Dear List,
Hey Lah, Greetings from Singapore! We're tired but happy, and a big
thanks to everyone who made the events here such a success. All our
participants were stars, and I was very touched by the amount of
support we got when there was a slew of other things going on that
might have tempted people - all our events were full houses!
Refreshments included Malaysian jelly squares, pineapple biscuits,
chocolate-filled fish-shaped pretzels, and Hello Kitty mini
marshmallows.
So, just to feed back about the particular points that relate to June's
theme on collaboration, then the first dialogue between Nina and Tien
(Joasia and Geoff Respondents) on Collaboration came up with some great
descriptors of different kinds of collaboration.
They discussed the timelines of collaboration and how they were often
more active as instigators at the start of a process, and then took
more of a back seat when things were running along - a "journey of
risk". Nina said that she always started with the idea first, and then
funding came later, rather than being opportunistic about funding. An
important discussion concerned how much art or art/science projects
demand a "defined outcome" and how this might effect a collaboration -
it was agreed that there must be space for the outcomes to change if
new ideas from collaborations were to be fully catered for.
Tien described the p-10 curatorial team as a "constellation" of people
(a bit like a network perhaps?) and Nina described a "modular" approach
of "working alone with others".
The skills of collaboration were acknowledged to be challenging, and
mostly gained through experience rather than education (certainly,
curatorial education only encourages this because it's easier
facilities-wise to get students to do a joint show!). Nina said that
the most important factors were communication and trust, and Tien said
that learning how to take a back seat was a delicate skill. Both
acknowledged that cross-cultural collaborations needed even more
explicit communication, and more time. The 'risks' of collaborative
curating were often those of personality - the person you like having
coffee with might not be a good collaborator! Sometime communication
gets dropped, but Nina's 'modular' approach means that a project can
survive even if a module or so fails (and certain things must have the
right to fail).
An unresolved debate was that of hierarchy - even if there is no boss,
is there still some kind of hierarchy, or time or skills perhaps? This
issue was picked up on in the "Curating in/as Open System(s)" panel
chaired by Joasia on 29th, where Yukiko Shikata talked about accepting
responsibility for curatorial decisions within a more open system.
I hope that gives you some food for thought, and we'll be slowly
putting documentation up on the CRUMB site.
Yours,
Beryl
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BLISSFUL DIALOGUES: Common Ground for Curators
New media art often crosses boundaries between art forms and
disciplines, but sometimes does not cross the boundaries into
contemporary art in general. A series of dialogues between curators of
new media art, and curators of contemporary art in general. aim to
tease out areas of common ground and compare useful experience and
methods. The audience will be involved, and tea and biscuits will be
provided.
Collaborative Curating.
28th July 4-6pm. National Museum of Singapore
Woon Tien Wei p-10. p-10 is an independent curatorial team with a
project space.
Nina Czegledy is an independent media artist, curator and writer.
Invited respondent(s): Joasia Krysa and Geoff Cox, University of
Plymouth.
Is new media art just one of the contemporary arts?
29th July 4-6pm. National Museum of Singapore
Joyce Fan is a curator at Singapore Art Museum.
Kathy Rae Huffman Director of Visual Arts at Cornerhouse.
Invited respondent: Deborah Lawler-Dormer MIC Toi Rerehiko Media and
Interdisciplinary Arts Centre, NZ.
Location and the Festival
30th July 4-6pm. FOOD03 (p-10’s café)
Fumio Nanjois Artistic Director of Singapore Biennale.
Amanda McDonald Crowley, Executive Director at Eyebeam New York.
Invited respondent: Kerstin MeyUniversity of Ulster, host of ISEA 2009.
www.crumbweb.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Beryl Graham, Professor of New Media Art
School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture, University of Sunderland
Ashburne House,
Ryhope Road
Sunderland
SR2 7EE
Tel: +44 191 515 2896 [log in to unmask]
CRUMB web resource for new media art curators
http://www.crumbweb.org
24th- 31st July 2008 I'll be working at ISEA in Singapore, and so may
take longer to reply to emails. In August, I'll be on holiday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Beryl Graham, Professor of New Media Art
School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture, University of Sunderland
Ashburne House,
Ryhope Road
Sunderland
SR2 7EE
Tel: +44 191 515 2896 [log in to unmask]
CRUMB web resource for new media art curators
http://www.crumbweb.org
24th- 31st July 2008 I'll be working at ISEA in Singapore, and so may
take longer to reply to emails. In August, I'll be on holiday.
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