OCA drawing 1.1

 The essay, Curating Wrong places…..Or Where Have all The Penguins Gone, by Claire Doherty introduces many of the key thinkers and some of the key considerations in site specific art. Or art in non gallery spaces. What do you think of the idea it raises around the tension between work that provokes or unsettles, and work that produces solidarity and cohesion?

Here is my essay.

Afgniohiegn slkngksndg / kasngfknseg !!!!! Nioshdgn LKNFnn skndnskngksdnkgnksdlnflksngnndklskdnklngkdlskn!

Oh just kidding. But I am setting the tone. Im not actually sure I want to locate myself within this discourse. Unless armed with a stiff vodka and a phrase dissecting machine.

Here we go though.

Am I right to think that this analogy is about how an enclosure created for Penguins, designed with ‘Penguiness’ resulted in the Penguins not coping with ‘Penguiness’. So they quickly shuffled them away (Where did the penguins go by the way!) and they brought in the Alligators. No one is going to question their ability to survive. Hmmm, anyone else raising an eyebrow here? Penguins, nice and cohesive all swimming together in Sol.i.da.ri.ty. And then Alligators. Unsettling.

If so, then a satirical cartoon would have sufficed to make Claires point. Nice art, everyone having a good time, walking around the event with their children, eating ice creams. Then Alligators. Children screaming, no one is ever going back to that city, starring Samuel L Jackson. Boom.

But, if we did just use a cartoon we would miss out on all of Claires interesting points. They’re hard to fish out, she likes to murky the water old Claire. But the key points are luminous, so get your net.

Biennials. Address and empower a place as having value. Commission new work for the city. Privileged social site. Catalytic trigger (Ooo, I like that one). Reborn geographical metaphor (Now they’re showing off). Folds out and reveals its contents. Respond to the urban location and imaginative charge (unless it’s in New England). Wide and shallow v’s narrow and deep (I really think a lot of these meetings take place at 3am during a lock in).

Sight seeing or insight (clever). Local intersections v’s international. Nostalgia or exotic. Active participation with workshops and reading zones, or ALLIGATORS! (Haha! Sorry).

When you start to consider the infrastructure of a multi artist site, it raises insight into how the artists have to engage with the context of the project, and wether the work should or can be meaningful outside of it’s location? Does this mean that you have to pick artists purely on their ability to connect to the site, or is that too limiting? Challenging an unpronounced artist to work outside of their comfort zone could produce fresh, exhilarating results. Potentially the work could be mutable, having consideration to a group dynamic, but also personal to the artists practice and eventually having currency outside of the location. It offers the artist an opportunity to move beyond replication of their past work.

And what of the viewer? In effect the opportunity for them to speak back creating a conversation from the work is surely valuable in these settings? This is no ordinary exhibition, it’s involuntary for most, it infiltrates their daily lives.

The event comes with its formalities which can not be ignored. How much of this should concern the artist is a moot point. If you’re already hugely famous you can be wheeled in as an independent tourist attraction. Tourism, audience figures, economic benefit and now sustainability are all key headings on the vision board. Traffic can be increased by utilising collabs, critical platforms, residences, workshops, and having scattered sites encouraging the distribution of the economics.

We have a much deeper anthropology of places now, which encourages the artist to engage with the site. But often this language becomes prescriptive and there is a danger of it dictating what the art should say and do.

A lot of the time we look to art to effect change, and sustain relationships. But anything outside of passive enjoyment leads to tension. Such collisions between artist, audience, and curators can be defining. Hence all the investigative journalism.

Perhaps the phrase of the document is “Engage locally. Speak Globally”

Conclusion…..

We can’t please everyone here. Im reminded of a Japanese proverb ‘Chase two rabbits, catch none’. Are we Pengiuns, or are we Alligators. Maybe the location should decide. I mean that’s what happened in London Zoo. The location of the Penguin house suited the Alligators, and that was a success for them, bless their Machiavellian hearts. And a less dramatic location, where families wander safely, and there is no need to obtain a humanitarian visa entry before boarding your EasyJet flight is the right location for the Penguins.

Anyway, there’s loads of Biennials, like Claire alluded. Artists can use them to clock up their airmails these days, so why not keep mixing it up. Plenty to go round. Light and shade. Light and shade.

List of Images

Cover Image Flockhart, K. (2024) Painted Paper Fold Study. [Painted paper] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Bibliography

Doherty, C. (2007) Curating Wrong Places…Or Where Have All The Penguins Gone? At:Claire Doherty, Curating Wrong Places… Or Where Have All the Penguins Gone? (2007) Situations [online] (Accessed 05/08/2024).