[-empyre-] collective curatorship?

Wed Apr 11 17:44:53 EST 2012

eio

i think its interesting raising the point of the relationship between
curating and writing.

in 2010 we did an exhibition called "Espai de l'Intent" (space of
trying) - named after a quote from Francis Alys where he claims that
the real space of production is that space of trying.

We entered the empty space - me, Alberto Gracia, Carlos Gonzalez
Gonzalez, Yasmin Rasidgil & others - and built the exhibition little
by little during the weeks. Once a week we organised a performance or
action and the public could visit the progress of the trying. The
exhibition space became a production space. After a month we froze the
development and opened the exhibition during 2 weeks. It was a very
exciting process and we were very happy with the result.

However one critique of the exhibition said that it was not
sufficiently "narrativised" and that an exhibition should be like a
spatial text.

What do you all think about this ? Can an exhibition be like a text ?
Should it be ?

best

p/

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 8:55 PM, Ana Valdés <agora158 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Pedro, of  course we need invite literature to the party! :) I am in my very
> soul a writer, a storyteller and know the potential of the words. I think in
> the last month when I moderated the discussion on -empyre we were very aware
> how the writers invited as guests, Alicia Migdal and Sabela de Tezanos were
> able to formulate precise and important thoughts relative to theory and
> praxis.
> But writers need to make the transition to next level of work, to the
> collective creation of spaces where cooperation and support substitute
> individual infatuation and rediscover the power of the words as revulsive.
> We wordmakers are the heirs of Socrates, poisoned by the State for his words
> and his teachings and his ability to subvert the minds, we are the heirs of
> Ovidius, in exile far from Rome because his words were far to critical for
> the ruling class, we are the heirs of Hildegarde von Bingen, accused for
> being a heretical, we are the heirs of Emile Zola, who wrote one of the most
> emotionally powerful alegate of our times, we are the heirs of Primo Levi
> and Simone Weil and Victor Frankl and Miguel Hernandez and Federico García
> Lorca and Haroldo Conti and Rodolfo Walsh and so many others showing than
> words are indeed powerful tools to perform changes...
> But there is a challenge, again, how to jump to the next level and redefine
> all these roles, the role of the artist, of the curator, of the writer...
>
> I still remember (and when I say I remember I feel tha'ts my whole body
> remembering that, because the memory of the body is far more powerful than
> the memory of the brain, the memory as conscient act) the years I spent in
> jail, without books, pens and paper, where the few books we got from home
> were burned in a furnace because they were potentially dangerous.
> And we were still able to make literature, to tell for each other new
> narratives and reconstruct from memory old tales and Hector and Sapho and
> Paris and Dante and Anna Akmatova and madame de Stael and Victor Hugo and
> Catcher on the Rye and Ulysses and Virginia Woolf and Alejandra Pizarnik
> became again words and comrades in our pain, not only books.
> Their words in our memory and in our conversations and the loneliness of the
> punition cells were far more powerful than in the books their thoughts and
> words were printed.
>
> Ana
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 3:19 PM, pedro <pedruski at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> thank you ana, that's a very important point about collective work -
>> its all so much about where you are coming from that determines the
>> e/a/ffects you search for.
>>
>> an example could be Summerlab 2011 - as described by Susanna here :
>> http://susanaserrano.cc/2011/09/02/reboot-al-sistema-del-arte/
>>
>> you could also all be interested to see the recently released
>> Decalogue of Open Code Cultural Practises written in a booksprint at
>> the end of january near to St Sebastian in basque country :
>> http://10penkult.cc/
>>
>> (if anyone in the list is interested in translating we would be delighted
>> ;)
>>
>> /
>>
>>  interesting what you say about writing -- i actually feel that
>> literature, like anarchism, is still largely unexplored : a narrative
>> can organise a universe and only dancers can compare in the minimal
>> equipment required. Text (libros / cuentas / leyes etc etc) remains
>> the single most potent organizing force in the world, its social
>> fabric, and if you include programming languages (which i think u shd)
>> then you get an idea of the magnitude of what i am indicating.
>>
>> Some of us decided to launch an attack on language - bill burroughs,
>> gloria anzaldúa,monique wittig, jodi and the marvellous mary daly
>> (gyn/ecology, the wickedary) - cut the control lines - but its so
>> pervasive, the control, we're guerilla aware, like saying "nosotras"
>> because we feel that way.
>>
>> Maybe we need to invite literature back to the party.
>>
>> xxx
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Ana Valdés <agora158 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > My friend the architect Marcus Novak coined used often the concept
>> > "liquid
>> > architecture". Within the concept were a broad array of elements and
>> > forms
>> > adapted both from Boals "Theater of the Opressed" to Gayatri Spivak
>> > subaltern theory, a continuation itself from Gramsci's theories.
>> > In Novak's terms everyone could be an architect and the work of the
>> > architect became a collective work, a real anonymous teamwork.
>> > The same should be the curatorial experience today, when art and
>> > activism
>> > merge and converge. The Art scene seems to me today far more radical and
>> > changing than literature, in Art the boundaries between the self and the
>> > other are bluring and creating a more hybrid situation, where academia,
>> > activism, fine art and street art cooperate starting new arenas and new
>> > contexts.
>> > Literature seems instead still be the prisoner of old metaphores and
>> > individual work. The publisher houses are still unchallenged and the
>> > writer
>> > is still alone sitting in his or her desk.
>> > I feel myself, as an old fashioned writer :), more attracted than ever
>> > to
>> > the work in the arts, to find new ways where new technologies and new
>> > audiences make differences.
>> >
>> > Ana
>> >
>> > --
>> > http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/
>> > http://maraya.tumblr.com/
>> > http://www.twitter.com/caravia158
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0
>> > http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/
>> >
>> > cell Sweden +4670-3213370
>> > cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>> >
>> >
>> > "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with
>> > your
>> > eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always
>> > long
>> > to return.
>> > — Leonardo da Vinci
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > empyre forum
>> > empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
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>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
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>
>
>
>
> --
> http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/
> http://maraya.tumblr.com/
> http://www.twitter.com/caravia158
> http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/
> http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia
> http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/
> http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/
> http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/
> http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0
> http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/
>
> cell Sweden +4670-3213370
> cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>
>
> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your
> eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long
> to return.
> — Leonardo da Vinci
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre