The Invisible Force Field Experiments, Artsway, 2003, was extended for lovers of conspiracy theory as The Invisible Force Field Experiments Accident Report, ICA, London and Mop Projects, Sydney, 2005, and New Forest Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2005. The Nightwatchman, Arts Catalyst/Scan, London, 2008, charted the changing public perceptions of the nuclear power industry. http://www.electronicsunset.org/

Neil Webb is a practising artist based in Sheffield working predominantly with sound. His practice includes sound installation, video, performance, curation, CD releases under the name bocman, and he is a founder member of Host Artists Group. In 2007 the making of a multi-channel audiovisual installation in collaboration with Ron Wright titled The Breach and the making of the multi-channel sound installation The Stars in Us All, Bloc Space, Sheffield. In 2008 Webb was commissioned to create a new audio installation in Sheffield's Winter Gardens. Titled Adrift this was part of the city-wide event Sheffield 08 Yes, No Other Options.

http://www.neilwebb.com

Ron Wright is a sound designer for screen and gallery. His film work includes the feature films Jelly Dolly and Exhibit A which both won international awards. His sound art practice includes Hylo, a series of “sci-art” audio-visual collaborations with lens based artist Andy Eccleston comprising of; Requiem, featuring a French horn being dissolved in a clear tank of nitric acid; Acousma, a quasi-paranormal opera generated from MRI brain scans and Spindrift, which uses boroscope technology to journey through the inside of orchestral instruments. Wright’s sonic research is concerned with sound in relation to space exploring real and imagined landscapes. http://www.ronwright.org

 

Panel 3: Curating Friction – Between Complicity and Contingency

Cultural projects are playing an increasingly important role within urban regeneration programmes and the curator, bearing the cachet of producing a mix of cultural capital and creative critique, is a desirable agent for the proliferation of culture and economic wealth. Complicit within these systems can the curator still be radical? Can critical friction exist within these curatorial practices? Where is the curator positioned within this tension between complicity and contingency?

Dr Andrea Phillips is Reader in Fine Art at the Department of Art, Goldsmiths, College. From 2006-2009 she was Director of Curating Architecture, a think tank that investigated the aesthetic and political relationship between architecture, curating and concepts of public display (www.gold.ac.uk/visual-art/curating-architecture). Dr Phillips publishes widely in art and architecture journals, artist’s monographs and collections on politics, philosophy and contemporary art practice, and speaks internationally on art, architecture, politics, institution-making and urban regeneration. Current research projects include Building Democracy, a set of publications and discussions that forefront critiques of participation in contemporary art and architecture.

Dr Munira Mirza advises the Mayor of London on strategy for Arts and Culture focusing on the Cultural Olympiad and 2012, arts and music education, supporting the cultural sector through the recession, and greater access to culture for all Londoners. She has worked for the Royal Society of Arts, Policy Exchange and Tate and taught at the University of Kent and University of East London. She has edited Culture Vultures: Is UK arts policy damaging the arts? and co-authored the report Living Apart Together: British Muslims and the Paradox of Multiculturalism. She was a founding member of the Manifesto Club. Dr Mirza is a member of Arts Council England, London Regional Council, MLA London, and the Renaissance London Board.

Roman Vasseur is an artist and is currently part time Senior Lecturer in the School of Fine Art, Kingston University. Vasseur's works and provocations often re-perform epic, filmic, and political narratives via specific socio-economic realities. The works redeploy 'culture' as a contingent component of the grand narratives of democracy, for example advocating the ritualized death of a mural artist as an alternative to the use of 'art' in urban regeneration. Vasseur has exhibited at the ICA, EAST International 06, and Die Neue Aktionsgalerie, Berlin. He has recently completed a two-year role as Lead Artist for Harlow New Town.