Curation ~ Session two & Conclusion

The second session saw all of the students that missed the first session – therefore it was a very large group that bordered on problematic given the limitations of the space.

Exactly the same thing happened in the first room – a weighing up. Perhaps due to the success of the first session, we took the point were the students became relaxed enough to joke as a good sign to move on.

However in the next room it turned out that the humour was unfocused and that there was a tendency for things to get silly, without really exploring the issues.
It was the wrong dynamic for this lot, a reminder that in workshops a formula never works twice.

The third room was a surprise – although it was perhaps the least accessible set of images, the quieter students began to assert an interest in the idea of collection – because of this the group gels – ideas of collecting, and vernacular come pouring out. One student even admits to having a collection of  WW2 German bank statements, an admission that a few rooms ago would have been met with laughter – quite personal unguarded stuff begins to come out – this group are much more interested in the ‘meaning’ of what is portrayed with less of an emphasis on the formal aspects of the images.
Some very deep and satisfying conceptual discussions occur amongst a group that I would have not expected it from.

During this curation exercise the ‘exhibitions were  much more meaning based and literal than in the previous session – but this makes complete sense regarding the manner in which they engaged with the idea – rather than identifying formal aspects such as colour or linearity, this group organized work on the basis of gaze or ecological impact – as with the first group there was an underlying sophistication in the understanding of formal relationships between images, but these issues were not caught in the flow of discussion, instead a more journalistic concern with what was being said by the exhibition was explored.

Conclusion

Dealing with the issues surrounding the image, collection, exhibition and meaning was bound to be complex – these workshops found their own entry point into these subjects and developed them well, increasing knowledge and awareness – as well as making the link with curation as a profession that values these issues and makes them core skills on which to build a career.

Further workshops would ideally tackle the aspects of curation that didn’t arise organically from the group, so that the students would get a fuller understanding of all the associated concerns.

Reposted from Exegesis | Art, location & Culture