Jumping in to second J* here. I enjoyed a good laugh at myself (as a
practicing artist who has in the past been asked by curators to spend
time near the work and explain it...) But I had a related response to
J*'s re the ridicule of curators suggesting that artists "spend hours
standing by your own wall text so that you can explain to attendees
"how it works"".
I for one enjoy doing just that... most recently in the big tent at
ISEA/01SJ in 2006 with a C5 project. (I was on the C5 showroom floor
when I met J* for the first time in RL, in fact. Another funny
connection is that Julian was one of our "contestants"...) I think
the first time I had this experience was in fact at Ars Electronica
in 1999, again with C5, at the Brucknerhaus Open-X part of the
festival that year. I assume that no better interface to the
interpretation of an artwork can be devised than a circumstance where
the audience feels welcome to interact interpersonally with the
creator(s) of the work, (No offense to anyone who has ever published
a catalog text intended:-) And while the model has obvious limits for
institutions with long exhibition time-frames, in the temporally
delimited context of a festival or special event it is very workable,
especially with collaborative projects whose members can reasonably
staff the room, booth or table for reasonable periods of time. (Or a
showroom floor...)
Not to mention, it is really great fun...
Much was made in the 90s about the conflation of the artist/curator/
critic, but I'm afraid the conflation of artist/docent may have been
greatly under-theorized in curatorial circles.
Should I end that last sentence with a ;-) ? I'm actually not sure...
On Sep 10, 2008, at 4:01 PM, NEW-MEDIA-CURATING automatic digest
system wrote:
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:20:15 +0200
> From: Josephine Bosma <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: fresh from linz
>
> I think those criteria could offer much more interesting points of
> entry to a discussion then just a simple self-beating. I would just
> like to make a quick point, after reading some of the responses:
>
> The self-critical criterium which points at the artists having to
> stand next to the work to 'explain' it seems a bit amateurish to me.
> Only an amateur would think all art can be understood at first
> glance. In 'traditional' art circles art works were explained and
> contextualized by critics and curators, in catalogues, exhibition
> papers and in newspapers. The tendency in new media art to involve
> the artist in this process should maybe be seen in the light of an
> increasing importance of the artist audience relationship. If the
> artists prefer critics to be the sole opinion-makers of their works,
> then by all means: make the installation and then go home to read
> the newspaper.
>
>
> ;-p
>
>
> regards,
>
>
> J
> *
Brett Stalbaum, Lecturer LSOE
University of California San Diego
Department of Visual Arts
http://www.paintersflat.net
Fall 2008 office hours
Thursdays 1-4PM in one of the
the alcoves on the 2nd floor of CALIT2.
Week 0, yes
Week 6, no
Week 9, thanksgiving day holiday
Finals week, yes
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