Studio Visits, Melbourne
Who makes them, who gets them?
Charlotte Laubard, Paris based freelance curator and critic, was in Melbourne over June as part of a residency auspiced by the VCA Gallery. Laubard has the reputation of being interested in artists and ever-ready for a studio visit. Over a three week period Laubard met with and visited the studios of Adrian Allan, Brook Andrew, Jon Campbell, Christian Capurro, Kate Consatine, DAMP, Julie Davies, Alicia Frankovich, Kate Fulton, Tony Garafalakis, Bianca Hester, Lou Hubbard, Michelle Ussher, Susan Jacobs, Kati Rule, Simon Maidment, Nick Mangan, Amanda Marburg, Alex Martinis, Rob McHaffie, Tom Nicholson, Kain Picken, Alex Rizkalla, Geoff Robinson, Kiron Robinson, Johnny Targan, Elizabeth Newman and Kati Rule, Amanda Marburg, Sharon Goodwin. Charlotte visited galleries including Uplands, Ocular Lab, ACCA, Victoria Park and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces - and the Sydney Biennale.
Jen Budney, curator at Kamloops Art Gallery Canada, on her way to the Sydney Biennale, stopped over in Melbourne for six days. Budney met and made studio visits Callum Morton, Elizabeth Newman, Johnny Targan, Christian Thompson, Tom Nicholson, Jon Campbell, James Lynch, DAMP and Brook Andrew. She also visited Uplands Gallery, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Victoria Park Gallery, MUMA, Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery and Anna Scwhartz Gallery.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the 2008 curator of the Sydney Biennale and chief curator at Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art outside of Turin, also meet with artists and visited galleries in Melbourne. ACCA hosted a curatorial lab for Christov-Bakargiev, Zdenka Badovinac, director, Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia
and Patrick D Flores, curator and writer, from the University of the Philippines, to meet Melbourne artists and see their work.
Flash Art studio visits
Charlotte Laubard, Paris based freelance curator and critic, was in Melbourne over June as part of a residency auspiced by the VCA Gallery. Laubard has the reputation of being interested in artists and ever-ready for a studio visit. Over a three week period Laubard met with and visited the studios of Adrian Allan, Brook Andrew, Jon Campbell, Christian Capurro, Kate Consatine, DAMP, Julie Davies, Alicia Frankovich, Kate Fulton, Tony Garafalakis, Bianca Hester, Lou Hubbard, Michelle Ussher, Susan Jacobs, Kati Rule, Simon Maidment, Nick Mangan, Amanda Marburg, Alex Martinis, Rob McHaffie, Tom Nicholson, Kain Picken, Alex Rizkalla, Geoff Robinson, Kiron Robinson, Johnny Targan, Elizabeth Newman and Kati Rule, Amanda Marburg, Sharon Goodwin. Charlotte visited galleries including Uplands, Ocular Lab, ACCA, Victoria Park and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces - and the Sydney Biennale.
Jen Budney, curator at Kamloops Art Gallery Canada, on her way to the Sydney Biennale, stopped over in Melbourne for six days. Budney met and made studio visits Callum Morton, Elizabeth Newman, Johnny Targan, Christian Thompson, Tom Nicholson, Jon Campbell, James Lynch, DAMP and Brook Andrew. She also visited Uplands Gallery, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Victoria Park Gallery, MUMA, Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery and Anna Scwhartz Gallery.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the 2008 curator of the Sydney Biennale and chief curator at Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art outside of Turin, also meet with artists and visited galleries in Melbourne. ACCA hosted a curatorial lab for Christov-Bakargiev, Zdenka Badovinac, director, Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia
and Patrick D Flores, curator and writer, from the University of the Philippines, to meet Melbourne artists and see their work.
Flash Art studio visits
posted by speech at
12:17 PM
16 Comments:
has any unknown artist ever actually got a show thru one of these big curator studio visits? couldnt they save everyones time and just google "Australian Art"? who gives em? who gets em? who cares?
its just like the majority of people get closed out and one gets chosen every few years. Patricia, Ricky , Callum. I don't get it!
I think the issue is transparency, rather than visits per say. Everyone knows (maybe) how communities work - the art community is confusing, it mixes the business with personal, and the personal with professional - generally a good thing I'd say. Friends recomend friends and friends they respect - its a word of mouth game where the boundaries between professionalism and friendship are a tad blurred.
Transparency is - talking about this and not disguising it by perhaps putting ads in the paper to call for propsals, when desisions have perhaps already been made.
how many interesting projects came out of the curator junket that we sent to japan again? who would become a curator anyway? that gets to the heart of the whole professional friend issue.
what was the curator junket sent to Japan?
I was the anon friend, talking transparecy.
The curator/friend/professional thing, i think about from time to time... there often seems to be so much negative attitude towards curators - but i often wonder whether if we thought about them in a different way - as artists with links that like to write - whether we might appreciate them more....maybe they are like a good band booker - one that moves from venue to venue taking the same bands with them, taking risks and playing new bands with old bands to see what audience they might get - supporting the old and the new, and seeing what happens when they intersect - maybe these are the ones with interest and less power - and in that respect, maybe they are more interested in a dispersal of power, or empowering others.. (perhaps, I'm a little niave though)
more like bad band bookers who think they are in the band.
My proposal is: I just wanna be your friend!
remember when those crazy band Booker's were asked to describe their role in the art world and they said they were like movie directors. That said it all for me.
producing widgets said.....
im holding my breath in anticipation of the artists you have uncovered. those google guys must be shaking in their boots.
producing widgets said....
hey jen, im not bitter or trying to offend. ive accepted the situation and am commenting about it. As far as the "think they are in the band" comment, hell yeah i really believe it. (im sure there are acceptions). You could descibe a pimp as being like a good band booker. Every curator ive delt with plays the "were all in this together" card when it suits them. but were not are we? the power is a little to uneven for that and its in curators best interest to keep it that way. i dont doubt that most curators try hard to do there jobs well, so how do we explain the crappy shows that result from breeze thru studio visits? im not saying that your not trying Jen, Im saying the system doesnt work. Maybe the money could be better spent.
Private / Public / Personal funding and support is another blurring the artworld does well. Each on their own, existing without the other is problematic - a market driven/ state owned / isolated cultural practise for any place or time is not conjusive to a open and free flowing dialogue or exchange. The three forms of support need to exist in order for a viable cultural pracise in a place to exist. The power balance between the three fluctuates over time re-ordering and changing the form of cultural products, ensuring there is some sort of perpetual reciprical exchange - maybe. Ideally, curators (some) assist - not mandate - in making visible the fluctuations and changes. If cultural product is soley funded by the private sector - we run the risk of becoming primarily market driven by those whose wealth determines their power. (not to ignore that this might already be the case). Public funding ensures that private funding doesn't dictate and vice versa. And then there is everything inbetween.
producing widgets said...
I wonder if they result from instatutions believing in "curators". I think the issue of private funding Geoff raised is a good one. At least with private funding someone is held accountable for how the money is spent. This doesnt seem to happen with public spaces. Can someone justify how a place like ACCA sucks up so much money, at puts on such poor shows.
who went to the ACCA hosted curatorial lab?
Well I think Unquiet World at ACCA, just finished, was one of the better shows I have seen.
My understanding is that we are moving from public to private funding whether we like it or not. I agree with all 'I think I digress' said, the point is it’s changing all around us. Citizens appear to want tax breaks and home loans rather than strong public institutions in this moment. You don't have to be an economist to realise it’s bogus but we continue to change. (Blair Trethowan used to say 'Don't blame me I voted for the guy with the nervous breakdown'.) For instance, Melbourne University is now intensely seeking philanthropic funding for scholarships along the lines of the U.S. That institution is fast moving away from public funding and is instigating user pay fees. Even though it was among of the first free universities.
So only institutions that are primarily funded by public money are in that sense accountable.
This tells me two things: first, we are in a changing system that makes it hard for participants to identify their rights and position.
And second, as public funding diminishes, those that are missing out seriously want to blame someone.
Curators often appear to be operating in oligarchies that are sometimes remote from what artists are working on or concerned with.
The aim of SPEECH is to try and find ways to represent what is currently in private as well as public discourses. We are currently in a bit of a bind that those who work for institutions feel they must refrain themselves form saying anything for 'professional reasons'. And practitioners seem to only feel they can make anonymous jibes because otherwise it will hurt their chances with those very same professionals.
Still there does seem to be some foment out there.
Hi Guys, just had a look on your ongoing conversation about the Bermudes triangle artist/curator/institution.
Well, firstly I have to say that I was very happy to discover that there is much better to find in Australia than Ricky/Patricia/Callum. And I really hope to be able to collaborate soon with some of these artists I met.
I don't see a curator as a egotistic person trying to 'sign' shows. This is a vision that belongs to the 80s when artists were the last gods and the curators were heroes. I see the relation curator/artist as a partnership. The curator is there to give means to the artist to produce his work. The curator's fantaisy is not to be an artist, but to participate to the Art History of tomorrow. I think that's an OK fantaisy no? And you don't need power to work closely with an artist that might stay in History. You just have to build an extraordinary relationship with him/her. That's it.
Of course there are many people who use power to create distance, hierarchy, or exclusion. I don't think that they will make History.
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home