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Category: 🤝 Collective Practice: 11:11 Collective

Posts related to our group project (11:11 Collective), including planning meetings, collaborative activities, test sessions at Summerhall, and documentation of our shared curatorial process.

Week 11 | 11:11 Collective Recap: Where Collaboration Meets Curation

If I had to describe these three group events in one word, it would be: alive. Not just because we were surrounded by real flowers and blooming ideas, but because the experience of making something together—as a team—felt truly vibrant.


🎬 Collective Event 1: Film Sharing Afternoon at Summerhall

On March 20, our curatorial collective gathered in the Collective Space at Summerhall for a film-sharing session. We didn’t set out to impress or instruct—our only goal was to feel together. And that’s exactly what happened.

Each of us brought a short experimental video—mostly from UbuWeb, some from YouTube—and we watched them one by one. No lectures, no long analysis. Just a few soft words on why we chose what we chose, and then a moment of stillness to sit with what we saw.

I shared Joan Jonas – Left Side Right Side (1972)
🔗 Link to film

It’s a raw, direct piece that uses the body and the camera to challenge how we see. Jonas’s gestures—moving from left to right, shifting her gaze—felt like she was handing over control of the frame to us. I chose this work because it captures something I want to explore in “Fluid Curating”: what happens when we surrender authority and invite others to take part? What does curatorial space feel like when it becomes shared, intimate, and unstable?


 Film Selections

Here are some of the works we watched together:

  • Staff at Moderna Museet by Annika Eriksson
  • Cycles by Zeinabu irene Davis
  • Why Modern Art is so Expensive? by Business Insider
  • Singing in the Rain by Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
  • Interior Scroll – The Cave by Carolee Schneemann
  • Love Sequences – Qanun by Gobelins
  • Inspirator by Abigail Lane
  • Lanvin, Alka-Seltzer, Veterano ads by Salvador Dalí
  • The Neighbor’s Window by Marshall Curry

Each one offered a different way of sensing—through rhythm, silence, contradiction, or vulnerability. Together, they formed a constellation of emotional and visual textures.


(The poster designed by Sarah)

Collaborative Setup

What I appreciated most was the way we worked as a group. Someone brought popcorn, another taped up the windows to dim the light, someone else set up the projector. We didn’t assign roles like a production team—we just moved together, intuitively, like a collective with shared purpose.

This event reminded me that curating is not just about objects or spaces—it’s about shared energy. In that room, every gesture felt like part of the exhibition already.

Sometimes, curating doesn’t need walls or text panels. Sometimes, it begins with a projector on a wobbly table, a dim room, and a handful of people ready to sit quietly with each other. This was more than a screening. It was a rehearsal for the kind of curating I want to practice: slow, shared, and emotionally intelligent.

 

💻 Summerhall Event 2 – Entering the World of Artsteps

This session was like stepping into a new dimension. Our teammate Beichen (a.k.a. our unofficial tech guide!) introduced us to Artsteps, an online tool for building virtual exhibitions. At first, it felt a bit like a game—dragging walls, resizing images—but then I realised: this is curation in action.

Together, we explored how to build a digital space that reflects a shared vision. Not just uploading images, but thinking about:

  • How does someone move through this exhibition?
  • Where should a pause happen?
  • Can digital silence feel like breathing space?

I loved seeing how everyone brought something to the table—some coded quietly, some discussed lighting effects, others helped title walls or test the walkthroughs. It wasn’t just about digital skills. It was about shared authorship.

This is curatorial practice in its expanded field: merging tech, aesthetics, collaboration, and playful experimentation.


🌸 Summerhall Event 3 – Flower Arranging with Feeling

From screen to stem, the next session took us in the opposite direction—back to the material world.

We gathered for a flower arranging session. It wasn’t a workshop in the formal sense. No one was “teaching” us. Instead, it was something more beautiful: a space to create side by side. Each of us brought different flowers, and as we sat together on the wooden floor, trimming stems and passing colors to each other, something shifted.

This wasn’t just about arranging flowers. It was about arranging time, presence, and attention.
There were no rules, just silent understandings. A shared sense of “you add that, I’ll hold this.”
The bouquets we made were different, but they all reflected the gentleness of co-creation.

I realised—curatingdoesn’t always begin with a concept. Sometimes it starts with care.


💬 Reflections on Practice

Looking back, these sessions taught me something vital. Curating isn’t just about selecting and displaying artworks. It’s also about learning how to be together—online and offline, formally and emotionally.

Whether building a virtual gallery or weaving petals into shape, we were always practicing:

  • Shared decision-making
  • Respecting differences in aesthetics and pace
  • Making space for everyone to contribute

These moments, simple as they were, grounded my belief that “fluid curating” begins with real people, working together, experimenting, laughing, failing, adjusting, and making something new.

And honestly? That’s the kind of exhibition I want to make. One that’s not perfect, but deeply human.

W5&W6-Reflecting on My Curatorial Presentation & Next Steps 🚀

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of ideas, refining concepts, and pushing my curatorial project, “Fluid Curating: Experimenting with Decentralized Art Ecologies and Archiving,” further. Last week, I finally presented my work to my peers and tutors, and it was a moment of clarity—exciting, challenging, and full of insights.

In this blog, I want to take a step back and reflect on what I presented, the feedback I received, and what’s next as I shape this project into something tangible.


Presenting “Fluid Curating”

My presentation centered on the idea that traditional exhibitions are too static—curators decide everything in advance, and audiences passively consume what’s on display. But what if exhibitions were fluid? What if they could evolve based on audience interaction, real-time AI insights, and blockchain participation?

The core of Fluid Curating is:

Decentralized decision-making – Artists, audiences, and algorithms all contribute.
Dynamic exhibitions – Layouts, text, and artworks shift in real-time.
Transparent archiving – Every change is recorded on the blockchain, creating an evolving, living archive.

A big question I posed in my presentation was:

“If an exhibition is always changing, how do we keep it conceptually coherent?”

This made me rethink the role of curatorial anchors—fixed thematic points that structure the exhibition, even as other elements change. Using AI-driven thematic mapping could be one way to ensure coherence while allowing flexibility.


Feedback & Key Insights

Getting feedback from my peers and tutors was incredibly valuable. They challenged me to refine my approach, think about real-world implementation, and sharpen my project’s focus.

1️⃣ Could “Fluid Curating” work as a hybrid online-offline model?

Insight: Instead of just being a physical exhibition, could there be a digital platform where people interact with the curation remotely?

Next Steps:
Look into NFT exhibitions like MOCA Amsterdam 2023 for hybrid models.


2️⃣ Who controls the curatorial decisions?

Insight: If everything is audience-driven, does the curator still have a role? Some feedback suggested that full decentralization might weaken curatorial structure.

Next Steps:
Research other exhibitions that balance participatory curation with curatorial guidance.


3️⃣ How does the tech actually work?

Insight: My project relies on interactive screens, AI-generated text, and blockchain voting—but how will people engage with these tools? The feedback highlighted the need for clearer descriptions of how the audience physically interacts with the exhibition.

Next Steps:
Identify the exact tech requirements (touchscreens, projection mapping, AR integration).
Study existing interactive exhibition interfaces for reference.


4️⃣ Making the presentation more visual

Insight: The feedback suggested adding more sketches, diagrams, and visual prototypes to help people understand how Fluid Curating functions in real time.

Next Steps:
Design mockups of the exhibition space showing audience interaction.
Create data visualizations that illustrate how AI and blockchain influence the curation process.


Fact Liverpool: Bringing the Project to a Real Space

One major takeaway from the feedback was the importance of site-specific testing. Since I’m considering FACT Liverpool as the exhibition venue, I need to visit and evaluate:

Can their digital infrastructure support interactive tech?
How does their audience engage with new media exhibitions?
Is their space flexible enough for a constantly evolving exhibition model?

Next Steps:
Plan a site visit to FACT Liverpool and assess feasibility.
Look at previous interactive exhibitions hosted at FACT for inspiration.

W4-11:11 | The Curatorial Lucky Signal ✨

💡 This week’s key words: Co-creation, decentralization, curatorial responsibility

🌱 Curatorial team Progress: lucky number 11:11

This week, our curatorial group finally has an official name—11:11 ✨! The inspiration for this name came from one of my personal quirks—I always see 11:11 as a lucky moment. When I realized that our group had exactly 11 members, the name just felt right!
Why 11:11?
In the occult, 11:11 is known as an angelic number, symbolizing good luck, inspiration, and guidance.
The name reflects our vision for curating—we want to create an open, positive, and collaborative atmosphere, where everyone’s ideas can shine and contribute to something greater.
Curating is not just about exhibitions, it is about co-creation between people, and our group itself is an experimental space for collective growth.
My friend Yiran Gu and I both felt it was a great idea, so we brought it up to the group! 🎉
In addition, I helped further refine the group’s Mission Statement, which I proposed:
“Curating for the Future”
Curation is responsibility. From material selection to energy consumption, we integrate Sustainability into our curatorial practices, ensuring that our exhibitions are not only conceptually forward-looking, but also operationally consistent with environmental justice principles.

🚀 Personal curatorial project progress:

In terms of personal curatorial projects, I continue the vision of last week and continue to promote the research of Decentralized Curation. The focus of this week is to make my curatorial ideas more specific, gradually from concept to practice! 💡
🔍 What’s Next?
1️⃣ Deepen research on curatorial models based on blockchain
This week’s reading of Rugg & Sedgwick’s (2007) Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance, which explores how curatorial power structures affect audience experience, got me thinking further:
Does decentralized curation really empower the audience, or is it just a “democratizing” strategy for curators?
At the same time, I’m looking at the case of the Zien Foundation, which uses the NFT to let the audience vote directly on the content of the exhibition, rather than the curators alone. This model is enlightening, but it also makes me wonder if “co-curating” is really fair. Or will it be dominated by economic capital?
2️⃣ Outline the exhibition layout & interactive tools
This week, I started thinking about how to make the audience really become part of the exhibition.
How can technology improve interaction? I studied Refik Anadol’s AI-generated curatorial experiment and wondered if AI could be a “digital curator” to help visitors generate a personalized exhibition experience.
How does NFT fit into the exhibition? I hope that every decision of the exhibition can be recorded on the blockchain, forming a “Living Archive”, so that curation is no longer static, but a process of continuous evolution.

🖼 Exhibition visit: Glasgow Kendall Koppe Gallery

This week I went to Glasgow to see The sun and the sun’s reflection at Kendall Koppe Gallery.
Rather than the exhibition itself, I am more interested in how it presents time, memory and longing. The exhibition raises an intriguing question:
Is memory a comfort or a constraint?
Is our obsession with the past an attempt to find ourselves, or an escape from reality?
The exhibition made me think about the other side of Archival Curation – curation is often the reproduction of history and memory, but if we have been immersed in memories, will we miss new possibilities? It also made me reflect:
Can my concept of “fluid curation” make the exhibition free from the “burden of the past” and become a space that is always evolving? 🤯

📌 Key Focus for Next Week

1.Continue to deepen the research on decentralized curation, especially the interactive model co-created by NFT and the audience.
2.Design interactive aspects of the exhibition, such as allowing the audience to vote on the content of the exhibition.
3.Explore the role of AI in curating and test the curatorial relationship between curator, audience and AI.

Bibliography

  1. Rosen, Aaron. 2021. “The Impact of NFTs on the Art Market: A Decentralized Approach.” Art Market Journal 15 (2): 45–58.
  2. Smith, John, and Emily Johnson. 2022. “Decentralized Curation: How Blockchain is Transforming Art Exhibitions.” Journal of Digital Art Economies 4 (1): 29–52.
  3. Thompson, Sarah. 2023. “NFTs and the Democratization of Art Ownership.” Cultural Policy Review 12 (3): 112–117.
  4. Williams, Mark, and Laura Stevens. 2024. “Challenges and Opportunities in Decentralized Art Curation.” On Curating 56: 78–95.
  5. Brown, David. 2025. “Top Auction Houses Courted the Crypto Crew — Is It Enough to Save Them?” Financial Times, January 22, 2025.

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