An on-going curatorial collaboration between Matthew De Pulford, Kate Phillimore and Sian McMillan.

20th May 2011, UCA Canterbury.
Organised by Matthew DePulford, Sian McMillan and Kate Phillimore (Trifarious Projects).

Trifarious Projects  presents a dynamic day of presentations and discussions addressing the notion of curator as jester.

We are proposing to explore the  Jester-Curator model at a time when curatorial practice within the visual arts is increasingly concerned with the presentation of political and social polemics.

Traditionally the title of curator has been used to describe someone who cares for collections. However, more recently, within contemporary art practice it has been ascribed to someone who is responsible for creating a narrative based on a particular political, historical or psychological perspective amongst others. 

From Will Sommers (court jester to Henry VIII,) to Shakespeare’s Feste, the court jester is understood to occupy an exceptional position in the Royal court: his role as entertainer, wit and satirical observer allows him free expression – even the opportunity to mock the King without consequence. Traditionally the jester is depicted as an omniscient character, moving freely between court and kingdom and relaying his observations on either side of the castle walls. 

The Jester-Curator model suggests that the topsy-turvy world of the Jester is not simply a place for foolishness; it is one where ‘acting out’ allows a release from day-to-day reality that enables fresh perspectives and alternate approaches. Yet it puts into question the Curator’s level of responsibility; to whom and what is she responsible and to what extent does the manner in which material and ideas are presented alter its content?

To what extent is the curator responsible to their audience to be a truthful storyteller and how does this reflect the curator’s ability to affect real social or political change?  Join our speakers and panel to examine the curator’s responsibility to reflect critically on the world around us, and to discuss the various ways that might be done.

SEASIDE FILM TRAILER

At St Leonards Bathing Pool Site, Organized by LIDO PROJECTS

For Costal Currents, Dylan Shiptons extraordinary temporary sculpture The Overbearing Mother, becomes host to a micro cinema for the screening of artist films. Each Film Programme is selected by a different artist or curator.

Saturday 3rd September (selector: Sian McMillan)
Zoe Scoglio, Rock Bodies v.1 / Samual Williams, Natural Habitat / Bill Leslie, Images of Wonder / Cindie Gottlieb Cheung, One Girl In Office With Coca Cola / Elise/Jurgen, Pressure Compression.

_________________________

Portrayals of Form on Film

Sian McMillan

Animism encompasses the ideological belief that consciousness may exist not only in humans but also in animals, plants, objects and natural phenomenon. It is a way of understanding our place in relation to the world around us. One might assume that video technology distances us from this way of understanding but in the work of these five artists the camera and the screen (itself a material surface animated via coded signals and electronic pulses) offers a new way to connect with the material world.

Zoe Scoglios’ Rockbodies tease out their own boundaries; balled fists push blindly into a black virtual nothingness enabling the more opaque rock formations to follow. This ‘nothingness’ speaks of evolution and dreamtime; it suggests a pondering about how things came to be. The eroded boulders and crystalline growths are as much a product of the elements as the form and movement of flesh on bone. The tension here between body and material, where the patterns of their augmentation appear to be in symbiosis, suggests the fragility of this interdependent relationship. Scoglios’ electronic soundtrack bubbles away, gently reminding us that there is another live entity in the mix here.

The architectural and handcrafted forms in Bill Leslies’ Images of Wonder, speak of the body. Yet, through slippage of exposure and focus, they somehow become otherworldly. There is something both humble and monumental about these objects. The way the materials are assembled has honesty and a makeshift quality. But there is theatre in juxtaposition; they evoke drama though they remain essentially inanimate.

In the works of Samuel Williams and Cindie Gottlieb Cheung, there is no apparent ancestral or totemic relationship between a central character and the interacting objects. Contemporary cultural artefacts, man made things that could be considered soulless, such as an office chair or an inflatable pool toy, become absurd in the way they are animated and function. In Williams’ Natural Habitat our protagonists are various hybridized camcorders. We watch their journey through an idyllic natural environment, where the rough terrain seems to be at odds with their glossy, synthetic bodies. Cheung’s Girl In Office, with Coca Cola is similarly at odds with her surroundings; she seems determined to undermine the banality of the office. The room becomes a place for reimagining functionality, the desk a platform and a surface for interrogation.

Pressure/Compression sees Elise/Jürgen explore the relationship of their bodies to virtual space. In this filmic visual field we lose the ability to read physical space. There are no references, no clues to understanding the place that they inhabit. Then, by force of breath on flour, clouds of white powder allow us to momentarily see the matter that surrounds the artists; the movement of air, the depth of field, the play of light and all that fills the gap between them. 

Bland Sisters. Kurb Performance Perennial.