「批判性政治性藝術創作及策展實踐研究」計畫

「批判性政治性藝術創作及策展實踐研究」計畫與資料庫網站

在充滿政治動盪、經濟變動的全球化年代裡，通過文化與藝術的實踐，如何得以歷史性、批判性地審視政治經濟變遷對社會生活所產生的影響；另一方面，作 為當代社會公民，各地的前衛藝術創作者、文化工作者又如何對生活中所遭遇的困惑與危機、以及如何對攸關生存的社會性議題提出問題或回應？本研究試圖重新理 解與釐清當代社會中具批判性的政治性藝術創作/生產扮演著什麼樣的角色，其生產方式與傳統或過往的藝術形式有何異同，社會性意義及其所建立的美學觀點（或 反美學觀點），其中，當代藝術中所觸及的「社會介入」與實踐範例為本研究案之考察重點，亦是本網站收集與整理內容的主要方向。

這個針對創作暨策展的研究專案中，通過考察、訪談與資訊收集，匯集成資料庫網站，以此引介與收錄當代藝術近十年來的發展訊息。其中包括藝術家、策展（人）、展覽、跨領域、機構等幾項重點分類。

本網站之建立亦回應這個研究主題的實踐與行動性格─於未來持續進行相關展覽計劃、活動規畫與擴充資料庫內容。

Untitled Exhibition Week 4 : Works by Justin Wong

Rules by Hanison

Visualize an allusion of your choice — be it ancient or modern, local or foreign — by juxtaposing your own work with the exhibits on display, through the methods of collage.

Untitled Exhibition Week 3 : Works by Hanison Lau

Rules set by Ivy Ma

Regarding a space (within the exhibition venue) as a photograph (within a frame), implementing the concept of ‘punctum’ as Roland Barthes suggested in his book, Camera Lucida; which is “denoting the wounding, personally touching detail which establishes a direct relationship with the object or person within it.”

Keywords

• 細節
• 偶然
• 擴展的力量
• 新的觀察角度

Untitled Exhibition ：　Discussion and Presentation

Untitled Exhibition Week 2 : Works by Ivy Ma

Rules set by Hin

1. 選擇強調場中的3處地方

2. 眼前所見的作品，也包括自己的，視為一些符號物件（readymade)

3. 透過你的作品能夠提供的符號意義，以及其物理條件的可能性及限制，去消減、加添及轉化場中所有。

Keywords

appropriation | 挪用

collage | 拼貼

context | 文本

readymade | 現成

symbol | 符號

transformation | 轉化

A Plea for Exhibitions (by Jens HOFFMANN)

original article: http://www.moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=569

*republished on “Who Cares: 16 Essays on Curating in Asia”. Hong Kong: Para/Site Art Space. 2010.

Excerpt:
…… While larger museums have used non-exhibition-centered programming to attract bigger and more diverse audiences, smaller institutions that are less audience-focused and more intellectually and politically minded have discovered that these non-exhibition-based curatorial efforts offer ways to move beyond the traditional concept of exhibitions as displays of artworks in a white cube. In the last 20 or so years, with the academization of curatorial practice and the growth of discourse-oriented artistic practices, theory has become a key aspect not only of the eloquent argument of the premise of a specific exhibition, but also of the analysis of culture and politics at large, with or without any obvious relationship to actual artistic production. Catherine David’s Documenta X (1997) was a prime example of an exhibition whose accompanying program, 100 Days – 100 Guests, enabled academic art-world discourses outside the exhibition space1. Okwui Enwezor’s Documenta XI (2002) took the idea even further with five symposia, the Platforms, which took place around the world2. Critical and expanded programming is now a core element of any respectable art institution. Seminars and the publication of academic materials have become standard offerings, often replacing traditional catalogues. One recent trend has been the investigation of new pedagogical modes and alternative education models such as temporary schools, evening workshops, weekend seminars, and traveling libraries within the walls of the museum. The unsuccessful attempt to start an art school by the curators of Manifesta 6 (titled “Exhibition as School”) in Cyprus in 2006 finally found form in a number of public presentations and educational activities at the United Nations Plaza in Berlin. Initiated by one of the Manifesta 6 co-curators, Anton Vidokle, these lasted from 2006 until 2009 and extended to New York through the New Museum’s Night School (2008-9).

Many non-exhibition-based curatorial activities of the last decade were originally connected with New Institutionalism, a term coined in 2003 by the Norwegian curator Jonas Ekeberg4 and later analyzed by the German curator Nina Möntmann in her 2006 book Art and Its Institutions: Current Conflicts, Critique, and Collaborations. New Institutionalism was never a coherent curatorial movement, but rather a short-lived phenomenon triggered by unorthodox curatorial models with a social and political bent. It was associated with the curators Charles Esche, Maria Lind, Maria Hlavajova, Vasif Kortun, and several others, and disappeared quickly but still casts a shadow over how curators today understand institutional programming. While perhaps not directly connected with New Institutionalism, the work of curator Ute Meta Bauer and to a certain extent the programming of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) under director Manuel J. Borja-Villel should be mentioned here. Both have, in different ways, strongly advocated a more theoretically conscious, critically aware, and politically sensitive curatorial approach that often prioritizes non-exhibition-based curatorial undertakings over the display of artworks…..

……When speaking about innovation in exhibition making, it is important to distinguish between content-related innovations, such as the integration in the 1990s of new discourses related to identity politics and post-colonialism into the exhibition premise (in many cases these simply replaced older debates) and innovations involving the form of the exhibition itself, moving it away from the traditional white-cube presentation. The evolution of the large-scale international biennial (away from the original Venice model with the national pavilions) is certainly one of the biggest innovations in exhibition making of the last two decades. Yet there is surprisingly little diversity in the curating of biennials; most of them end up being global overviews, presenting what is going on around the world in the sphere of contemporary art at a given time under some vague theme. Yet there are isolated exceptions that are more consistent and theoretically rigorous. The 11th International Istanbul Biennial in 2009, titled “What Keeps Mankind Alive?”, offered just such an exception. And it is worth mentioning the radical changes that Manifesta, the nomadic European biennial, has undergone in its recent iterations, concerning itself more and more with European politics: immigration, deindustrialization, and Europe’s relationships with its neighbors in Africa and the Middle East and moving further away from the pure display of artworks…..

……Some innovation has also come from the involvement of artists in the curatorial process, especially in the arena of collection displays. While the trend of artists curating exhibitions was initially an interesting way both to examine how artists think about exhibition making, art history, and other artists as well as to question institutional hierarchies and roles, it quickly spun out of control. One particularly unfortunate instance was the Jeff Koons-curated show “Skin Fruit” (E) (2010) at the New Museum in New York, which was based on the collection of the Greek collector Dakis Joannou. A more positive example, on the other hand, is “Houseguests”, the Hammer Museum’s series of displays from their Grunwald collection of prints and drawings, initiated in 2008 by Hammer curator Allegra Pesenti. Curated, or perhaps better, selected, by Los Angeles-based artists, “Houseguests” has thus far involved the artists Jennifer Bornstein and Francesca Gabbiani. These modest, small-scale presentations give the historical Grunwald Center works a new spin, making them attractive to audiences mostly interested in contemporary art. Both editions thus far have been notable for their meticulous installation, the dialogue they created between past and present, and their clear and yet sophisticated curatorial premises.

In conclusion I would like to mention two very different, and both highly innovative, makers of exhibitions. The first is the independent art space Triple Candie in Harlem, New York. Although to call Triple Candie an alternative or independent art space does not do it justice. Since its inception in 2001 it has become a bastion of curatorial innovation, in particular with what the organization calls “exhibitions about art without art”. Two of its best-known exhibitions have been “David Hammons: The Unauthorized Retrospective” (G) (2005), which was realized via photocopies and computer printouts and without the artist’s approval, and “Cady Noland Approximately: Selected Work, 1984-2000” (2006), the first survey of Noland’s art, consisting of 13 sculptural approximations built using incomplete information gathered on the internet. Both of these exhibitions were highly controversial but introduced a number of innovations, among them simply new ways to organize radical exhibitions without much of a budget.

The second is the Toronto-based collector, artist, scholar, philanthropist, and curator Ydessa Hendeles. The unique and innovative qualities of her work have fortunately received increased attention over the last few years, yet only a small handful of people have ever had the privilege of seeing her exhibitions in person. With such shows as her now-legendary “The Teddy Bear Project” (2002), “Partners” (2003), “Predators and Prey” (2006), and “Dead! Dead! Dead!” (2007), Hendeles pushed the idea of radically subjective curating to an entirely new level by often dealing with her childhood agonies and her families past, and also, perhaps because of her personal involvement with the subjects of her shows, examined how contemporary art can occupy a context populated by objects from the larger sphere of cultural history. “Dead! Dead! Dead!” was loosely organized around the traditional British puppet show featuring the characters of Punch and Judy. Hendeles combined a large selection of historical Punch and Judy puppets, Joan Crawford’s charm bracelets, and Victorian-era billy clubs with works by Charles Ray, James Coleman, Thomas Schütte, Louise Bourgeois, Marcel Dzama, and others to create a complex collage that spoke eloquently about violence, death, power, discontent, frustration, and class society.

These and other examples of innovative excellence from the last decade reveal not only that the art exhibition is alive and well, but that there is an enormous amount of work still to be done. Unfortunately, looking at most major art museums today, particularly in the United States, we see very little innovation in exhibition making. I personally like to wonder what would have happened if we curators had put our efforts of the last 20 years less into expanding and diversifying what curating could mean outside the white cube, and more into radically examining what takes place within the four walls of the gallery space – a space to which I personally feel extremely dedicated. Making exhibitions is necessary, not only for the presentation of artworks but also as a very particular mode of rendering intellectual thinking in a creative, visual, and experiential way…..

第一階段：鄧國騫作品

“To make distance before recalling.”

「也讓追憶先留餘地。」

展覽實驗 ž 實驗展覽來到第四回，過程由策展人發掘展覽本身的可能性，及至藝術家對作品的再度介入，並在策展人協調及服從其他藝術家的規則下，致使各個藝術家重新理解其創作的可能性，更同時挑戰著觀眾觀看展覽的經驗。

李傑的規則多牽涉到物理限制，從這些條件下反映其關注，是一種在局限之下由自身最親近的事物開展的手段。由於陳設上不能將作品以釘子或螺絲等掛牆，亦須設定於視線水平以上或地上，所以平面作品就先不能以慣常的方法展示。如果單單遵照規則將作品裝置在不同地方，其含意沒有意義上的變化，只是視覺上的轉換，將非我所願。因此，由物理條件聯想至一己的關注。其實早在前三次實驗中，已想過如何令作品在展覽中消失。這個想法源於創作的關注，因為我在媒介及風格上並不一致，縱使有著貫徹的信念，但那可能是一廂情願的自說自話。又反問，在日常裡持續維持於創作狀態又是否過度沉溺？對著已完成的作品偶爾相當喜愛，亦間或厭惡它們起來。我能如何連結起自身跟李傑的創作狀態？

結論是，在這個展覽中，以不改變已存在作品的觀念下，加上一步，藉一個承載著全部作品含意的方法，即打算給它們各做一個盒子，並永久鎖上及埋藏。這是為了製造一種距離，去重新認識它們。

你在這裡，可以隨意從箱子裡取出作品觀看。作品被收藏的狀態是我首次接觸它時得到感動的一個時間。你可以在桌上，如同中國繪畫一樣，翻開細察，過後，箱子是安放它的所在。我不會再觸碰它們，並且在展覽閉幕那天將它們鎖於木盒子裡。

另外，我會替它們做作品集，請委託我，我願意追憶它們50次。每一本都是獨一無二的，每一次製作成每一回追憶，情感在50次過後會否依然？

鄧國騫

Untitled Exhibition — Week 1 : Hin

Rules set by Lee Kit:

1. Installation process as the ‘theme’ of that artist’s ‘show’ (while not simply documentation)

2. Works must be set higher than eye level and/or on the floor. And must be visible.

3. Not allowed to use screw/nails/pedestal/stand to install any works. But allowed to use anything to install any of (your) works. And try to keep quiet/not to make any sound during the installation process. (including talking)

4.  If the works are set on the wall, they must be on one/the same wall.

Keywords:

1. Control;

2. State of mind in a moment;

3. Contemplation;

4. Enjoy yourself;

5. Finish and then go;

6. Enjoy the moment afterwards.

Untitled Exhibition

Our last experiment, Untitled Exhibition, will start this Sat. And don’t miss the presentation and discussion next Sat!

Degeneration Art Exhibition opening + discussion