Title: Recontextualising Space: the necessity of physical exhibition spaces
Author: Thomas HoulihanPublication Year/Date: May 2024
Document Version: Fine Art Hons dissertation
License: CC-BY-NC-ND
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20933/100001303
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FineArt (Hons)
Word Count: 6790
Adissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a Bachelor ofArt (Hons) degree in FineArt.
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
University of Dundee 2024
Abstract
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Understanding Space: Site-Specific Art
Chapter 2 - Presence: The Disconnect Between Visual Media and the Daily Experience
Chapter 2.1 – Commodification of Self via Social Media
Chapter 3 - Time: Accessible Galleries in our Communities Today
Conclusion
References -
Since the dawn of the internet there has been a consistent emergence of new, exciting forms of sharing, documenting, and creating artwork. At the time of writing AI (artificial intelligence) art has burst onto the creative scene and its supporters and opponents alike are scrambling one step behind its furious rise. The opportunity and excitement at the helm of these technological revelations are most certainly warranted, however, I believe that there is danger in such keen willingness to replace real experiences with digital ones. In my own practice I have been exploring the opportunities for unconventional exhibition spaces outwith the realms of institutional context, white walls, and cubed galleries. Through a critical and historical analysis of site-specific artwork, social media as a medium for sharing art and the evolution of alternative spaces I have explored the societal necessity for physical and accessible art galleries.
There is something almost metaphysical about literally being moved by an artwork. To approach it, to touch, to observe the cracks and grooves in texture, to smell and to experience something in the flesh. As we, as a society, become ever more reliant on technology for education,communication,entertainmentandconnection,thenecessityofphysicalartgalleries and their contribution to our social and cultural development is becoming increasingly overlooked.
This dissertation will investigate the importance of physical artworks and accessible galleries, firstly by exploring histories of site-specific artwork and how, as a movement, it has influenced our understanding of space and artwork within the public sphere, as well as the recontextualisation of non-traditional art spaces. This section is heavily inspired by the theoretical discussions on public art in Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art in the 80’s and 90s (Ekstrand et al, 2022) which I reference throughout chapter one. In chapter two, I explore some of the benefits and shortcomings of social media as a digital gallery space, the democratisation of art via the internet and how the capitalist foundations of social media platforms can lead to the self-commodification of the artist. In chapter three, inspired by Robert O’Doherty’s 1976 essay Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, I explore examples of accessible, community galleries local to Dundee, my city of residence and study, as well as alternatives to institutional galleries. Each area of study is vast and complex and, although I am unable to investigate them in their entirety in this dissertation, I believe that this research provides valuable insight into the interconnectivity of these topics. The three chapters are inspired by what I deem necessary for site-specific artwork: space, presence, and time.
Site-specific art is a term for artwork that has a relationship with its surroundings and is created with the intention of utilising said relationship to further the effect of the piece. In short, specifically created for a particular site. Site-Specific.
The relationship could be anything from cultural, material, geographical, situational, or even historical. Famous examples include Jason deCaires Taylor’s work who submerges large sculptures underwater. In the case of “The Silent Evolution” (2006), the sculptures are large cast models of figures wandering the seabed that also act as breeding grounds for corals and other organisms. They appear ghostlike and can be seen in their hundreds. What elevates this artwork is their geographic specificity; these ghostlike figures take on new life literally and figuratively as they serve as host for cultures of marine biology whilst the sculptures are simultaneously corroding.Taylor evokes questions of new life, decay, naturalistic relationships and more, using the environment and location as integral factors of the work. The question is however, would they have half the effect had they been placed on land? Conceptual artist John Latham of Artist Placement Group (APG) famously said: “Context is half the work.”
The Site-specific movement coincided with a growing distaste for the capitalisation and consumerism of the 1960/70’s art world. Minimalism had taken the world by storm and naturally there was the post-minimalist reaction. Site-specific artwork belongs to this broad post-minimalist umbrella with its characteristic refusal towards the commodification of an artworkasasingle,purchasableobject.Site-specificartnot onlyisboundbylocationalcontext, but also very often the characteristic of time and thus is often inherently performative in nature (Scholte, T. 2022). Rosenthal (2003) argues that“installationart”requires the physical presence of the viewer:
“The time and space of the viewer coincide with the art, with no separation or dichotomy between the perceiver and the object. In other words, life pervades this form of art”.
Scholte (2022) reflects on this statement adding that site-specific art is an extension of installation art with the added importance of the artwork’s relationship to the site.
“This interconnectivity between the configuration of the installation itself and the surrounding context is by definition both spatially and temporally defined.”
In essence, site-specific artwork (among other achievements) serves as a protest against the idea of “art as a commodity” through three essential characteristics: space, time and presence. The direct connection between viewer and object is essential for the piece to be fully realised.
“The time and space of the viewer coincide with the art…”
Site-specific artwork gained popularity as the world swept through the latter half of the 20th century, artists such as RobertOppenheim,Patricia Johanson, RobertSmithson andNancyHolt worked with public, environmental sculpture before the term site-specific was popularised by sculptor Robert Irwin. (Butterfield, J. 1993)
American artist Richard Serra was a cause for controversy with his 1981 piece "Tilted Arc”, a 120-foot-long, 12-foot-high steel sculpture installed in the centre of the Foley Federal Plaza in New York. As soon as the piece was installed there were calls for its removal. Many New Yorkers found the piece to be ugly, disruptive and a waste of resources. The stir of discontent towardsthepiece brought forth feverous backersof theartwork,notable figures in the artworld such as Philip Glass and Keith Haring insisted it should stay. (Michalos, C. 2007)
What followed next was a lengthy trial in which the “General ServicesAdministration” (GSA), under Ronald Reagan’s Republican administration, concluded that the piece be removed in 1989, despite a public hearing voting in an overwhelming majority to keep the artwork (Serra, R.2001). Serra (2001) claimed that the removal “established a precedent for the priority of property rights over free expression and the moral rights of the artist.”
Serra had intended for “Tilted Arc” to be disruptive. He wanted people to stop and consider their environment, to think about where they were going Crimp (1986) claims that the governmental plaza was a space designed to be bleak, soulless, and productive, and “to shuttle human traffic in and out of the buildings.” Crimp believes that Serra challenges this by subverting the designed environment with “Tilted Arc”
“ {Tilted Arc} …implant(s) itself within the public’s field of vision. Soliciting, even commanding attention, the sculpture asks the office workers and other pedestrians to leave their hurried course and follow a different route, gauging the curving planes, volumes and sight line that mark this place now as the place of sculpture.”
Crimp, D (1986 cited in Guse, E.G, 1987, p, 32)
Others questioned the functionality of the piece and its accessibility for those whom are unaccustomed to conceptual and minimalist art. An art critic for The New Yorker Magazine, Calvin Tomkins said,
"I think it is perfectly legitimate to question whether public spaces and public funds are the right context for work that appeals to so few people – no matter how far it advances the concept of sculpture."
Tomkins, C (n.d cited in Kammen, 2006, p.241)
Crimp, however, argues that the lack of public knowledge of site-specific artwork is a deliberate phenomenon encouraged by artistic institutions. He maintains that the “public ignorance” is “an enforced ignorance” and that the institutional galleries that decide what will be exhibited to the public belong to a very small minority of the people. Crimp argues that the “complex history” of Site-Specific artworks is “deliberately suppressed” by the refusal (of institutional galleries) to support radical and institutionally critical artwork that is anticommodification. (Crimp, D 1986 cited in Guse, E.G, 1987, p. 33)
Crimp’s closing statement in his essay Serra’s Public Sculpture: Redefining Site-Specificity argues that site-specific artwork is inherently political, especially in Serra’s case, as it seeks to radically redefine how we interpret space and our surroundings, yet the State would rather the people’s definitions of space not be challenged. Crimp analyses the statements released by Judge Re that explains perhaps the most prevalent antagonism to Tilted Arc – security
concerns. The concerns included loitering, graffiti, drug deals and potential terrorists. Crimp argues that Serra has baited the State into revealing its true regard towards its citizens; that, in their eyes, each individual has the potential to be a criminal or a terrorist.
“{Tilted Arc}… has served a historical function of great consequence. We now have it written into the public record… that the “federal sector” expects only the worst from us.”
Crimp, D (1986 cited in Guse, E.G, 1987, p. 33)
Regardless of whether the removal of Tilted Arc was a political intervention or not, it still serves as powerful rhetoric for the arguments for and against site-specific artwork, as well as the social responsibilities that belong to whomever is involved in the project. More than forty years have passed since the sculpture was installed and still it is the centre of feverous debate. Had the general public been more well versed on the matters of conceptual art, would they still want 120 feet of steel blocking their path?
Inevitably, artists have the responsibility to have an open dialogue with the community that their work is inhabiting, and to make sure that the relationship between artist and site is symbiotic In the end, when “Tilted Arc” was removed, Richard Serra stated in a letter to Donald Thalacker, “to remove the work is to destroy it”. This quote has now become an encompassing definition of site-specific artwork (cited in Weyergraf-Serra, C and Buskirk, M. 1991, p.38)
Around the same time that “Tilted Arc” was conceived in 1981, there was a similar, less documented actualisation of site-specific artwork across the water from the States. “Konstrukcja w Procesie” (Construction in Process) was an event that took place in Lodz, Poland in 1981, amid revolution and government oppression, mere months before the declaration of martial law in Poland. The event was a post-minimalist, conceptual exhibition that featured more than 50 international artists. It has been reflected upon as an inspiration for collective action and comradery within the art field to use public art as a catalyst for social change. (CG2, n.d)
The situation in Poland at the time was dire. Working conditions in the factories and shipyards were dangerous and unhygienic, wages were minimal, and the hours long. The shelves in shops were empty and necessities were hard to source. (Ekstrand et al, 2022) Since the introduction of the Polish People’s Republic, government resistance was met with violence and the wounds of memory still bled for the protesters killed in the 1970 strikes against rising food prices. It was adangeroustimeto beorganised,to beworking outwithinstitutions andwhiletheartworks exhibited in “Konstrukcja w Procesie” may not have been directly anti-state, they represented a different way of thinking, of collective action and organised thought. Many of the artists included in the exhibition worked on participatory, site-specific installation and, as a result, created interactive, connective work that “at times blurred the boundary between political demonstration and artistic representation” (Ekstrand et al, 2022 p29).
During the exhibition there was a General Strike. The artists involved in “Konstrukcja w Procesie” visited a local textiles factory where they were able to see the working conditions first hand. Artist Rune Mields performed Für die Frauen von Łódź (For the Women of Łódź) where she read aloud statistics detailing the stark reality of the women’s working conditions. For several decades, Mields has investigated how numerical language, which is so essential to
our modern life, works as a vice to uphold domineering power structures and oppressive governance of human lives.
“Für die Frauen von Łódź”, Script (1981)
- 75% of the (shift) workers in the textile factory in Łódź are women
- 6,000 women in one factory, for example
- There are about 20 factories in Łódż
- The women work 40 hours per week
- The women work on a piecework basis in 3 shifts
- The first shift goes from 05:30 – 13:30
- The second shift goes from 12:30 – 21:30
- The third shift goes from 21:30 – 03:30
- The women work alternate shifts
- The women have to eat while working
- Two women oversee 12 machines with about 300 spools
- In the weaving mill the noise level is 60-80 dB
- In the spinning mill 45dB
- In the spinning mill in summer the temperature is 60*
- The women get 6,000 złoty per month
- From this salary the women have to pay 1,000 złoty for a place in the kindergarten
- These conditions have to be changed
For the women of Łódź
(Mields, R, 1981 cited in Erkstrand et al, 2022, p.49)
Mield’s performance dances the line between art and activism, at a time when feminist art still hung in the shadow of the more dominant male contemporaries, especially in eastern Europe. In many ways, the city was transformed into one expansive site-specific installation. Participants spoke of a driving force, an energy that united the city as artworks were installed in one space, performances and happenings in another, film screenings, talks, and workshops elsewhere. Viola Krajewska said of the event:
“It seems to me that the greatest sci-fi was precisely this social project. Where something truly out of nothing, out of complete economy of lack, out of poverty, something surpassing real possibility was realised through intense, energetic exchange.”
(Krajewska, V, cited in Erkstrand et al, 2022, p.51)
It is important to note the dialogue between organisers, artists, and community. “Konstrukcja w Procesie” wasn’t an ego-driven project, not for the elevation of a particular group of artists careers, but for a want of change through the means that they had: through collective action, through art, through community. As a result, “Konstrukcja w Procesie” had a real, tangible connection with the environment (space), the cultural context (time) and the community; the intellectuals, the artists, the trade union, and of course, the workers (presence).As many of the pieces were made on-site, with direct inspiration from the surrounding climate, this connection was inevitable. In 1989, the Polish People’s Republic was abolished and, in 1990, the head of Solidarisnoc (Solidarity) was elected president of Poland.
It is interesting to note the similarities between the anti-institutional sentiment in Eastern Europe and the West. Crimp (1986) claims that while the western institutions are independent from the state, they still encouraged a “deliberate oppression” of progressive artistic voices. Of course, in the East, especially under Soviet communism, it was impossible to organise an independent event, or even celebrate artwork that didn’t align with the ideologies of the state. (Waśko, Erkstrand et al,2022)Wherethenlies the problem?Ifthestifling of artisticexpression exists both under communism and capitalism, then what is the solution?
Looking at the successes of “Konstrukcja w Procesie”, we can conclude that collectively organised happenings of physical, tangible artworks have the power to ignite social change and rally a community against oppressive forces.
““Konstrukcja” was about participation in social processes through art, and by offering it to others. For artists from the West, it seemed impossible to create all those processes with no cash and full improvisation. We lacked many things but not enthusiasm, spontaneity, creativity and the ability to connect with others… If not for the selfless effort of the whole group of people in the organisational committee “Konstrukcja w Procesie” would never have happened”
Ryszard, W(2022 cited in Erkstrand et al, 2022, p.59)
The most significant consumption of visual media today is social media. Every form of shareable content on the internet is the offspring of an art form and can be assigned under the umbrella of either photography, videography, performance, or design Whilst not everything on the internet can be considered “good art”, it belongs to the same language of visual media that we read, digest, and understand artwork with. It is no surprise that social media is the most effect way for an artist to share their work with an audience. The problem, however, is that what the artist is sharing isn’t always their work; it is a 2D, pixelised representation. There is undoubtedly a plethora of societal benefits of social media and the internet that have impacted the modern world in an immeasurable way. I don’t suggest that we should abandon these platforms – only that we take into consideration the danger of substituting physical experiences for digital experiences, especially when it comes to art.
Acommon argument is that the internet has “democratised” the art world, that it has cut down boundary and obstacle, and opened the doors of education to the masses.
“For museums [ … ] technology has created a golden age of opportunity. Online access to digitized objects, images, and records is democratizing knowledge, enhancing the visits of the many who come to us in person, and extending our reach to the millions who cannot. Coupled with social media's powers of connection, digital technology exponentially increases the capacity of individuals to engage with our collections and upload their own stories, claims Clough, secretary at Smithsonian Institution.”
(Clough, 2013 cited in Enhuber, 2015. Para 1)
Enhuber (2015) goes on to challenge this statement via statistical analysis of Tate Gallery’s web data. The findings revealed that while, theoretically, there is the potential for the digitised artworks to be accessed and studied by anyone, the Tate’s traffic revealed that roughly half of its viewerswerefrom the UKandalmost nonefrom outwithEurope.Thefindings also revealed that almost all the websites’viewers were of a learned background and had a higher education. Clough’s statement also assumes internet access is readily available to everyone, excluding vast areas of the world where the internet is a luxury. While it is true that the digitisation of art can provide ease of access to certain artworks for certain individuals, it hardly democratises it. Of course, this is looking at artwork at an institutional level – where name, status and funds allow these institutions the access to reach millions online. What about the average artist? The undiscovered? How do they democratise their artwork and reach an audience?The most potent method of organic networking is via social media.
Whilst the concept of digital art may seem very contemporary, artists have been using computers to push the boundaries of what can be created digitally for the last 60 years. Hungarian artist Vera Molnár worked at the forefront of digital art, consistently blurring the linesbetweenartandtechnology.For Interruptions (1969), sheusedmathematicalprogrammes to create this wonderfully complex geometric drawing. (Victoria andAlbert Museum, n.d).
Four years prior, Nam June Paik, the “Father of VideoArt”, attached magnets to television sets to disturb the frequencies and create interactive, abstract images (Nam June Paik and History of Video Art, n.d) Paik was a pioneer in both theory and practice and in 1974 he predicted a “broadband communication network” that would connect the world and revolutionise the accessibility of art, culture, and education. (Tate, n.d). Just fifteen years later, in 1989, the
primordial ‘internet’that we know was birthed with the creation of the World Wide Web In the years that followed, the “electronic superhighway” that Paik dreamed of began to march networks across the globe, transcending physical barriers and zipping through borders with the creation of blogs, forums, and websites. Bret Schneider (2011) likened the early internet art communities to that of Jurgen Habermas’“public sphere” (Habermas, J. 1962):
“Upon its release, the internet seemed capable of combining the positive aspects of previous public spheres into one by mixing the congregational unity of the 19th century English coffeehouse or French salon, the decentralized awareness of printed or televised media, and the selfdesigning agency of local democratic elections.”
(Schneider, B. 2011, para.1)
These forums became havens for left-minded intellectuals and artists and allowed them, for the first time in history, to instantaneously communicate across borders and social class. What blossomed next were vibrant online communities for the purpose of sharing and critiquing art. (Greene, R. 2023). In 2004, artists Abe Linkoln and Jimpunk created “Screenfull”, an online blog that used the scaffolding of the internet and elements of audio-visual collage to create a website that served both as medium and gallery space.
Net ArtAnthology, an online archive of internet art, writes that “Screenfull was an influential exploration of the possibilities for net art in the web 2.0 era, as online production increasingly moved from personal web pages to hosted services such as Blogger. Its model of collaborative posting prefigured the later rise of Surf Clubs, setting the stage for a significant net art practice in the mid- to late-2000s.” (Net Art Anthology, n.d)
Surf Clubs were group websites that used the blog format to link others to different media on the internet. Often users would post their own creative work alongside the work of others resulting in an amalgamative gallery of art, music, satirical humour, and political declarations. The clubs consisted of long-time users and collaborators, meaning that only certain individuals
Fig. 6 Screenfull, Net Art Anthologyhad access to post. Whilst the close-knit community of these sites were their most prevailing factor and the reason for their unique artistic identity, it was also the reason for their fade from relevance. With the development of Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook, Tumblr and DeviantArt that incorporated a rhizomatic structure of networking capabilities and openmemberships, artists began to move away from the Surf Clubs and into contemporary social media. The communal essence of these platforms dissipated and were swallowed by the performance-based reward system of contemporary algorithms (Schneider, B. 2011).
Inmany ways,socialmediahas deinstitutionalisedtheart world, allowing unrepresented artists to reach audiences that would have been unprecedented 40 years ago. As an artist that uses social media, it is a fantastic resource for visual inspiration – many of my favourite artists have been discovered via social media and owe their careers to these platforms. One example is Loribelle Spirovski, an Australian painter who blends surrealism and realism to create deeply moving portraits, who claims her career has “skyrocketed as a result of social media” and that “it has never been easier to make money from images” due to social media’s ability to connect with people from every corner of the world (Antakly, L. 2020). Undeniably there are benefits to social media as a platform for art, and one shouldn’t criticise artists for their efforts to share and make a living from their practice, however, the platforms do have their shortcomings. Artist Shalva Nikvashvili who challenges notions of identity and sexuality with hand-craftedmasks anddistorted,costumedperformances took to Instagram this year after his account was “shadow-banned”. A shadow-ban is when an account is removed from the public algorithm and suppressed from audience for breaching Instagram’s community guidelines.
Social media platforms have a duty of care to protect younger users from posts that may be harmful or disturbing, however, marginalised communities are more likely to receive the suppressive effects of content moderation, rather than protection from harassment (Diaz, A and Hecht-Felella, L. 2021). Within Instagram’s community guidelines, there are allowances for “artistic representation of nudity”. However, there is an overwhelming lenience for posts that feature heteronormative nudity whilst “queer, non-white and feminist creators are more likely to have their accounts hidden from non-followers”. (Brown, A in Iovine, A. 2023)
In addition, as global support erupted for Palestinians under siege from Israel, Instagram users have accused Meta (owners of Facebook and Instagram) of censoring Pro-Palestinian content and shadow-banning accounts that share Palestinian news Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin recently had his account with a following of over 100,000 permanently revoked after sharing posts on the Palestinian genocide (The Guardian, 2023).As of December 2023, Meta is worth approximately $910 Billion, more than four times the GDP of Scotland (Stock Analysis, n.d). Canitbeexpectedthenthatacompanywithmoresocio-politicaldominancethanasmallnation can be expected to nurture progressive, discursive, and diverse artistic communities? Inevitably, the company’s primary interest is growth of capital and, as a result, artistic movements that digress or challenge traditional capitalist ideology will be either deliberately or indirectly stifled.
As social media marketing has boomed in the last decade, advertisers have become more and more dependent on creating an illusionof connection with the consumer.This is primarily done using influencer marketing. Influencers are people on social media platforms who have amassed a large following and then use said following to promote and sell products to their audiences. Influencers delve in many interests from sport, comedy, beauty, politics and even art – and there are many channels from which to consume their media; Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter(X), to name a few.
The success of the influencer as a marketing tool works by developing what is known as a parasocial relationship with their viewer“the illusion of a face-to-face relationship with the performer”. (Horton and Wohl, 1956, p.215). To develop these relationships, one must make the private public: to open themselves outward to the potential audience by laying bare the vulnerable intimacies of everyday life; to forever document, share and upload. The internet is thronged with marketing “gurus” and websites that try and sell the influencer dream to theaspiring. Onewebsite, The Digital Marketing Institute (2021)shares the10secrets to success:
10 Steps to Building Your Personal Brand on Social Media
1. Fully Update Your Social Media Accounts.
2. Identify Your Area of Expertise
3. Make Posting Easy with Social Media Apps.
4. Regularly Share Content.
5. Import Your Contacts.
6. Keep Social Posts Positive & Engaging.
7. Find & Join Groups.
8. Keep Your Brand Voice, Image & Tone Consistent.
9. Study Influencers.
10. Build Your Brand by Taking a Social Media and Marketing Course
If it weren’t dystopian enough to think about how companies may be taking advantage of the average consumer via social media under the disguise of connectivity and entertainment, we now have strategies for people to sell their own “brand” by documenting and sharing a façade of their own lives. If one is to consider themselves a brand, to try and establish a parasocial relationship with their viewers, to draft, edit and upload documentations of their lifestyle daily (as is recommended) – where does the performance begin and end? As users take on perpetual shifts of free labour, their personal dramas, romances, their field of vision in which they appreciate a sunset now become experienced through the 9:16 ratio of a vertical medium. As life is continually experienced through the lens of social media and the decisions we make are influenced by what to post, experiences are replaced by a servitude to content.
So how does this apply to the artist? Most social media platforms use an algorithm to determine the content made available for the viewer. This is determined by engagement, i.e likes,
comments, shares, viewing time etc. To reach an audience, one must dance as required to the shifting trends of relevance and encourage interaction through different methods of performance.
In these stills taken from a video posted by user @thisartperson, we can see a common execution of an artistic post. The artist sits in front of the canvas becoming the focal point of the video. They are seated in the bottom half of the frame at a downward angle. Immediately there is a call for sympathy, with the framing, the pose, the distressed hands covering the face, but also in the text: “Today I’m painting my feelings” it reads. It is performative. Regardless of whether the artwork is a true representation of their feelings, or if they were feeling the effects of burnout – the way in which they would have had to frame, shoot, and edit each individual shot of the painting process presents clearly the efforts taken to convince their audience. The artwork in question here is no longer the painting. It is not a documentative process.Thepaintingisremovedfromtheforegroundandbecomesapropinacarefullycurated micro-drama.Aperfectexampleofhowtheartisticmustcommodifythemselves,theirfeelings, their burnouts, and also how digital representations of physical art in the social media age retract from the artwork itself.
Ultimately, social media, as a means of sharing art, much like traditional methods, is neither inherently capitalist, noris it the fault ofartists whouse these platforms.However, thestructure upon which contemporary social media is built feeds a non-progressive, limiting world of artistic expression. To challenge this, we need independent, physical galleries that can support artists within their community.
To touch on the aforementioned quote from Rosenthal:
“The time and space of the viewer coincide with the art, with no separation or dichotomy between the perceiver and the object. In other words, life pervades this form of art”.
Rosenthal argues that the viewer is necessary for “installation art” – however I would argue that it is necessary for all physical artworks. One can perhaps imagine the experience of a Joan Miro painting accessed through the internet, or comment on the use of negative space via a social media platform, however the painting’s complete effect cannot be realised unless you stand beneath its great entirety and let the vast blue stretches swallow you whole. For many, however, may it be geographic, economic, or educational limitations, the great institutions that house our masterpieces remain inaccessible. In this chapter I will explore alternatives to institutional galleries and the recontextualization of unconventional art spaces
Wooosh gallery is an open-air gallery in Dundee, Scotland. It began in (2019) by a trio of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) graduates; Jamie Donald, Finlay Hall and Jek McAllister. The setting is the brick wall of a carpark opposite a pub. On an irregular schedule, exhibitions are held where the artist is invited by the curators to paste anA4 image of their artwork onto the wall and discuss it with the audience. The group takes an ironic approach to the prestige of institutional gallery spaces, chanting encouragements of “Wooosh!” when in agreement with the speaker
In 2021 when the undergraduate degree show was moved online due to covid-19 restrictions, the gallery held a “physical” showcase, allowing graduates the opportunity to experience what is somewhat the most important aspects of a degree show: communal participation and reallife interaction. The gallery is of course non-discriminatory and welcome to all.
Also based in Dundee is the experimental gallery The Binnn created by artists Tom Fairlamb and Jacob Scott.The ethos is much the same as Wooosh gallery with respects to the DIYnature of exhibiting. Artists exhibiting with The Binnn must work to the paradigms of one ‘wheelie’ bin. The notion of exhibiting inside of a bin toys with the idea of merit and prestige generally associated with white-cubed galleries by loudly declaring that they don’t care if you think its rubbish. By associating humour and an element of the absurd The Binnn is an innovative example of how to affordably exhibit artwork in a way that is both joyous and accessible.
In August 2023, frustrated with the bureaucratic obstacles of formally exhibiting within DJCAD, I held an exhibition in one of the toilets of the college. The exhibition was titled “Recontextualising Space” and was very much inspired by some of the earlier research from this dissertation, in particular Ryzard Wasko’s drive and passion that propelled “Konstrukcja w Procesie” Whilst a toilet exhibition may not be entirely original, there is an empowering agency made available by holding a physical exhibition. Much like declaring oneself an artist, by calling something an exhibition it makes it true, whether it beA4 paper pasted on a wall or sculpture held to the rafters of a neglected bathroom, a gallery space becomes so by existing.
The “white cube” is a term used for a common contemporary art gallery display, characterised by white walls, neutral lighting, and pristine surfaces. The aesthetic style was first introduced by Alfred H. Barr Jr, the director of The New York Museum of Modern Art in 1936 and has since become the most widely used model of display in western contemporary art. (Birkett, W. 2012) With the cultural revisionism that came with the 60s, artists began to think about how to presenttheirartworkindifferentcontexts. In1976 RobertO’Doherty’s“InsidetheWhiteCube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space” was published in art magazine Artforum and ignited a new way of thinking about curation. O’Doherty (1976) believed that the white cube upheld notions of cultural elitism, distancing the viewer from the artwork by creating a sterile void in which to display it.
“ here we have a social, financial, and intellectual snobbery which models (and at its worst parodies) our system of limited production, our modes of assigning value, our social habits at large. Never was a space designed to accommodate the prejudices and enhance the self¬ image of the upper middle-classes so efficiently codified.”
(O’Doherty, R. 1976)
O’Doherty’s essay was highly influential and coincided with a cultural movement of experimentation in DIY curatorship that has flourished and grown over the last sixty years across the western art world. As mentioned above an exhibition need not exist in a gallery setting, they can be held in private accommodations, public spaces, and a number of other unconventional settings. Whilst these alternatives to institutional settings do provide artists with autonomy of display, accessibility in the light of elitism and a broader output of exhibition space they do have their downfalls. Firstly, if an artist/curator were to exhibit in their own private residency one cannot legally advertise it as an exhibition without public liability insurance. Secondly, the safekeeping of artworks in public spaces comes with a higher risk as the organisers can’t always guarantee the security of the work exhibited. Which in turn, often tendsto de-valuetheartworkorreducethesignificancein theeyeofthevieweras in acapitalist society we tend to equate the emotional and intellectual value of an artwork with its monetary value. Therefore, if a piece need not be protected from theft, then it is worthless. Thirdly, the method of DIY curatorship often comes with a lack of funds, ruling it out of the question as a feasible replacement for artists that need payment for their labour to survive.
Somewhere in the middle ground of unfunded DIY-exhibitions and institutional galleries there is the publicly fundedARI (Artist Run Initiative). The name for these initiatives has developed over the years, often being referred to as “alternative spaces”, a term also introduced by O’Doherty in the 1970’s at a time when alternative spaces were cropping up all over the world. In New York, in the dilapidated SoHo district artists settled into the abandoned industrial buildings to set up residence and workshop, in east Germany still under strict state rule of the German Democratic Republic artist Klaus Werner ran the influential Arkade and in the UK and across Europe artists took advantage of their squatter’s rights where legal and created a counterculture of alternative spaces (Jarzębska, A. 2018)(Padilla, S. 2017) The influx of these spaces was due to an increased rebel against the inaccessibility of traditional art galleries and museums. Naturally, the movement was spearheaded by marginalised communities unable to break into the prestige of the contemporary art world These spaces were typically non-hierarchal, mutually supportive, and opposed to commodification and commercialisation. The freedom to produce work outside of a
commercial setting allowed artists to pursue idiosyncratic ideas, process-heavy methods, and even dangerous, unpurchaseable artwork. (Cooke, J. 2005)
Whilst the offspring of these spaces do exist across the UK today, (Cooke, J. 2005) explains that often due to their reliance on public funding, the idealist ethos of these initial spaces dissipated.Duetothenon-profitnatureofthesespaces,theyultimatelyreliedonpublicfunding and/or the help of established benefactors therefore had to be registered as charities, and to continue as charities these spaces had to be aligned somewhat parallel with the mainstream, losing the absolute freedom of radical artistic expression.
However publicly funded, artist-run spaces can provide massive benefits to the local community, opportunities for artists and the development of the local cultural and artistic environment. One example is Generator Projects based in Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1996, Generator is an artist-run initiative that provides a “vital stepping stone” for early to midcareer practitioners by offering paid opportunities for artists led by an entirely volunteer based committee. Generator manages to protect itself from the fate of assimilation into institution by having a maximum two-year service on the committee that ensures a non-hierarchal outlook towards its community endeavours. The gallery hosts roughly 6 funded exhibitions throughout the year that allow the artist(s) boundaryless expression to pursue their artistic cause. There are nocuratorialdiscriminationsandalthoughthespaceisnotdissimilarto conventionalexhibition spaces, artists are free to manipulate the gallery to execute transformative installations by painting walls and flooring to best fit their vision. Here is an example from DJCAD graduate Zoe Gibson’s 2021 exhibition at Generator Projects:
As well as providing opportunities for artists both in curatorship and exhibiting, Generator provides free exhibitions, workshops and events, maintaining their belief that “access to the arts is a right” not a luxury. Spaces like Generator are a real-life model of how the artistic community can navigate local, artistic enrichment, access to critically engaged physical exhibitions and paid opportunities for artists in a capitalist society that supports the commodification and estrangement of artwork. One can only hope that spaces like these can receive the support to exist across the world in a multitude of different communities. Ultimately, however, their lifespan lies in the precarious hands of government funding, which is no safe place for the heartbeat of artistic and cultural development.
Earlierin this dissertation Iexplained thatthethree essentialqualities to asuccessful realisation of site-specific artwork are space, presence, and time. Through looking at these separate qualities in different appropriatelenses Ihave exploredhow thephysical presenceofexhibition spaces are necessary for the development of artistic enrichment within a society. In chapter one (space) I explored how site-specific artwork and communal enterprise has the power to inspire catalyst change. Chapter two (presence) looked at how social media has the agency to allow people to share their artwork to an audience unrepresented, yet it lacks the ability to nurture artistic communities and provide a real alternative to physical exhibition. Chapter three (time) explored the history and development of DIY curatorship and alternative spaces as well as the best alternative to institutionalised exhibiting: ARI’s (artist run initiatives). Throughout the process of this research project, I have discovered that the topic of physical exhibitions is not nearly as straightforward as I assumed. There are many benefits to internet art and social media that I had, admittedly, ignored previously and the histories of site-specific artwork and the problems and limitations of DIY curatorship were unknown to me. I feel that this project has illuminated some of the complexities and concerns of curatorship and exhibiting that will hopefully enlighten my practice in future to come. I hope, also, that this dissertation will provide any readers with knowledge on the importance of physical exhibitions within our society.
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