The course has just begun. Moving to a new country and starting a Masters program, has been no small feat. In this course we are entrusted in pursuing a Guided Research Placement, here we will be given briefs on two possible placements. We will be spending the course of our program working on these briefs until they come to fruition in the spring. We have been giving the briefs for this year’s Guided Research Placement. They are both extremely interesting and I have had a hard time choosing which one I would like to commit to. There is the Skull Collection brief which is incredibly fascinating with its themes of repatriation and ethics. However, there is also the Art Collection brief that I feel aligns with my area of research more concretely.
Ultimately, I have chosen the Art Collection brief as I am still allowed to get training in the Skull Room. I am getting both experiences. I am now working with Margaret, Rose, and Sofia all of which have proved themselves to be competent hardworking people. In addition, the brief is very fascinating. We are to work with the Centre for Research Collections and the process in which they acquire work. This is facilitated by the relationship that the CRC has established with Winnie Herbstein and the Traveling Gallery. This brief surrounds itself around Winnie Herbstein’s three art films, Minutes (2019), Dampbusters (2021), and Studwork (2018). We all must collaborate and exhibit her work within the Traveling Gallery. Our goal is to make a socially relevant and engaging exhibition that interprets Winnie Herbstein’s work to an a caliber of excellence and quality that is expected of the institutions that we are working with. Lastly, this brief requires us to answer the question: “To what extent can exhibition-making be used as a form of knowledge production in collections?”
I am eager to continue this placement and am excited to see what the lessons and outcomes of this project will be.
