groupcracia

I propose to make some 20 white cubes, probably 20x20x5″,

inside of which 20 artists will display their work.

There won’t be many rules to start with, but I will set forth some guidelines drawn from 13 years of experience as a member of a communal studio which functions within a gallery.

The first guideline is: each white cube will have an opening custom-made to allow a viewing experience apart from all others.

As result, although the 20(sh) cubes will be exhibited in the same space, the viewer will be able to absorb the contents of only one at a time.

20(sh) “solo” shows will thus be displayed simultaneously, plus one “group” show

(the contents of the “group” show will be decided by the Group.)

The Group will be formed by artists who will have agreed to provide artwork to be shown in one such private white cube, which means they will have consequently had signed up to work for the Group the same amount of time I will have had invested in making the cube she/he will use.

The cubes will all be white in the exterior, but the interior may also be customized.

The range of options of what shall be meant as “work for the Group” will be decided by the Group. I will suggest that to be circumscribed within the boundaries of a) this project promotion (documenting, fundraising, etc); b) production/publication of art criticism; c) volunteering for the communal studio/institution where the cubes will be made; and/or d) volunteering for an organization such as Fountain House.

As for the art to be displayed, the artists will choose whether to

a) work within his/her field of inquiry

or

b) use as motive the experience of working for/with the Group.

The curatorial cut I will employ is an equation of what I perceive as a) an individual’s commitment to an artistic practice; b) an individual’s awareness of the influences her/his choices of inquiry have brought upon themselves and c) an experience I would have previously had of working with these artists in a fashion such as to have had the workload harmoniously shared – in other words, people who I look forward to work with again for knowing that within a given set of constraints the work dynamics are biased toward fairness. Consequently the Group demographic will be: ethnically diverse; 30’s-60’s years-old; female in majority.

In essence, I propose the job of the curator to be the job of a facilitator in an experiment of art market cast barter, establishing as currency the time we artists will have spent together and separately creating a reality for our work to be experienced.

Hours spent at meetings (or absences) will be currency; tardiness resulting in pressure over the production chain will be charged at equal rate with intellectual chores. For example, as an artist I will add to the sum of hours owed to the Group, hours traded for my labor as a craftswoman, hours which will be paid through my administrative role.

misslizzopen


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8 thoughts on “groupcracia

  1. I would love to be part of this. A few days ago while sitting on a new tree stump in the park I thought of a diorama type project where I dressed the inside of a paper/card frame or box. Exciting to see this manifested through a loved and fellow artist. Thank you Ana!

  2. Deep breath in: as planned, today I chatted informally with CBA about the above scope. Possibilities are in the air, but for the exhibition’s program guideline sake some narrowing down of artwork concept is required. Next steps involve re-articulating the boldest strokes down to finer lines and putting heads together with the brave souls who so far have commented here before proceeding. With gratitude, yours truly.

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