Hyundai Tate Research Centre Critical Report
By exploring global connections between art and artists, the Tate Modern accumulation of curatorial, exhibition and art programs over the past two decades has created a more open and inclusive public platform. Since 2014, Tate Modern has had an 11-year partnership agreement with Hyundai Motor Corporation, including the creation of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre. In 2019, the Centre launched the ‘Transnational’ art project. Expanding its curatorial programs beyond Europe and North America will change the way Tate grows.
Vision and Values
The vision of the Hyundai Tate Research Centre’s Transnational art project is to redefine existing art collection and exhibitions and to offer new perspectives on international art history. It seems that Transnational is promoting new art and presenting new exhibitions through the concept of ‘transnational’ open curatorial frameworks. While Europe and North America have always led art trends, Transnational is a new way of understanding and curating art and encourages audiences to think of art and its history as interconnected beyond their country of origin, such as vistors or migrants own contuies’ art. In addition, the Transnational art program represents a way of looking at different aspects of global art and different ways of understanding the cultures of different countries. When we used to talk about international or global art, we always regarded non-Western art as outside the mainstream. Similarly, Reilly and Lippard (2019) point out that everyone is a ‘curatorial activist’, which describes those who work on the curation of visual culture in marginal areas. Such activists promote systems of equality and challenge assumptions; they contribute to the margins rather than the centre, the minority rather than the majority. I therefore realized that using this new concept of the transnational can enable the public to truly see the equality between different artistic practices across the globe. I also realized that art is not defined by nationality and borders but by connecting international networks, allowing people and cultures to form a whole. This reminds me of Otherwise Anthropology, however, in other fields, such as Black, Indigenous, Latin, Asian American, Postcolonial, and Queer the otherwise has been understood to enjoin scholars to an enduring struggle for liberation. McTighe and Raschig state that we should call for a move from the anthropological study of the otherwise to an Otherwise Anthropology (2019). Now I will take ‘Transnational’ as an opportunity to consider the following questions: “What is really to be connected? What is the role of the curator? And moreover, how does the Centre work?
Organizational Structure
The Centre is led by Dr Sook-Kyung Lee, Senior Curator of International Art (Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational). It seems that her immigration status and study experience can play a leading role in organizing important exhibitions and research methods that broaden global perspectives and enhance understanding of Asian, African and Latin American art. I have witnessed the Centre’s desire to move its collection away from Western-centric discourses and offer new practices for developing art historical narratives, as seen in the Nam June Paik retrospective. Similarly, O’Neill (2007, p. 15) argues that curators play an increasingly creative and active role in producing art itself. The curator is also an important agent in the global cultural industry a new kind of international curator is identified who seems to know no geographical boundaries and for whom a kind of global-internationalism is the central issue (Rugoff 1999). As a result, Dr Sook-Kyung Lee’s role strengthens not only world culture but also the vision of the art world through being involved in the production of artists and the values of art. The core team of the Centre works with and is integrated within the wider curatorial team at Tate Modern. Therefore, I realized that it was essential to cross and overlay the organizational structure while accessing the latest critical thinking and sharing their research, such as, recent scholarly research. In addition, Hyundai is acting as a sponsor. Hyundai commissions international curators and artists and encourages new ways of thinking about art, community, and institutions values and connections in ‘transnational’ ways. Pandey et al (2017, p. 392) state that a well-designed mission statement defines an organization’s identity and purpose for external and internal organizational stakeholders. The Centre’s diverse and inclusive organizational structure thus demonstrates that art movements and their histories are interconnected beyond their countries of origin, therefore deepening the curators’ commitment to exploring the diverse art histories of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Transnationalism in Practice
The idea of the ‘transnational’ is currently gaining momentum in the academic, curatorial and art worlds. It provides a framework for thinking through non-hegemonic global exchange and knowledge production. Its emphasis on the entanglement of the external and internal between cultures offers a new set of ethics and a suitable platform for curatorial commissions and projects in a globalized art world. Gandhi (2006) argues that different marginalized groups can come together and form international networks of friendship and shared solidarity in commissioning relationships. For example, three Hyundai Tate Research Centre curators have adopted transnational concepts to focus on artists who imaginatively map and redraw the world. Maps have often been considered objective, scientific descriptions of specific places; they can show us boundaries as well as shared spaces. However the Research Centre curators use maps to develop friendships to co-create an international approach to their work, commissioning artists to practise connections between different geographical and cultural contexts. Although, for the most part, the artworks curated by the Centre that are exhibited at Tate Modern are from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the curators encourage audiences and migrant communities to engage with and critique the interconnected and ever-changing transnational spaces of artworks outside their countries of origin. When we look at some of the maps we are familiar with, we need to always compare them with other, different and conflicting maps because the maps drawn by people who were forced to leave their land and migrate elsewhere are visual and help us understand a cultural evolution through artworks. Moreover, I am aware of curators drawing on rich histories and debates about decolonizing approaches that transcend East and West’s binary and static positions. At this critical time, the Centre explores innovative and visionary discussions and approaches in curatorial research and practice.
Curators from each of the three regions (Asia, Africa and Latin America) then presented curatorial projects. The first, Handsworth Songs, presents Black people’s engagement with Britain’s colonial history and the struggles of Britain’s colonial history and race and class struggles. Secondly, Hydra Decapita depicts the historical moment of a slave journey from Jamaica to Britain making a broader connection to the workings of finance capitalism. Thirdly, Filipino artist Pacita Abad’s narrative of contemporary Filipino art and culture is a ‘multi-ethnic’ one. Her work is ‘multi-ethnic’. She is more concerned with the multi-ethnic society of legal and illegal migrants. I realized that the three curatorial projects were designed to provoke thought and concern through the artworks inherent themes and socio-historical contexts. While the curators drew on a wide range of artists, activists and cultural producers, the international friendship network model questions their artistic and political practices. I consider non-Western art presented as a collective, continuous and holistic structure.
The Curator as Collaborator in a Team
As a common approach to arts organizations and art projects collaboration involves a group of people rather than one person. It involves collective action and team participation in practice. Because these concepts often intersect and overlap with each other, curators and artists can collaborate on curating exhibitions. Additionally, in a spitit of ‘openness’, I would welcome different ideas in the team and try different perspectives to dig into the project. At the same time, the audience become lost in the project and find new perspectives to think about the work. It seems to me that curators should have a more participatory process for example, a think tank, where everyone has an equal opportunity to speak, listen to ideas and explore new avenues. This does not mean that the team fails to work under one core idea; I would initially present the ideas of the think tank ideas to the team. Although there is division of labour with each member having their own platform, the content of all platforms is a collaborative model. Likewise, Thea and Micchelli (2009) point out that a large part of the curator’s vision and task is to know what to achieve and so to be a good negotiator. Furthermore, in terms of roles and relationships within and outside the organizational structure, I am aware of the boundaries of the art organization, the curator, the artist and the public working together to engage with and test the work. Which aspects of their roles are different from each other? Which aspects overlap? Firstly, I have found that prioritizing a friendship and network building approach is fundamental. Secondly, in my curatorial work, a curatorial approach is essential for organizing a collective creative environment. I have realized that my role is to identify opportunities for exhibition collaboration and provide curatorial strategies rather than create various art forms. Thirdly, I understand that the role of different backgrounds has shifted towards interdisciplinary and collaborative practices as overlapping parts, a definition that bypasses the new paradigm of formalism and bureaucracy. Furthermore, I follow Félix Guattari’s philosophy ecosophy, which values a harmonious or balanced philosophical relationship between individuals, groups, cultures, societies, economies and the natural environment. Therefore, my curatorial approach gives equal respect and equality to different actors and regions.
Provisional Conclusions
The ‘transnational’ vision in the Hyundai Tate Research Centre is one of connection and understanding of global culture and art history. The Centre is restructuring the art world between regions. The different roles of the organization build a wide network throughou the art world. I am interested in how relationships are constructed, considering art at the micro level of an artwork, and collaborating at the macro level of an art organization. I am aware of exhibitions stemming from a democratic impulse as part of the shift from private exhibitions to public museums in pre-revolutionary France. Furthermore, as a curator, I adopt a collaborative approach to the vision and values of an organization. My intention is not to deny the vitality and necessity of the Western museum model but to advance the totality of the art world through a relationship of collaboration and friendship.
Bibliography
Gandhi, L. (2006) Affective communities. Duke University Press.
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O’Neill, P. (2007) The curatorial turn: From practice to discourse. Issues in curating contemporary art and performance, pp.13-28.
Pandey, S., Kim, M. and Pandey, S.K. (2017) Do mission statements matter for nonprofit performance? Insights from a study of US performing arts organizations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 27(3), pp.389-410.
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Thea, C. & Micchelli, T. (2009) On curating : interviews with ten international curators / by Carolee Thea. First edition. New York, N.Y: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers.
