And some of my favourite artists create work that's appealing because of the process that has created or informed it; people like Geoffrey Farmer, who creates insanely detailed installations with a nexus of complicated reference points and narratives that inform them, or Candice Breitz, whose videos of music fans singing along to their favourite albums are enthralling, but can come off as patronizing to their subjects without the context of how she goes about selecting, screening and recording the singers' performances.
Geoffrey Farmer, The Last Two Million Years, 2007,installation view, Courtesy Catriona Jeffries Gallery
So I've been trying to rack my brain for examples of exhibitions or curatorial projects that managed to convey this process or back story in a compelling way - a way where the final product of the exhibition is as engaging as the process that goes into it. The only thing I've come up with so far are some of Ydessa Hendeles' exhibitions at her own gallery space: particularly the acclaimed "Predators and Prey" show where objects that ostensibly have little to no relationship to one another were put together in such ingenious and original ways that Hendeles' own interpretations and aesthetic connections between objects - the process of her collecting and displaying these objects in a particular way - became the central curatorial methodology.
It's an intensely personal and risky way to group artworks and artifacts, but when it works (and her shows often work in surprising and surreal ways) it seems to offer possibilities for a new way forward in organizing exhibitions.
I'm open to other suggestions of successful and compelling exhibitions that have tried to address the presentation of process in the gallery space as well. Anyone have any great examples of a gallery/curator/artist that has successfully overcome this obstacle? Or failed spectacularly while trying?
Posts
4 comments:
I think my first comment got wiped out. Have you seen or read anything about the Michael Asher retrospective they had this fall in Santa Monica? They used aluminum and wooden studs to rebuild every temporary wall ever built in a museum. Apparently you have to sign a waiver to go through the exhibition. I'm not sure if this is totally in line with your post, but I figure there's some tangential connections. It's a really interesting and compelling redefinition of what a "retrospective" can encompass.
Hey Darryl - thanks for the tip on this. I checked out the documentation of the show online and it looks incredible. It's definitely one way of getting to what it is I'm thinking about. Any other thoughts/ideas you have are welcome.
Hey Gabby - you should check out Ydessa's book Partners. I have it if you wanna borrow. It covers three of her shows including the Teddy Bear project as they were transplanted to Germany. Good essays.
Hey Rob - that sounds good. I might take you up on the borrowing offer. I just like how the end product of her shows are sort of all about the process of collecting the objects, finding out or intuiting the connections between them and putting them on display together in a way that reflects that process.
Post a Comment