COURSES > Spring 2020 Short Courses > Critical Theories: Curating the Domestic > Session 01

F305i Session 01

SESSION 01
Friday, 01 May 2020
LESSON 01 / CURATING THE DOMESTIC LECTURE

GOALS /
__ to think about curating and the home in various ways
__ to create curatorial projects in your home
__ to reconsider your domestic space as a creative one

LECTURE DESCRIPTION /
We will start off by looking at how art, curators and the domestic have crossed paths in the past.

Firstly we examine a very short art history of art in the home to get us thinking about where it started / comes from and to reflect on imagery we are probably familiar with. This will help us question our contemporary thoughts on art in the home.

We will then look at curators who have exhibited the domestic somehow in a contemporary art gallery. This will help us contextualise a link between our own spaces and the public gallery space.

Finally, we will discover examples of art projects that have happened in a domestic space. The aim of this third section will be to inspire you to re-look at your own domestic space with exhibition potential.

LECTURE RESOURCES /

PDF of lecture: Curating the Domestic Lecture 1

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION /
__ Explore your domestic space.
__ Find a place / surface / space within your home that inspires, provokes thought or that you are intrigued by.
__ Curate between 1 – 4 exhibitions in this space. The works exhibited could be your own work, found objects, artworks you own. Or the way you chose to document the space could be the artwork – through photography, writing, poetry, sound etc.
__ Upload onto the forum 1 – 3 images (5MB max each) of each of your exhibitions with a max150 words description of what we’re looking at for example, who the work is by / what the work is / made of / about / inspired by / questioning / provoking etc.

All work must be submitted by Tuesday 05 May @ noon EST / 17.00 GMT and all students must check back and comment on each other’s work by end of play Wednesday. Professor Charlie Levine will comment on Thursday 06 May.

Discussion

david flindall: The windows in my workspace don’t open. I wanted to bring the...
Caitlin Griffiths: As an artist I frequently collect and arrange objects for still-life set...
Vishwa Shroff: Project 1: Narrative of Objects Storytelling is an important part of my...

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Artist

Karen Levitov

2 May 2020 8:59pm

Wonderful lecture, Charlie. Thank you!

Artist

Laurie Nouchka

4 May 2020 7:43am

Image 1

I’ve taken weekends to tend to sorting. Going back through old collections of books, objects, findings etc.

Here is a collection of shells I’ve been hoarding. A classic hoard. On those sunset walks/windy swept wild beach days where we get captivated by the shells and gather a whole load to bring back to remind us of the trip. They inevitably gather dust in a box or bag somewhere. The ones I collect all have to have a hole & I’ve been slowly adding them to a necklace but not all make the cut. I can’t face throwing away the ones that don’t make it. Whilst sorting, I decided to bring them out of hibernation and place them on this beautiful plate made by my friend Alex. He made a series of these plates that remind me of the surface of the moon. I like the contrasting nature of the two things. I feel nostalgic for the ocean and those joyful, provocative memories of travel. I’m grateful to have this reminder of nature at a time like this although it makes me realise how much we want to hold on to those memories when really the best thing we can do is just be fully there at the time. It reminds me to be as present as i can during this time, not trying to rush through it or wish it over but to experience each moment as equally precious and as experiential as those walks on the beach.

Image 2

An extension of the first exhibition, I like the idea of building up to the final show.

This one includes some wild flowers my friend picked for my birthday and delivered (at a distance). It incorporates more of Alex’s pottery including a beautiful bowl in which he found some glass from the smashed window of a car and melted it down into the middle. He described it as an experiment gone wrong, I saw it as entirely beautiful. The bowl contains an origami created by someone I only met once over a dinner in Greece. He said he had made it for me and I never asked why. It includes a vial of perfume made for me by a dear friend which I use sparingly and some further incredible egg cups made by Alex which are entirely impractical. My brother gave me a set of the Oblique Strategy cards made by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. I’ve taken to drawing one out at random every morning during lockdown – i love how thought provoking they are. Finally a cactus that was given to me by my dad last Christmas. I’m getting so much joy out of my house plants during this time.

I feel the need to bring as much nature as possible into my space at the moment. This time has enabled me to fully realise how important it is for me to be in nature and I don’t think I’ll be alone in feeling that. With less access I appreciate it so much more when I am in it. I’ve cultivated a deeper sense of presence that was similar to when I was on a silent retreat, my senses heightened, awareness acute, an acknowledgement of everything being entirely connected. Having said that, I am still guilty of picking up reminders on my daily outings to bring back home to add to my table.

Prof

j o h n r o s

4 May 2020 11:04am

i love the idea of a completely non-traditional exhibition space in the home. some of the best exhibits i have ever been to hve been in the home. there were a couple of spaces i sussed out that could work in the long term, but for a variety of reasons (practical/technical/logistical) i abandoned at the last minute. i opted for a more traditional space for the time-being. and for some reason immediately thought of miniatures.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Galerie de Chambre et Pension is pleased to announce a trio of exhibitions as part of our inaugural programming.

GREY, an exhibit of two-dimensional works predominately in black and white of first generation American artists.
Ring Changes, a large sculpture exhibit featuring Odile Goudeau, one of Alexander Calder’s studio assistants and protégés.
Edge, a exhibit featuring works by the students of Anne Truitt.

We look forward to welcoming you at the new Galerie de Chambre et Pension.

Artist

Gemma Dunford

4 May 2020 12:00pm

As we enter week 7 of lockdown, I’m craving the outdoors. I think this is why I have taken some comfort from the house plants we have – which we have nearly twenty of!

However, as someone who recently left London after 15 years of calling it home, I have often found similar comfort and beauty from architecture, and the modern quirks that usually can be found in cities.

Focusing in on this concrete jungle thought, I pulled together this somewhat tangled mess(!) to focus on the beauty I found within cities despite all the complexities that come with it.

Concrete jungle – a personal viewpoint….

Image 1 – Berlin
An old print showing a section of the Berlin wall – the wall which split the city in half and created a physical and political barrier between East and West Germany. Also, one of the most enormous canvases in the world, it attracted artists who looked to turn their oppression on its head and use the space to fill it with incredible artworks and powerful statements – like this one. Showing that through adversity, thoughts of reflection, creativity and strength can arise.

Image 2 – Amsterdam
A moment captured on one of Amsterdam’s streets – with its beautiful canal houses, and tidy pavements – it’s one of the city’s most expensive areas. Only a short walk away, you’ll find a space in much contrast – the red light district. The city’s ombudsman once described the area as an ‘urban jungle ‘- with areas of concerns litter, over-tourism, public nuisance; homelessness, sex work, drugs and criminal infiltration. Demonstrating the different aspects that often exist side by side in one city.

Image 3 – London
This artwork captures one of my favourite views in London, which used to be just around the corner from where I lived in Hackney. The over imposing steel frames that take over the skyline, starkly contrasted with its immediate surroundings of the towpath, always made me stop and take it in. A feeling I had carried with me since I was a child when we’d see the Victorian gasworks from the train as we headed to London for a family day out. All while hearing the rumours that they once used to rise and fall like “a great grey Lung” as poet Victoria Bean so aptly imagined it. This nostalgic memory and a beautiful site for many is under the threat of disappearing through London’s continued redevelopment though. Does everything need to be new in the city or have a purpose? Or can we make room for something else? I hope we can.

Artist

Veeranganakumari Solanki

4 May 2020 3:02pm

Growing up in my family country home, the outdoors were an extension of the domestic. We created our own wonderlands of farm things that were gathered and left as temporal patterns for the wild.
I was luckily visiting my parents in this countryside when the lockdown hit, and the farm and forest have once again become a part of my new domestic. My recent readings on photography and Berger have made me rethink image sequencing, interpretation and analysis of images and words. What I ask for you to do is read this quote below by John Berger from ‘Another Way of Telling’, and then look at the first image and write down your immediate responses before looking at the rest.
“No story is like a wheeled vehicle whose contact with the road is continuous. Stories walk, like animals or men… Every step is a stride over something not said.”

P.S. – I’ve tried uploading the images twice, but they do not appear in the order of my note above. Please see the images in the following order:
Image 3
Image 1
Image 2

Prof

melissa staiger

4 May 2020 3:52pm

Great Lecture!

Here are two photos of the backs of artworks facing the street.

The first is a very tiny blue-like image is a work of art a friend sent to me to keep spirits high during the quarantine. Her name is Deborah Ramsey and she paints mostly monochromatic fields on plexiglass. In her apartment & art studio, she has a good view of clouds – which she uses to paint. This little work on a heavy-duty trace paper changes with the light from blues in the day to iridescent green at night. more at https://www.debraramsay.com/

There was a lunar eclipse a few days before I received her artwork. The composition looked like what I had seen in the sky.

Prof

melissa staiger

4 May 2020 5:39pm

Deborah Ramsay (night view)

Prof

melissa staiger

4 May 2020 5:40pm

Apologies for some reason possibly my files were too large to post all in the same post!

Deborah Ramsay (day view)

Artist

Jeannine Bardo

4 May 2020 7:37pm

“Placement I”
A curation of objects placed with no intention and left for inspiration.

My kitchen is a place in my home that I seem to spend the most time assembling objects. Whether it is setting the table or arranging my food. This group of images is made up of objects in my kitchen placed with no intention, but kept in the same place because it pleases me.

Images left to right:

Image I: A box that contains steel numbers meant for embossing metal given to me by the owner of a garage where I curated an exhibition. The garage was part of her home and the former owner used it for his auto repair business. I love the box, and the heft of it and the memory of putting together an exhibition that was based on the history of the house and all of its inhabitants and included the works of local artists.

Image II: An Indonesian wood block for printing fabrics I found at an antique store. I brought it home to print on my wall, but it didn’t work because it wasn’t meant for hard surfaces. I put it on my kitchen counter years ago and it is now part of the decor.

Image III: Two acorns found at my local park from trees that inspire my artwork , especially a large project I am working on at the moment. The acorn on the right is sprouting. This was a mast year for the oaks and there are scads of these beautiful rubine red sprouts pushing through the earth.

Artist

Karen Levitov

4 May 2020 9:51pm

Looking out of the window from my space of quarantine, I’ve thought about how people across the globe are watching the world become a different place, each from their own window. The clear panes that separate indoors from out also divide domestic from public, human made from nature, and safety from the potentially unsafe. The window frames our view and affects our experience of sight, temperature, sound and light. From my current vantage point over the last seven weeks, I’ve watched trees and flowers come into bloom, nature thriving as humankind devolves, fewer cars, more people and dogs walking by, the sounds of sirens and clapping. Windows have provided inspiration to centuries of artists– Vermeer, Hiroshige, Morisot, Hopper, Wyeth, Matisse, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Gillian Wearing– not to mention the architects who design the structures. For this project, I photographed all of the windows in my house, focusing on the windows themselves rather than what is seen through them.

Artist

William Hughes

5 May 2020 6:33am

Great lecture Charlie thank you!

I’m currently in lock down with my family in Coventry and having relationships, like many, with loved ones over video call. The work I have created responds to loved ones who I cannot see at the moment, and their state of mind whilst in lock down. Having digital relationships isn’t the same as physical ones and I wanted to get this across in the material process in the work. The work I have created through my final year at university responds to the home environment, and memories of my grandparents’ home; exploring deteriorated and weathered thoughts, faded memories and repetition. The 3 exhibitions I have made in my home look at materials handed to me / my family – which I view as remnants of memories, my own pieces and materials. The first 2 photographs were taken in the same living room environment whereas the third is in my bathroom; both spaces have aspects of the ‘traditional exhibition environment’ but I found them intriguing to apply material to.
Image 1: Exploring individual history and memory including my own hung artwork and materials handed down. The canvas itself explores faded and deteriorated memories of place, with a sense of ambiguity, through the abstracted application of material. I’ve pressed ink (printed onto acetate) onto an emulsion base leaving behind residual imprints, suggesting structures, colour and tone in the individual’s memory. I tried to keep the domestic space as true to life (influenced by Jeremy Deller’s Open Bedroom). Including the objects in the setting was important in this exhibition giving a sense of the domestic environment and the setting as a whole. The jug (left) was created by Charlotte Rhead, and owned by my great grandmother. The smaller jug (right) was created by my late grandfather who was a glass blower. The objects are artworks in themselves linking to individual memories that will fade similar to the painting.
Image 2: Created in the same place, exploring encoded memory through nostalgic material handed down to me. I worked in collaboration with my grandfather with intentions to create a super 8 film using his camera for my degree show. The exhibition involves a backdrop made with materials in my domestic space – those being a pallet and linen with a super 8 projection over the top. It explores the desire to be outside in a time when we can’t and the idea of cabin fever. The film footage belonged to my grandfather and is being shot through a Eumig Super 8 Projector. The celluloid imprinted the location shown, which resonates with encoded memory. A window in our plane of reality out to somewhere we would rather be.
Image 3 and 4: Explores memories encoded through familiar smells in this case: Imperial Leather soap which is a smell I resonate with my grandparents’ home and sleepovers at their house. Residual processes in the piece suggest faded colour and tone imprinted in long term memories. But the idea of the familiar being taken from us is shown in the piece in the sink. A damaged, peeling emulsion lift from a Polaroid photograph giving a sense that this memory could completely fade soon.

Artist

Vishwa Shroff

5 May 2020 8:04am

Project 1: Narrative of Objects
Storytelling is an important part of my practice and while it takes on a suggestive form within my practice, in my home, the objects form deliberate ensembles. These micro-narratives are derived from an assumed dialog of objects or the relationship of one object with another and debate between my partner and me on the possible scenarios.

Image 1 and 2: Opposites #CorneredStories
Image 3: The Cat and its Prey
Image 4: KLM city

Project 2: Wall text for I
Lately, I have been thinking about our presentation of ourselves or how would we present ourselves as an exhibition? What would the wall text or labels be? And do these change with the assumption of the audience? Here I make a list of all possible labels that could accompany me and I am sure there are some I am forgetting.

Artist

Caitlin Griffiths

5 May 2020 8:27am

As an artist I frequently collect and arrange objects for still-life set ups in the photography studio. This, coupled with the fact that my rented house doesn’t allow me to hang work on the walls, means many of my domestic surfaces have already been curated!

The first image shows the top of a small chest of drawers in my bedroom. It includes work by Sarah Taylor Silverwood (the Unicorn drawing) and also a small painting of a shrew I purchased from the Fine Art degree show at Salford University in 2018 (where I teach Photography).

The second image shows the top of a larger chest of drawers in the same room. The photograph is by Chiara Tocci, part of her ‘Company’ work commissioned for Hereford Photography Festival back in 2011. (I was Artistic Director at HPF from 2009 – 2012). The framed text piece is from my own series Art Histories.

Admin

david flindall

5 May 2020 10:48am

The windows in my workspace don’t open. I wanted to bring the sounds that surround the house into that space. I took recordings from 3 windows: bedroom 1 / bedroom 2 / kitchen 1. These were then played simultaneously inside the space where windows don’t open. Each device in the video is playing a field recording from one of the windows.