A critical examination of the 'Public Programme' within contemporary art.
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal College of Art
Department Name: Research Office
Abstract
From the informational to the informal, the practical to the performative, what a
contemporary art institution's public programme includes is seemingly limitless.
Despite the increasing visibility of this practice, it remains side-lined in institutions
and discourse. Yet, I argue it offers a unique vantage point from which to explore
publicness, as it is produced by the art museum and its extended spaces - the
contemporary art institution, art school and performance festival - in a manner
distinct from exhibition making and other forms of the curatorial. I ask in this thesis:
what can the space of the public programme tell us about what it means to become
public in the contemporary art institution?
It is my contention that publicness is both spatially and temporally constructed; we
must observe and quantify the feelings, responses, actions of ourselves and others
to truly understand it. Through a combination of queer theory, theatre and
performance studies, I attend more fully to the sensuous, affective and felt
dimensions of publicness, and trouble the abstract, singular public found in the
construction 'public programme'. Challenging pervasive spatial metaphors of
publicness that curatorial discourses often have recourse to, I then argue for an
alternative understanding of publicness as an emergent becoming.
My understanding of 'becoming public(s)' emerges from the art museum and how it
has been tied to publicness in rather uncomfortable ways, alongside close readings
of specific moments during events I have programmed or attended that left me
feeling uncomfortable, awkward, or uncertain how to respond. My findings are taken
back into practice in a series called That Awkward Stage: Private Workshops for
Public Programmers (2018-19). Inviting participants to share moments of discomfort
in their double role as programmer and audience, I analyse anecdotes shared to
answer my final research question: what could reframing publicness as a process of
becoming do to our understanding of the public programme in the contemporary art
institution? This thesis argues for embracing the discomfort around publicness as a
way to rethink the space of the public programme in ways that no longer take
becoming public for granted.
contemporary art institution's public programme includes is seemingly limitless.
Despite the increasing visibility of this practice, it remains side-lined in institutions
and discourse. Yet, I argue it offers a unique vantage point from which to explore
publicness, as it is produced by the art museum and its extended spaces - the
contemporary art institution, art school and performance festival - in a manner
distinct from exhibition making and other forms of the curatorial. I ask in this thesis:
what can the space of the public programme tell us about what it means to become
public in the contemporary art institution?
It is my contention that publicness is both spatially and temporally constructed; we
must observe and quantify the feelings, responses, actions of ourselves and others
to truly understand it. Through a combination of queer theory, theatre and
performance studies, I attend more fully to the sensuous, affective and felt
dimensions of publicness, and trouble the abstract, singular public found in the
construction 'public programme'. Challenging pervasive spatial metaphors of
publicness that curatorial discourses often have recourse to, I then argue for an
alternative understanding of publicness as an emergent becoming.
My understanding of 'becoming public(s)' emerges from the art museum and how it
has been tied to publicness in rather uncomfortable ways, alongside close readings
of specific moments during events I have programmed or attended that left me
feeling uncomfortable, awkward, or uncertain how to respond. My findings are taken
back into practice in a series called That Awkward Stage: Private Workshops for
Public Programmers (2018-19). Inviting participants to share moments of discomfort
in their double role as programmer and audience, I analyse anecdotes shared to
answer my final research question: what could reframing publicness as a process of
becoming do to our understanding of the public programme in the contemporary art
institution? This thesis argues for embracing the discomfort around publicness as a
way to rethink the space of the public programme in ways that no longer take
becoming public for granted.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Benjamin Cranfield (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Marianne Mulvey (Student) |
| Title | Curator in Residence: Feminist Library, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Description | Invited as the inaugural Curator in Residence to this small artist-run organisation, I spent three weeks researching in the personal library of the late feminist activist, Dr. Patricia Brennan. I wrote a piece of creative, critical writing called 'Intellectual Mothers' about my experience of being with her books and searching for traces of her within them. I made the writing public, by performing it to an invited audience and inviting their participation through reading small excerpts from the books. A discussion about the public and more private uses of the library as research material for different local and international audiences followed the reading. During my time in Hobart, I was also invited to speak about my residency and PhD research at the Art School, University of Tasmania. |
| Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | I published 'Intellectual Mothers' in PROVA 4, Royal College of Art, Arts & Humanities Research Journal. I have been invited to make subsequent readings of the text at venues in London. |
| Title | Curator: 'When Women Gather...' by Grace Gelder |
| Description | In 2018-19 I curated 'When Women Gather' with photographer Gelder at Conway Hall selected from her archive of individual and group portraits of women, taken in a variety of public and more private situations. We collaborated on a public programme dedicated to women's space makers and on the opening night I chaired a panel discussion entitled 'Gather Together' with four women's space makers, discussing the potentials and pitfalls of such work. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | Further collaborations with Grace Gelder have resulted. |
| URL | https://conwayhall.org.uk/event/when-women-gather-an-exhibition-of-photographs-by-grace-gelder/ |
| Description | Research and Practice Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented my PhD research and curatorial practice to Curating Contemporary Art, MA students at Royal College of Art. In the afternoon I ran a creative workshop exploring themes from the morning session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Research and Practice Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented my PhD research and curatorial practice to Curating Contemporary Art, MA students at Royal College of Art. In the afternoon I ran a creative workshop exploring themes from the morning session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Research and Practice Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented my PhD research and curatorial practice to Curating Contemporary Art, MA students at Royal College of Art. In the afternoon I ran a creative workshop exploring themes from the morning session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Research and Practice Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented my PhD research and curatorial practice to Curating Contemporary Art, MA students at Royal College of Art. In the afternoon I ran a creative workshop exploring themes from the morning session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Research and practice presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented my PhD research and elements of my curatorial practice to a group of international curators on the yearly Curating Summer School, Royal College of Art. In the afternoon I ran a creative workshop inspiring them to think more deeply about what motivates their curatorial practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | That Awkward Stage: A Private Workshop for Public Programmers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | First in a series of workshops, engaging with professional practitioners in the field of public programming, museums and galleries. In this workshop to Tate's public programmes team, I created an intimate, para-professional space for colleagues to share uncomfortable, unexpected or awkward moments of practice. I presented my research, and then led a discussion activity using these anecdotes to observe the fluid boundaries of what is 'public'. This innovative series proved insightful for my research and for several participants, with whom I continued follow on conversations. I now offer similar workshops to other teams in Tate and other organisations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | That Awkward Stage: A Private Workshop for Public Programmers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Third in a series of workshops, engaging professional practitioners of public programme from a range of institutions, both employed by institutions and working freelance. In this workshop I created an intimate, para-professional space to share uncomfortable, unexpected or awkward moments of working publicly. I presented my research, and then led a discussion activity using these anecdotes to observe the fluid boundaries of what is 'public'. This innovative series proved insightful for my research and for several participants, with whom I continued follow on conversations. I now offer similar workshops to Tate and other organisations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | That Awkward Stage: A Private Workshop for Public Programmers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Second in a series of workshops, engaging with cohort of Open School East, Margate. Most were professional practitioners in the field of art, and some from public programming as freelance artists. In this workshop I created an intimate, para-professional space to share uncomfortable, unexpected or awkward moments of working publicly. I presented my research, and then led a discussion activity using these anecdotes to observe the fluid boundaries of what is 'public'. This innovative series proved insightful for my research and for several participants, with whom I continued follow on conversations. I now offer similar workshops to Tate and other organisations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | When Exhibitionism meets Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Devised and led this study day with a fellow Collaborative Doctoral Partnership student, and received funding from CDP, V&A to run it. With presentations from scholar Dr. Clare Warden and artist Harold Offeh, the day included activities and discussions to unpack different associations with, and uses of exhibitionism. Troubling traditional notions of what is valuable public performance and what is gratuitous self-display, we broaded our discussions to included practices of 'exhibitioning' in cultural institutions, including our setting, Tate Modern. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |