LIVE ART REVIEW 2011
"CURATORIAL RITUAL & PERFOMING ART"
"CURATORIAL RITUAL & PERFOMING ART"
CATRIONA ROBERTSON (artist and curator of the event)
INTERVIEWED BY
DAVIDE DANINOS (curator)
DAVIDE:
A rite is an act, or series of acts, performed with prescribed rules, in order to be repeatable.
A performance is composed by several elements: actors and audience, script and stage set.
As a rite these elements are designed with a prescribed order to be repeatable.
You curate this show in order to create a performance.
A rite composed by several recurrent elements: artworks, exhibition space and audience.
So the fruition can create the exhibition, where the actors (curators, audience and artworks) can performed their roles.
Isn't it normal? Aren’t people curating shows all the time? Is a curator following a ritual?
CURATOR & ARTIST
What's your idea of the relationship between artistic and curatorial practise?
CATRIONA:
I see the relationship as very important; at many times they cross over. Artists need to understand how to present their work, and curators understand the requirements of the artists and utilise these together to curate an exhibition. I believe it is possible to be both an artist and curator, and it is important to have an opinion of the art, as well as make it.
PEDESTRAL PROBLEM
DAVIDE:
So the Plinth. We are on a plinth. We're sitting here and this creates a performance. Now we are an artwork, part of an artwork. What's your main idea of the relationship between an artwork and its own pedestal?
CATRIONA:
Yes I built this construction as a plinth, suggesting that we on top of it are like an artwork. The plinth is not important for every art work: but the way in which it is presented can relate to a plinth: the wall: the floor: the stage. Although the plinth is generally considered for sculpture, in this scenario I am inviting the possibility to extend it to any medium, under the concept of ‘live art’ on stage, as I see the plinth as relating to a stage, like a performance on top of it. If we want to present artwork to the public in some way, then it needs a form of presentation, and in this case it is presented on a stage, the ‘white cube’ effect making both the art work and the presentation part of a performance.
Antony Gormly presented something similar with his 4th Plinth performance at Trafalgar Square, London where he invited members of the public to perform on top of the famous plinth.
DAVIDE:
Constantin Brâncuşi started a new way to look at a plinth shape, in relationship with his simplification of sculptures elements.
Has the plinth got the same value of the object displayed on the top of it? It is an artwork, a sculptural element, correct?
CATRIONA:
The material value is generally not the same: for instance the plinth costs say 50euros to make and the sculpture is worth 10,000euros. But for some it is interesting to play on this concept. My concept regarding the plinth bringing status to the people on top of it means the plinth has significant value and is the main concern of the work. It almost doesn’t matter what happens upon this plinth, whatever it is it could be considered as ‘performance’.
This is why I invited people to experiment with their presentations – it could be conventional or unconventional – performative or formal. The art has the opportunity to be live so that the critical context becomes live simultaneously, as they are part of a process afterward which we do not always see when the exhibition is over.
ART & LIFE
So I'm performing a performance right now.
So I'm part of an artwork.
I'm an artwork.
To perform life as art is an artwork?
The Dandys are interested in performing life as art. And also Allan Kaprow. He create in the fifties and sixties the notion of Happenings: an new idea of making art, based on the Interaction of the audience. So an active fruition creates the artwork. Also in a formal way.
It's similar to our situation, isn't it?
CATRIONA:
Yes in a sense this is a happening: this live event. Although it is not the same as everyday life, clearly. However if we were just sitting on chairs in the room talking, and not on top of the plinth, because of the plinth concept we have applied to this happening, that is what makes it a performance.
Isn't it normal? Aren’t people curating shows all the time? Is a curator following a ritual?
CURATOR & ARTIST
What's your idea of the relationship between artistic and curatorial practise?
CATRIONA:
I see the relationship as very important; at many times they cross over. Artists need to understand how to present their work, and curators understand the requirements of the artists and utilise these together to curate an exhibition. I believe it is possible to be both an artist and curator, and it is important to have an opinion of the art, as well as make it.
PEDESTRAL PROBLEM
DAVIDE:
So the Plinth. We are on a plinth. We're sitting here and this creates a performance. Now we are an artwork, part of an artwork. What's your main idea of the relationship between an artwork and its own pedestal?
CATRIONA:
Yes I built this construction as a plinth, suggesting that we on top of it are like an artwork. The plinth is not important for every art work: but the way in which it is presented can relate to a plinth: the wall: the floor: the stage. Although the plinth is generally considered for sculpture, in this scenario I am inviting the possibility to extend it to any medium, under the concept of ‘live art’ on stage, as I see the plinth as relating to a stage, like a performance on top of it. If we want to present artwork to the public in some way, then it needs a form of presentation, and in this case it is presented on a stage, the ‘white cube’ effect making both the art work and the presentation part of a performance.
Antony Gormly presented something similar with his 4th Plinth performance at Trafalgar Square, London where he invited members of the public to perform on top of the famous plinth.
DAVIDE:
Constantin Brâncuşi started a new way to look at a plinth shape, in relationship with his simplification of sculptures elements.
Has the plinth got the same value of the object displayed on the top of it? It is an artwork, a sculptural element, correct?
CATRIONA:
The material value is generally not the same: for instance the plinth costs say 50euros to make and the sculpture is worth 10,000euros. But for some it is interesting to play on this concept. My concept regarding the plinth bringing status to the people on top of it means the plinth has significant value and is the main concern of the work. It almost doesn’t matter what happens upon this plinth, whatever it is it could be considered as ‘performance’.
This is why I invited people to experiment with their presentations – it could be conventional or unconventional – performative or formal. The art has the opportunity to be live so that the critical context becomes live simultaneously, as they are part of a process afterward which we do not always see when the exhibition is over.
ART & LIFE
So I'm performing a performance right now.
So I'm part of an artwork.
I'm an artwork.
To perform life as art is an artwork?
The Dandys are interested in performing life as art. And also Allan Kaprow. He create in the fifties and sixties the notion of Happenings: an new idea of making art, based on the Interaction of the audience. So an active fruition creates the artwork. Also in a formal way.
It's similar to our situation, isn't it?
CATRIONA:
Yes in a sense this is a happening: this live event. Although it is not the same as everyday life, clearly. However if we were just sitting on chairs in the room talking, and not on top of the plinth, because of the plinth concept we have applied to this happening, that is what makes it a performance.
****
SOME VIDEOS OUT OF THE LIVE REVIEWS:
IVAN KISS conceptual designer
ANGELA LEE KA KI critic
JILL TEGAN DOHERTY artist
NEBAHAT ERPOLAT critic
NIELS BETORI DIEHL artist
BARBARA ANTONIAZZI critic
JÖRG BRINGMANN artist
MARKUS WAHL critic
!WHEN ART AND CRITIC BECOME ATTI-DUDE!
Thank you all for having participated
the first episode of LIVEARTREVIEW.
Some photos! (>>> credit: Aleks Slota)
OKO
(performance set by Robert Heim and Aleks Slota)
OKO + LAN HUNGH (performing on the back)
NEBAHAT ERPOLAT and JILL TEGAN DOHERTY
JILL TEGAN DOHERTY (works)
IVAN KISS (installation)
CATRIONA ROBERTSON and FRIED ROSENSTOCK
LAN HUNGH and ADAM NANKERVIS
AIYA!
