Curating Video
Lead Research Organisation:
Sheffield Hallam University
Department Name: Faculty of Arts Computing Eng and Sci
Abstract
In order to develop one strand from our previous collaborative research project Episode [AH/D000831/1], Curating Video explores new possibilities for the curation of group video exhibitions by focussing on the ideological force of video media when it is understood as having substantial material form.
Through this project we aim to test and establish new forms and attitudes to the curation of video in contemporary art. Current discourse across the fields of architecture, sociology, media studies, cultural theory and political philosophy have explored how both politics and culture mutually construct fictions that articulate our shared experiences as moments of community and sociality. These include Jacques Ranciere on 'the distribution of the sensible' (Politics and Aesthetics, 2004), Anthony Vidler's 'Architecture's Expanded Field' (Artforum International, April, 2004), and Jon Jerde's Experiential Placemaking.
These shifts have led to new attitudes in curating artworks and new interpretations of curatorial form. In particular they have led to an emphasis on curating as a critical practice, where curating is considered to be part of contemporary production / as experimental and expanded. This has been reflected in the current diversity of curatorial study at postgraduate and research level and a broad range of artist run spaces in the UK and abroad.
Taking this research to the curation of public spaces and the affect of culture within them, we aim to propose new critical practices for the curation of video work in group exhibition formats by re-thinking the relationship between video works and the architectural space that they occupy. Here our research asks; to what extent can video be experienced as a facet of architecture, that is, stable, material and object-based? Following on from this, how does it establish itself as part of our lived reality? To what extent does it share the ideological power of architectural form? And; how does this conception and transformation of the gallery environment question the received understanding of social space as a site of authenticity, reality and truth?
These visible changes in methodology, new critiques on aesthetics and politics, and the current proliferation of video artworks, evidences a need to test new processes and interpretations of video curation.
Our proposed research outputs are as follows:
Exhibition:
In order to carry out this research we will curate an exhibition at KX Gallery Hamburg, Germany. This will feature four single screen video works from artists Amanda Beech, Pierre Bismuth, Jaspar Joseph-Lester, and Roman Vasseur. Key to our curation is the production of a specific architectural environment within which to view the works. This will respond both to each individual artwork and to the gallery architecture.
Symposium:
We will invite papers from leading artists, curators, writers, and academics to explore research methodology in art practice, to share research across a range of fields, and to generate further debate on the themes of the research project.
Documentation/Dissemination:
The project will be documented, including transcriptions from the symposium, and will be prepared for future publication. We will publish ongoing collated documentation on dedicated University WebPages across UAL, Sheffield Hallam University, and Essex University.
We anticipate that the applications and benefits of this project will be:
1. The development of new strategies for curating video
2. The establishment of strong links with universities and galleries in the UK and abroad
3. The dissemination of new research in pedagogy to wider specialist and public audiences
4. The future development of this research into a series of international exhibitions, symposia and publication
5. The development and sharing of new critiques on the relationship between curating and the politics of public and social space through practice-based research and published writing.
Through this project we aim to test and establish new forms and attitudes to the curation of video in contemporary art. Current discourse across the fields of architecture, sociology, media studies, cultural theory and political philosophy have explored how both politics and culture mutually construct fictions that articulate our shared experiences as moments of community and sociality. These include Jacques Ranciere on 'the distribution of the sensible' (Politics and Aesthetics, 2004), Anthony Vidler's 'Architecture's Expanded Field' (Artforum International, April, 2004), and Jon Jerde's Experiential Placemaking.
These shifts have led to new attitudes in curating artworks and new interpretations of curatorial form. In particular they have led to an emphasis on curating as a critical practice, where curating is considered to be part of contemporary production / as experimental and expanded. This has been reflected in the current diversity of curatorial study at postgraduate and research level and a broad range of artist run spaces in the UK and abroad.
Taking this research to the curation of public spaces and the affect of culture within them, we aim to propose new critical practices for the curation of video work in group exhibition formats by re-thinking the relationship between video works and the architectural space that they occupy. Here our research asks; to what extent can video be experienced as a facet of architecture, that is, stable, material and object-based? Following on from this, how does it establish itself as part of our lived reality? To what extent does it share the ideological power of architectural form? And; how does this conception and transformation of the gallery environment question the received understanding of social space as a site of authenticity, reality and truth?
These visible changes in methodology, new critiques on aesthetics and politics, and the current proliferation of video artworks, evidences a need to test new processes and interpretations of video curation.
Our proposed research outputs are as follows:
Exhibition:
In order to carry out this research we will curate an exhibition at KX Gallery Hamburg, Germany. This will feature four single screen video works from artists Amanda Beech, Pierre Bismuth, Jaspar Joseph-Lester, and Roman Vasseur. Key to our curation is the production of a specific architectural environment within which to view the works. This will respond both to each individual artwork and to the gallery architecture.
Symposium:
We will invite papers from leading artists, curators, writers, and academics to explore research methodology in art practice, to share research across a range of fields, and to generate further debate on the themes of the research project.
Documentation/Dissemination:
The project will be documented, including transcriptions from the symposium, and will be prepared for future publication. We will publish ongoing collated documentation on dedicated University WebPages across UAL, Sheffield Hallam University, and Essex University.
We anticipate that the applications and benefits of this project will be:
1. The development of new strategies for curating video
2. The establishment of strong links with universities and galleries in the UK and abroad
3. The dissemination of new research in pedagogy to wider specialist and public audiences
4. The future development of this research into a series of international exhibitions, symposia and publication
5. The development and sharing of new critiques on the relationship between curating and the politics of public and social space through practice-based research and published writing.
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ORCID iD |
| Jaspar Joseph-Lester (Principal Investigator) |