Although not entirely germane to the current debate, Cheryl Meeker's
discussion of "curatorial objectivity" in the context of MATRIX curator Chris
Gilbert's recent resignation from the Berkeley Art Museum -- which appears in the
latest issue of the NYFA Newsletter -- seems relevant and important.
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_http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=484&fid=6&sid=17_
(http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=484&fid=6&sid=17)
Considering Curatorial Objectivity
Cheryl Meeker
On April 28, 2006, Chris Gilbert resigned from his post as Berkeley Art
Museum’s MATRIX curator. After holding the position since September of 2005,
Gilbert resigned when the museum’s administration demanded that he remove from
the wall text of his exhibition cycle Now-Time Venezuela: Media Along the Path
of the Bolivarian Process language in which he proclaims the program’s
solidarity with the current Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. The second of the
two-part exhibition series, which focuses on the Caracas-based community
television station Catia TVe, is on view at the museum through July 16.
Gilbert’s act of resistance has instigated some provocative debate on
internet message boards (with artist-theorists like Gregory Sholette and Martha
Rosler contributing) on the potential of “radical” curatorial practice within an
institutional framework and on whether or not a curator can be expected to
adhere to standards of objectivity.
Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler
5 Factories—Worker Control in Venezuela (2006)
Still from a color video
From the exhibition Now-Time Venezuela, Part 1
All images courtesy BAM/PFA
Chris Gilbert’s explanation of his resignation as MATRIX curator at the
Berkeley Art Museum (BAM) has been posted in numerous places on the internet,
including Indybay.org and Rhizome.org. The incident stemmed from Gilbert's two
exhibitions this year documenting Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution. The spring
exhibition Now-Time Venezuela, Part 1: Worker-Controlled Factories
consisted of a number of single-channel videos projected on large flatscreen monitors
set at angles, creating a dynamic series of immersive images. With a bench
in front of each screen, viewers could listen with headphones to the ambient
factory sound and the dialogue of workers and managers who contribute their
own observations on their experiences and on the development of the
cooperatives examined in Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler’s video 5 Factories—Worker
Control in Venezuela. Now-Time Venezuela, Part 2: Revolutionary Television in
Catia shows a selection of the programming made by Catia TVe, a Caracas
television station whose programs are created by community organizers and
activists.
Summarizing the impetus for his resignation, Gilbert wrote, “In particular
the museum administrators—meaning the deputy directors and senior curator
collaborating, of course, with the public relations and audience development staff
—have for some time been insisting that I take the idea of solidarity,
revolutionary solidarity, out of the cycle. For some months, they have said they
wanted ‘neutrality’ and ‘balance’ whereas I have always said that instead my
approach is about commitment, support, and alignment—in brief, taking sides
with and promoting revolution.”
It appears that an impasse over the inclusion of the words “revolutionary
solidarity” in the wall text for the show precipitated Gilbert’s resignation: “
Their plan was to replace the phrase ‘in solidarity’ with revolutionary
Venezuela with a phrase like ‘concerning’ revolutionary Venezuela—or another
phrase describing a relation that would not be explicitly one of solidarity.”
The wall text in question was ultimately maintained in the gallery throughout
Now-Time Venezuela, Part 1.
Some in the “art subculture,” to use Gilbert’s preferred terminology, have
focused on whether or not Gilbert may have shined the spotlight too brightly
on himself with his resignation. A post attributed to Martha Rosler at
Nettime.org observes, “This appears to be a case of someone stepping in front of the
material they wish to put before the public and thereby, as they say, making
himself (or his labels) the story.” An argument can be made, though, that
larger issues are at stake in relation to Gilbert’s resignation and unwavering
stance on the maintenance of his wall text: specifically, curatorial and
artistic freedom as well as the notion of curatorial objectivity—in other words,
whether or not a curator should assume unambiguous ethical positions and
attempt to persuade viewers of their validity—all of which contribute to the
overarching theme: class interest. Artist and writer Gregory Sholette defends
Gilbert in a posting on Nettime.org, writing, “Gilbert’s resignation and the
letter that explains his deed are part and parcel of one person’s effort to
radically transform the role of arts administrator into that of engaged,
political participant.”
Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler
5 Factories—Worker Control in Venezuela (2006)
From the exhibition Now-Time Venezuela, Part 1
Still from a color video
Simone de Beauvoir, in The Ethics of Ambiguity, details the need for all
people to help others attain freedom as contingent to attaining it themselves.
This philosophy can be linked to the responsibility of viewers/readers—the
need to not rely on just one source, to not assume that the authoritative voice
contains the only valid point of view.
BAM should be commended for making a sincere attempt (not only through the
exhibition but through panel discussions as well) to confront the issue of a
social and political movement antithetical to standard US free market
capitalism. In a climate of intense pressure from the right over cultural and
political expression (for example, the institutional self-censorship the artist
Guillermo Gómez-Peña has written on or the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force
raid on Critical Art Ensemble member Steve Kurtz, a glaring example of overreach
in the US government’s War on Terror), institutions have become very careful
about protect their funding. Given the evidence we have through the Freedom
of Information Act that the US government spent $2.2 million between 2000 and
2003 to train or finance anti-Chávez parties and organizations in Venezuela,
an exhibit of this type is likely to attract unwanted scrutiny.
An associate curator I spoke to at a San Francisco-based museum felt that the
approach of a museum should be to present various points of view, and that
if one side is represented, the other side should be as well, if not in the
same exhibit or at the same time, in a subsequent show. This viewpoint
corresponds roughly with the notion of objectivity or balance in journalism, and also
to the prevailing journalistic practices in the mainstream media, which have
developed a further desire for “balance” in the wake of pressure from the
right. At PBS in 2005, debate over advocacy journalism precipitated the
weakening of the presence and funding for Bill Moyers’ “NOW!” and increased time
for a show hosted by Tucker Carlson.
Alternative media in the US and some media in Europe is often advocacy
journalism, a fact-based journalism that often seeks to support a point of view
that serves public interest. This is analogous to the type of curating embodied
in the Gilbert’s exhibit. This is also related to the strong authorial
curating pioneered by Harald Szeemann, arguably the first independent curator.
Twentieth-century philosophers, of course, provided the precursor for this kind
of work. Michel Foucault's analysis of historical and political discourse
indicated that the truth is not absolute, and Walter Benjamin encouraged a
reading of historical events through the lens of class interests. Transparency in
communication of intent and admission of bias would be in line with this
approach. Clarity in expressing a point of view would allow for better
objectivity, giving validation to Gilbert’s insistence on clearly expressing the bias
of the exhibition.
Curator Mari Carmen Ramirez also supports the authorial view of the
independent curator: “Perhaps the most significant aspect of the constellation model
is its unapologetic assertion of the relative and arbitrary nature of
curatorial authority…It is the curator, and not some pre-established teleological
myth or grander narrative, who establishes the conceptual coordinates for the
understanding and appreciation of the artworks and individuals included within
its restricted parameters.”
Color photograph of workers at Catia TVe
From the exhibition Now-Time Venezuela, Part 2
Did BAM consider putting up a disclaimer at the door? In the essay “
Cyber-Placazo: Gómez-Peña on Censorship in the U.S.” performance artist Guillermo
Gómez-Peña writes, “Sometimes the presenter’s ‘concerns’ might be addressed
with an emphatic disclaimer placed at the entrance of the gallery or theatre,
something like: ‘There will be nudity and/or adult content and/or political
images which you may find offensive…’ If the museum director or presenter is a
hip Vato, he may let me write my own disclaimer, Gómez-Peña style. I always
try to create a funny disclaimer that heightens the specific fears of the
curator or the institution—something like: ‘You are about to witness chicken
nudity and unnecessary Mexican violence. Think twice before you cross this
border.’ Or, ‘Patriots should think twice before entering into an
internationalized space.’ Or, ‘The artists are not responsible for identity crises
audience members might endure during the performance.”
Regardless of Gilbert’s intentions, he has created the kind of dialogue and
investigation into his subject matter that any curator would be happy to
instigate. In reading the online comments following Gilbert’s explanatory letter,
I came across one that said that Venezuelans are being enslaved by Chávez’s
regime and that three of the factories shown in Azzellini and Ressler’s 5
Factories are now out of business. In checking secondary sources, I found that
at least one of these factories no longer has an internet presence. Then I
discovered a blog on Salon.com detailing many reasons, including the inheritance
of obsolete machinery and markets destroyed by globalization, that would
contribute to the likelihood that these businesses would fail. The article was
written in May of 2005. In a fascinating piece that debates the realities of
social and economic change engendered through cooperatives in Venezuela
(footnoted by Gilbert in his exhibition materials), Camila Pineiro Harnecker
writes, “Even if many of the new cooperatives fail, it doesn't mean that the
promotion of cooperatives is an undesirable development policy. Rather, it shows
that development requires effective state support in providing both education
and resources to break with the cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.”
And consider the following, generated by the World Bank and dated June 3,
2006: “The statistical evidence that we have compiled shows that from 1995 to
2005 the number of homes under the poverty line has decreased.” The numbers
went from more than 40% to 30%. Evidently, in the two decades before Chavez
assumed power in 1998, an estimated 80% of the population lived in poverty. I
never thought I would be quoting the World Bank.
Cheryl Meeker is a San Francisco-based artist and writer, is a co-publisher
of the artist-run collective _Stretcher.org,_ (http://www.stretcher.org/) and
is a Green Party member.
For more information on the Berkeley Art Museum’s Now-Time Venezuela
exhibitions, visit:
_http://nettime.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2006/05/31/nettime-event-chris-gilbe
rt-s-resignation.html
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(http://nettime.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2006/05/31/nettime-event-chris-gilbert-s-resignation.html)
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