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#5Spells, Wild Spaces, and the Reconstruction of Intimacy—From Anne Hardy’s Survival Spells to Curating Intimacy in the Globalized Era

In my Week 3 Post, I reflected on how the practices of Martine Syms and Deirdre O’Mahoney converge on a central question: intimacy is not merely an emotional bond, but a vehicle for power structures. Through their perspectives, exhibitions no longer provide definitive answers but instead invite audiences to recognize how they are “programmed” by algorithms, colonial histories, and the politics of land. This curatorial strategy aligns with what I now see as a practice of “critical intimacy”—where emotional experience is not an end in itself, but a means to expose structural conditions. However, as my research deepened, I realized that their methods—rooted in digital and ecological entanglements—deviate from my initial vision for the exhibition. This realization has led me into a state of uncertainty.

 

When Spells Become a Curatorial Syntax

In Anne Hardy’s lecture, what captivated me most was her framing of installation art as a “survival spell” (Hardy, 2025)—immersive environments built from discarded urban materials that function simultaneously as physical shelters and affective rituals. Her concept of “wild space”, an unstable, in-between territory beyond institutional control, unexpectedly resonated with my exhibition project, “INTIMACY – Rethinking Closeness (in a Globalized World).” After all, what is intimacy if not a wild space in need of protective spells? Within the globalized landscape, cultural norms, technological interventions, and individual desires converge to form a fragile yet resilient energy field (Bhabha, 1994).

The Agency of the Spell: Rewriting the Scripts of Intimacy within Constraints

Hardy states: “A spell is a means of reclaiming agency within structural limitations” (Hardy, 2025). This perspective directly challenges my previous, somewhat pessimistic narrative about cross-cultural intimacy. Initially, my project focused on the conflicts arising from cultural difference, yet Hardy’s work suggests another possibility: curating itself could function as an intimacy spell, a participatory framework in which audiences actively rewrite the rules rather than merely observe them (Bishop, 2012).

Reconfiguring “Open or Closed?”—From Mapping to Spellcasting

My original concept for Open or Closed? was a relationship mapping wall, where visitors would pin responses about intimacy norms across cultures. However, inspired by Hardy’s methodology, this can be transformed into a spell-based interaction.

  • Instead of static mapping, visitors weave glowing threads between concepts such as “Confucian filial piety” and “Western individualism.”
  • As the threads become entangled, a sensor-based system triggers Hardy-style ambient noise—a sonic cue that intimacy norms, when too rigid or entangled, collapse under their own weight (Hardy, 2022).

“Survival Spells” and the Materialization of Emotional Labor

During Hardy’s Marfa residency, she explored the transformation between material and psychic states (Hardy, 2024). This led me to reconsider how emotional labor—especially invisible forms of care within families—could be translated into spell-like objects.

One possible intervention:

  • A suspended sculpture woven from plastic bags—commonly used by Chinese mothers for household storage—embedded with pressure sensors.
  • When touched, the sculpture emits the sound of Scottish bagpipes, generating a cross-cultural acoustic compression (Bhabha, 1994).
  • The piece materializes the weight of care, the friction of expectations, and the resonance of cultural entanglement.

Curators as Spellcasters: Shifting from Authority to Ritualistic Mediation

Anne Hardy’s lecture illuminated a new curatorial approach for me—the curator as a weaver of spells. Rather than defining intimacy through institutional authority, curating can construct spaces where audiences enact their own spells, engaging in rituals of self-reflection and rule-making (Hardy, 2025). This aligns closely with my goal of making the exhibition audience-led rather than curator-imposed—a space where intimacy is not only displayed but collectively conjured.

Hardy’s insights have reoriented my thinking, prompting me to experiment further with curatorial strategies that prioritize participatory transformation over passive spectatorship.

 

References:

Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. Routledge.

Bishop, Claire. Artificial hells: Participatory art and the politics of spectatorship. Verso books, 2023.

Hardy, A. (2019). Tate Britain Winter Commission. Tate. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk

Hardy, A. (2022). Survival Spell. Maureen Paley Gallery. Retrieved from https://www.maureenpaley.com

Hardy, A. (2025). Artist Talk. Edinburgh College of Art.

Syms, M. (2017). Myths Being. Bridget Donahue Gallery.

O’Mahoney, D. (2021). Sustainment Experiments. https://deirdre-omahony.ie

Photo from Anne Hardy’s solo exhibition Survival Spell/Maureen Paley Gallery
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#5Spells, Wild Spaces, and the Reconstruction of Intimacy—From Anne Hardy’s Survival Spells to Curating Intimacy in the Globalized Era / Zihan Fu / Curating (2024-2025)[SEM2] by is licensed under a
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