WEEK11 AVANT-PRISM: COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION
Date: 5 April 2025, 15:00-17:00.
Venue: Summerhall, Edinburgh.
Attendees:Peiyao Lyu, Tianyi Chen, Tianrui Li, Beini Cai, Yuge Dai, Jianglu Xiao, Yuewen Sun, Qu Chu, Qiqi Yang, Jiayang Yang, Jiamin Zhu.
This week, our collective focused on unpacking the role of critical reflection in shaping both individual and collaborative curatorial projects. As we approach final assessments, the exercise of reflecting deeply on our processes—interrogating successes, setbacks, and moments of ambiguity—has proven invaluable. At its core, critical reflection is not merely a retrospective tool but a dynamic practice that binds personal growth to collective evolution, while anchoring theoretical frameworks in tangible outcomes.
The Interaction of the Individual and the Collective
In my own project, which explores the theme of mythology through experimental multimedia installations, I initially endeavoured to reconcile my singular artistic visions. For example, I was too conceptually fragmented, like kelpie,Scotland, etc. This conflicted with the narrative coherence advocated by the team. Through repeated group critiques we dissected these differences, and by integrating feedback from my peers, my project became more flexible in that it was no longer a fixed interpretation, but one that utilised the characteristics of experimental cinema to return interpretation to the viewer. Bridging the gap between abstraction and audience affinity. This symbiosis highlights how individual rigour can contribute to collective innovation and vice versa.
Theory to practice: dialogue, not confrontation
Critical reflection also requires us to confront the gap between theoretical ideals and practical realities. Drawing on frameworks such as Claire Bishop’s Artificial Hell (critiquing participatory art) , our research group endeavours to address issues of inclusivity.
Action, Participation (1975) also makes an explicit connection between participation and social equality; for him, the work of kinetic artists ‘helped to lay the foundation of a new art, a truly DEMOCRATIC ART
Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. New York: Verso Books, 2023.
For example, while my research emphasised the democratisation of art through open-ended interpretation, logistical constraints – budgetary constraints, spatial design and audience demographics – forced pragmatic adjustments. One installation was initially conceived as a sprawling immersive environment (an outdoor projection of mythological imagery). Much like the outdoor events held at Enchanted Forest. It was later reduced to modular units (immersive podcasts) to accommodate the constraints of the venue. This process proved that the value of theory (e.g. democratic art, decentralisation) is not in providing perfect solutions, but in helping us to identify potential paths of innovation within the constraints of reality.
Enchanted Forest 2009 – Scottish Myths & Legends.
A series of audiovisual commissions about British folk culture.
The process of critical reflection has illuminated how curatorial practice is inherently relational—shaped by the interplay of personal conviction, collective negotiation, and the messy translation of ideas into form. Ultimately, it is in the space between individual and collective, theory and practice, that the most transformative curatorial work emerges.
Group photo of AVANT-PRISM members meeting.
References
Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. New York: Verso Books, 2023. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=rpZpEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=Artificial+Hell+&ots=W7O2Ol_CUl&sig=ZvsT6WxQjMqwDqEVCfemk1o-uZM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Artificial%20Hell&f=false
Enchanted Forest. Accessed February 10, 2025. https://www.enchantedforest.org.uk/.
Legion Projects. A Series of Audiovisual Commissions About British Folk Culture. Accessed April 5, 2025. https://www.legionprojects.com/ploughing-old-patterns-raising-new-ground.
