Week 11: Jí Jū Exhibition, Ethics, and Site Visits
Jí Jū Collective: ‘Our Shell’
Last week the Collective installed an exhibition entitled ‘Our Shell’, where we exhibited artworks from members of the collective alongside an installation we collectively created including pairings of images from our adopted home (Edinburgh) and our hometowns, exploring how we seek belonging and create a ‘shell’ in unfamiliar environments. This was a celebratory moment for the collective, as we put into practice theoretical skills we have been developing: more on this in the reflection text.
Photo of exhibition install, image courtesy author.
Preliminary Budget
**This budget also does not reflect fees for participants in the closing night reading, which I will indeed add.
This week I continued fleshing out a preliminary budget for my ISCP, which can be viewed above. A major concern I have is in regards to the ethics of commissioning just one artist (Nidhi Bodana) to create a new work, and include previously existing works by all others. Returning to week 3’s readings on ethics & care has helped me navigate this issue: as I “attempt to make reasonable decisions while taking the positions of others into account” (Chen 2023), I am equally as constantly aware of my own positionality in regards to the themes explored in the exhibition, to which these texts provide guidance into how I navigate aligning “’caring about’ with ‘caring for’”(Krasny & Perry, 8) within my work.
Highlighted text from Krasny, Elke and Perry, Lara. eds. Curating with Care. Routledge, 2023, pp 8.
Highlighted text from Chen, Meng-Shi. ‘Ethics of Curating.’ Curatography. The Study of Curatorial Culture 5 (2021). https://curatography.org/5-3-en/
Out of Blue Drill Hall Site Visit
Photo of main hall, image courtesy author.
Visiting the site this week highlighted how suitable the space is for the exhibition — publics flowing in and out of the main hall & cafe, studio-holders traversing the space, the tall ceilings and skylights imbuing an openness and almost replicating the feeling of being outside…
Preliminary sketch of exhibition plan.
After visiting, the inclusion of a reading room in the front supplementary space seems crucial — being the first space visitors engage with, it would exist as a casual, accessible, and stimulating space that offers reading materials, research, and the exhibition publication as a way to ease publics into the theme of the exhibition, or serve as a space of contemplation before leaving.
Sketch of reading room
Programming
My approach to programming and how it intersects with the exhibition has slightly shifted, detailed in this brief schedule/outline of the programming:
Opening night: Performance from Alvi Ostgard & newly commissioned performance from Nidhi Bodana.
Closing night: Music performance from Kinaara, partnership with Scottish BPOC Writers Network to present a reading from poets & authors.
Publication & partnership with Out of the Blueprint: 24page publication printed onsite, including contributions from participating artists (& written works from members of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network. The publication will be freely disseminated at the exhibition and at sites around Edinburgh, including libraries and cultural centers.
Photo of supplementary exhibition space at the entrance of Out of the Blue Drill Hall, image courtesy author.
References
Chen, Meng-Shi. ‘Ethics of Curating.’ Curatography. The Study of Curatorial Culture 5 (2021). https://curatography.org/5-3-en/
Krasny, Elke and Perry, Lara. eds. Curating with Care. Routledge, 2023
1 replies to “Week 11: Jí Jū Exhibition, Ethics, and Site Visits”
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Hi Preston, great to read your latest posts, they are showing real depth of engagement, well done. Make sure you post for all 13 weeks. A lot of my comments relate to supporting adjustments and details. I can see how you are actioning my previous feedback.
In Week 8 give a link for Woman’s Art Library (be consistent with formatting choices, giving of links etc so you strengthen the identity of your portfolio, the visual communication: aesthetics is politics).
Could you elaborate on the ‘reading room’ as a participatory device in relation to anti-ableist curating, more on ethics? How to we read, how do we listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aBAetOiyVM may be of interest. Same for the reflection on the title: how do we speak to/reach audiences?
In Week 9 contextualise your reflection on communication in Ji Ju in relation to theory/analysis eg https://managementandthearts.com/5e/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/MgtArts5e-Ch8-Slides.pdf (I suggest the Critical Reflection will also be a space for this. In the Critical Reflection text give a summary of the scope of your activities in Collective Space, as they are spread throughout your Blog. Consider the Ji Ju home project and your work in relation to the artist-curator? What kind of aesthetic does a workshop-generated exhibition produce? Does this inform how you think of public programmes?
Now your Blog is looking so enriched with references, and the narratives and sub-headings are feeling clear, there is time to look at how it reads together as a whole. EG In Week 10 when you state “As the space has shifted from my initial concept of Dalmeny Street Park to Out of the Blue Drill Hall” refer back to why (due to xyz, outlined in Week X post).
In Week 10, you mention “nother notable shift is that I have chosen to commission a new performance and installation”: reflect/analyse briefly as a signpost (to more discussion in the Critical Reflection?) on the different curatorial modes (selecting from research, meeting CAP artists through workshop/common community, leading the brief of an artwork: show you are able to categorise your work). When you mention “This past weekend we installed and opened the exhibition” give a little more, over a day, for the 3 day show, link to Summerhall website?
In Week 11 you mention “theoretical skills we have been developing: more on this in the reflection text.” Give a brief summary signpost of this, eg in relation to XYZ.
Lastly, I wonder about time/temporality in your curating, the liveness but ephemerality of performance, contrasted with the ancestral/archival/historical: this may be something for the CR text. Terry Smith wrote on ‘contemporaneity’ https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/39af/0c4885e119e95fb9ee487adb470c6a40db2b.pdf. You may want to focus on space and relations, that’s ok, but looking for strong, original ways of examining the meta- macro level of your work.
Here is the advice I am sharing with all students, you are doing a lot of this: Does your Blog as a whole weave together to form a portfolio, that develops threads and lines of enquires, narratives/themes, from across your practice and research across the course and which adds new relevant content each week on the SICP and Collective? How are you consistently demonstrating you are engaging with course content from different weeks, and synthesing/connecting it to form new applications and insights?