HTML Poetry

Dis. Collective: Exhibiting within student housing:

It’s nothing new within art history to view exhibitions within houses. Playing on these historical roots within curatorial practice, Dis. Collective has chosen to host art events within student housing as a means to conceptually explore what it means to be a student artist and the position of students within the art world. This is particularly poignant for me as I graduate this year. It also became very important for Dis. Collective through our experience as students when trying to create exhibition space. Finding a niche within Plymouth’s art scene, Dis. Collective looks to exhibit the work of students, and bring those interested in art together to network and experience new artwork through regular art events. This was our focus from the beginning of Dis. Collective but became more significant when working towards creating an exhibition we found that students are not seen as ‘professional artists’. This is clearly an issue for those who take the step of studying a degree in art to extend their knowledge, as they then struggle to get their foot in the door of the art world as those who have the ability to give students the step into the art world choose not to as they choose to not take students seriously as professionals. 

10, Hyde Park Road is a student property that I live in with four other tenants. To use this space I contacted the accommodation company that own the property to ask permission and through them contacted the landlord to ask his permission. In response, they informed me that for me to turn the property into an exhibition space I would have to purchase public liability insurance and I would not be allowed to profit from the events I host. 

The main difficulty that we have come up against as an art collective, when trying to create exhibition space is the fact we are students. This has made it very difficult for us to obtain funding and exhibition space because we don’t have CV’s that prove we have done this before and know what we are doing because this is our first attempt and as students we are often not viewed as “professional artists”.

With this in mind we have decided that instead of renting exhibition space we are going to exhibit within the student property that I live in. Utilizing student housing as a structure within which to explore the position of students within the art world. Instead of exhibiting artworks for a week or two, we aim to host art events for a three hour period in the evening, once every two or three weeks. These would run from 8pm to 11pm. We felt this would be a good duration as it would not get in the way of time when housemates may want to use the kitchen space to cook tea. The art would also be exhibited online on a blog, as a means to follow the exhibitions and as a promotional tool for both our work and the artists. An online web presence, via blogging, facebook, twitter, etc is vital as we have decided against producing physical information about the exhibition (i.e. flyers, posters, exhibition guides etc) at this point to limit production costs. The blog can be seen here: http://discollective.tumblr.com/

Our first step was to confirm with all other housemates that this would be acceptable for them. Upon them saying it would be, I developed the idea that they can exist as resident artists within the house, taking a spin on the idea of the ‘resident artist’ as these people are the residents of the house. It also explores how artist produce work in the home and how rising cost of properties and changes to squatting laws mean artists are struggling more and more to own studio space. This would create extra content for the blog as, when the residents produce artwork within the house, it can be photographed and displayed online.

Our next step was to email the accommodation company to ask permission for a non-profit public event to occur within the house. Whilst waiting for their response, we developed the first exhibition. To do this we had to figure out how to turn the house into an exhibition space. We plan to host the event in the living room, kitchen and spare room. All of which are attached together in the downstairs of the property. We will remove all content from the living room and spare room and cover up the kitchen surfaces to create a corridor between the two rooms.

We have begun to plan the first exhibition. Perhaps this is premature, but as we conceptually developed the house as an exhibition space we could not help but envisage possible events. The first exhibition will exhibit the work of four artists, both myself and Harry included as we felt that as its our first exhibition this is the right time to showcase our practice and as the space develops we can reach out to new artists for following events. The other two artists will be Jem Williams and Jacob Harding. The exhibition concept focuses around the idea of how we view images or information that is considered private and what occurs behind closed doors, which pushes the context of exhibiting within a private home even further. We discussed many ideas for events, from a life drawing class, to performance, to an exhibition of painting. We felt that this was the right event for our first exhibition as it shows off a wide range of artists, so cannot pigeonhole our focus and because its possible shock value may be memorable. The exhibition standing out to the audience is important as we want them to come back to the following event. I don’t want to go into to much detail about each artwork as I don’t want to give to much away before the event.To explore the concept of private imagery and how these images are viewed, Jem Williams will be exhibiting a audio artwork that is a biographical recording of first sexual experiences. Harry William Watson will be exhibiting a sexually explicit moving image work, that will be displayed within the kitchen area. I will be exhibiting an instillation that explores concepts of privacy, in terms of the internet and how private imagery can be disseminated. Jacob Harding will be exhibiting a sculptural work that looks at how, where and why we view moving image as an individual rather than with a audience within a cinema environment. We are considering calling the exhibition, Dis. Is Serious.

14:37 - This morning I worked on some writing for my 302 module and edited my blog. In the afternoon I experimented with different ways of projecting my films within the darker space that leads into the main gallery space.

Images of projection onto the ceiling can be viewed by clicking here.

Wall projections can be viewed here.

12:14 - I have spent the morning editing film. I chose not to bring my projector or projector screen in today as I did not know if I could store anything here. I have now confirmed that I am able to do so, so I aim to bring it in tomorrow so that I can project my film and editing process to explore how to exhibit my work and the process of producing it. 

13:05 - Editing is going well. I have also began to document our presence within the space through photography.

Reconstruct (2014) Siobhan Fedden

The projection of the film Construction/Destruction

I have recently been really struggling with the creation of artwork. This is in part due to the amount of curatorial and dissertation work I have to do and in part due to putting a lot of pressure on myself to figure out how to create film for the space I created. I have created an environment and context that explores the curation of art online and offline through the use of live stream to create a dual audiences, one online and one offline. I created a cinematic viewing space, to explore how, due to the commercialization cinema, art film has now found a home both online and within temporary structures in art galleries. This space holds a single, physical audience member. The limited access relates to the limited access to art film but also explores how art is viewed and how the audience can be arranged/manipulated to effect the way they view an artwork. The singular nature of the audience also references how we experience art online, as an individual in front of a screen. A live stream is connected to the space, exhibiting the space and audience within it to a wider online audience. This way of viewing the work online turns the singular physical audience into a ‘performer’, a part of the artwork. This singular person within a space, projecting to a wider online audience references the way we as individuals present and project ourselves online, mimicking the individual in their room, live streaming their actions to those online.

The space was intended for the projection of film but I am really struggling with this. I cannot seem to figure out how to produce a film that reflects my concept. I want to film things around me, I don’t want to set anything up, I want it to be ‘real’. Then cut up and edit together these pieces of ‘real’ life together to create a narrative; basically capture real physical events to re-order and redisplay to create meaning and then display them virtually and/or exhibit in a gallery context. However this leaves a reliance on audio to bring conceptual focus. So if am stuck with how to create audio, how am I suppose to produce a film that the audience can understand? How am I suppose to portray my concept?

Annemarie Brand, Monika Molnár - On Curating.org

Article Analysis - Siobhan Fedden

The interview with Ute Meta Bauer and Yvonne P. Doderer explores the role of the audience attending an exhibition, focusing on levels of engagement and the relationship between, artists, curators, the public and the artwork. This relationship is forever shifting as the art world develops. It develops through the establishment of dialogue and exchange between artists, curators, the public and the artwork. This dialogue is crucial in terms of the way in which exhibitions and artwork are produced but also in terms of the role of artists as curators.

The development of education in terms of curatorial practice is a key focus in the writing. The position of curators has changed through its introduction into education, it is no longer an amateur activity or something solely done by artists when setting up their own exhibitions. This means that there is a clearer divide between artists and curators so the role of artist as curator has to constantly be re-evaluated, as curatorial practice changes due its academization. This structural shift directly effects the art market, as universities operate in a way that determines the focus of knowledge gain and development of practice for their students. This means that their is a certain level of homogenisation in curatorial practice, which creates a requirement for institutional critique and critical reflection.

Exploring the position of female artist-curators in a male dominated art world, the article looks at their invisibility and the way in which women are often viewed as a ‘specific species’ of artists through the curation of exhibitions that focus on “women’s arts”. Although those types of exhibitions raise the profile and awareness of female artists, it backfires as it turns women into a particular category of artist. This leads to the suggestion that the position of gender in the art world should be studied as part of art education, to reduce discrimination and develop discourse about the power structures in place that keep women earning lower wage, on average throughout all employment.

Weblink:

“Take me to the place I love / Take me all the way” – Anthony Kiedis

Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Under The Bridge,” 1992

It’s 2013, going on 2014. Every artist, critic, or curator seems to have something to say about the endless ways in which the Internet and social media are affecting how artists, especially young artists, are now making art, seeing art, thinking about art, and disseminating art. Often, when reading a new article or essay, or going to a lecture or panel discussion directly or indirectly about or related to “Internet Art,” “Post-Internet Art,” or even the way in which abstract painting looks different on an Apple product than in a gallery, it is near impossible not to get bored or annoyed. Any critically engaged member of society understands the effect the Internet has had on the world; therefore, any critically engaged artist, curator, critic, dealer, or collector surely must understand the effect the Internet has had on the art world. Yet despite the consensus that the art world is shifting because of it, few have written or spoken about the matter in a very concise, direct, and expository manner.

November 9, 2013 to January 11, 2014

2600 S. La Cienega Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA

310-559-0100

Patrick Jackson, The Third Floor, Installation View

In Patrick Jackson’s exhibition, The Third Floor, the Los Angeles-based artist gives François Ghebaly’s Culver City gallery a home makeover of sorts, in the last show at this location before Ghebaly solely commits to his new space downtown, providing an additional contextual layer to the scene from the outset. The first floor of the gallery has been covered in off-white carpet, potentially triggering the impulse of certain visitors to take off their shoes, as was proven to be the case by numerous individuals momentarily pausing upon entering at the opening. This sly, satirical move falls somewhere between plastic on a living room sofa and museum barriers in the contemporary wing. But as one moves into the space, a rectangular hole can be seen cut out of the floor, revealing carpeted steps that lead into a makeshift underground lair, with exposed mini-scaffolding and what appears to be artifacts and detritus, obscured by distance. 

I am looking for individuals who are interested in being part of an artwork, to record their answer to the question: “What is the future of art in lower education?" and then in a separate recording, tell me of their secondary school experiences of art education. 

Please send all audio recordings to: [email protected]