Re: [-empyre-] Curatorial Dynamics

["James Barrett" <jim.barrett@humlab.umu.se>]

The warmth of Raul and Merida comes through in the tale of struggle
necessary for great work.
The silence after the first weeks of this months forum has been for me a
time of catching up. Reading Hardt and Negri. Finally buying a copy of A
Thousand Plateaus. Thinking deeply about what I am doing myself having
travelled from the south to the deep european north where I study the
systems that seem to surround me and subjegate so many outside Fortress
Europe. Tonight the debate continues in the Swedish media about "the
apethetic children"; the 400 children who have been awaiting prolonged
immigration decisions while they themselves lie starving and catatonic in
bedrooms and hospitals around the country. Some suggests it is an
elaborate plan for them and their tearful but theatrical parents to stay
here, some fear letting them stay will encourage others (politicians have
actually said this), and many feel it is a moral outrage as the decision
has already been made to deport them.
Reading the last post from Raul I thought about how desperate the struggle
for a liberating art can become and one name came to me; Augusto Boal.
Control of space is difficult with the economic cost relative to the aura
or atmosphere of the presentation attained. As an extreme example a visit
to a gallery such as the Louvre is to visit a space that contains and
controls, a temple of history, a monolith on the landscape. Room after
endless room of works plundered and purchased from around the world. A
seat of power for art. Then there is Boal's first piece of invisible
theater in New York, conducted on a ferry in the harbour, filled with
communters and tourists. The theme was litter. An actor dropped some
litter and another repremanded him/her (can't remember the details) over
it and a general argument insued as the crowd gathered. The actors slipped
away and the crowd continued the exchange. Something changed.
>From Jane Trowell@Interupt: Artists in Socially Engaged Practice:

"Most artists in our society need money, but a sudden interest in
'socially engaged' arts practice driven by funding can often be a short
road to real disaster for all concerned - we can all tell stories of
woefully poorly prepared and inadequately supported artists being
completely overwhelmed by the social reality of their project. More
alarmingly, we can all tell stories where the seemingly well-intentioned
project resulted in a 'disadvantaged community' feeling more
misunderstood, confused, abused and cynical than ever as a result. Beware
the position of artist as canary : sent in to test how hostile the
environment is...Beware the position of the artist as
paperer-over-cracks...as Anya (Gallaccio) just said, 'the community' can
often ask why the money hasn't been spent on much needed litter bins...
Beware the position of artist as visionary cure-all : ego-rampant in
'socially engaged practice' is not much different from ego-rampant in all
other art practices..."
(http://www.interrupt-symposia.org/articles/read.cgi?jt_educator_1)

Although it is easy to be ignored upon the periphery, it is often the
position with the best view.
/jim

> Dear Members, amigos de la lista;
>
>
> When I was asked to bring issues relating to Arte Nuevo InteractivA
> to this list, I was expecting to create an interdisciplinary
> dialogue, rich as the one that was taking earlier in the month. So
> far, the responses had been a few and in the last few days I have
> begun to question the dynamics of the list.
>
> I had been involved in electronic lists for a long time and
> understand that there, as well as in the physical world, there is a
> diverse population, interested in many issues and make presence
> according to their personal interests. As I said before, for me
> silence is also writing, therefore I can assume that what is been
> writing here is an ambivalent discourse that had place the list in an
> alert situation. If that is the case, power to all.
>
> Years ago, when studying Latin American cinema at the university of
> Iowa, I ran into an essay by Glauber Rocha where he described how the
> European intellectuals favor Goddard's film over the his film "The
> Seven Head" at the Venecia Festival. Up to the moment Goddard and
> Rocha were good friends, -Rocha appeared in one of Goddard's film.
> In his essay, our great cinematic master makes references to the way
> in which Latin America knowledge and creative practices are always
> seen by the west with the marks of its own ideological apparatus. The
> late Edward Said, brilliantly in his book Orientalism, has described
> this vision and shared with Rocha a critique on the way in which the
> absences of knowledge about our cultural territories forces the
> "exotic/primitive/underdeveloped interpretation" we usually get.
>
> I bring this example because when Arte Nuevo InteractivA came to
> life; I wanted to deconstruct the power dynamics established between
> the big biennales and the art market in order to create a rupture
> where the art and  the artists included in the event were not
> pressured by the economic mechanism sustaining these biennales. In
> the process, I had to committee the artists, the people and
> institutions supporting the event and myself to structures of
> knowledge and social interaction where fund raising became "resources
> raising" and all the people involved, in one way or another;
> contribute to the creation of the biennale.  If within the
> phalocentric prism I am seen as the shaker of the event, in the
> complex geometrical territories where we construct the success of the
> project, many individuals are working at the same level I am.
>
> For a long time, in Latin America, we have reconsidered the
> production of knowledge and art within the context of
> interdisciplinary relations. In many ways, we have come to term with
> the need of an educational process encompassing and understanding
> that interdisciplinary research and learning are the tool to continue
> our grow as a multi-ethnic culture(s).
>
> One night at the 03 biennale, eating at a Thai restaurant, I
> confessed that I was tired of working for the event. Even though I
> have been accused by some people of using Arte Nuevo InteractivA to
> show case my work, the fact was that I couldn't finish my art on time
> for that biennale because of the amount of work that required such an
> enormous endeavor. Eduardo Navas, Gita Hashemi and Heidi Figueroa
> came to my rescue and reassured me that it was important to continue
> the work because of the kind of social cultural dynamics created by
> the project. I was happy to have their support and in a lot of ways,
> I am in debt to them for fueling my spirit when I was ready to quite.
>
> The process hasn't been perfect. There are many connections that are
> no longer working and I have realized that in our cultural spaces
> there are clicks and networks working in similar fashion as the art
> market and the big biennales. Exclusion also takes place in this part
> of the world.
>
> When some of the artists, critics and curators mentioned their
> interests in coming to the biennale, I was frantic. There was not
> money to find hotel rooms for the people and I was afraid that
> Merida, with the image of such a great hospitality, would fail to
> these artists. Nevertheless, that interdisciplinary approach and the
> inputs of the artists, critics ad curators helped me to visualize an
> interdisciplinary lab where the biennale could reach into many
> corners of the city such as art centers, universities and art schools.
>
> Today, with the great help of the deities, Orishas, gods, virgenes,
> Santos and Aluxes, the Technological Metropolitan University agreed
> to support the workshop of Fernando Orellana paying for his hotels
> and meals. Our marketing team have found great discounts at one of
> the hotel in downtown so the way in which the resources and the
> knowledge will circulate in the city during the biennale demonstrate
> that the work of Fernando won't stay in the closed door of an art
> center, but will travel to an educational territory where he will
> contribute to the production of interdisciplinary knowledge and the
> support of the business community will be appreciated in other ways.
>
> Perhaps as Said and Rocha have argued before, the written silence in
> this list is a proof of the absence of knowledge about our cultural
> production or an uncanny manifestation of the peripheral condition in
> which some people still want to place our cultures. I want to believe
> that the silence is a written code transgressing all territories,
> empowering each of us as we find new ways of co-exist along the
> cosmic energies.
>
> Abrazotes to all,
>
> Raul
> --
> Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet MFA
> Curador Ejecutivo/ Arte Nuevo InteractivA
> http://www.cartodigital.org/interactiva
> interactiva@cartodigital.org
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>


-- 
Doctoral Student, Umeå University
Department of Modern Languages/English
+46 (0)90 786 6584
HUMlab.Umeå University.SE-901 87.Umeå.Sweden
Blog: http://www.soulsphincter.blogspot.com
HUMlab: http://www.humlab.umu.se/