Regarding the movement between real and virtual - I am happy to say that
beside scheduling an exhibition here in Istanbul at Kasa Gallery (we are
re-launching its web presence as part of ISEA2011 Istanbul) we are now in
discussions to showcase the whole exhibition Re-Drawing Boundaries in
Singapore.
I believe that this is important for the artists in order to have increased
visibility and opportunities of building new connections but also for the
galleries themselves - that in this way are able to generate synergies and
promote higher quality shows in a difficult economic climate.
Regarding your specific questions:
=> What is showing on LEA a video of a sound installation ? Is it what we
used to call "exhibition" ? or what we used to call "documentation"
(archiving) ? what the catalogues were for ?
L. Perhaps to this question I would say that it is both at the same time. I
don't think that old and traditional categories of 'exhibiting' and
'documenting' apply any longer. Years ago I was exhibiting my work in a show
under the aegis of Frieze - and the outcome all of the installation work
were photographs and videos 'documenting' the coming to existence and the
destruction of the artworks themselves. At that time one of my major
question was the difference - if there was any - between artwork and
documentation since in the end it is the personal conceptual aesthetic
perception of the artistic with its whimsical or logical approaches that
decides what of the multiple possible outcomes is art. In the case of those
artworks the documentation itself was the artwork - (there were many reasons
for this including the logistics of not wanting to store the artworks but
also more profound conceptual approaches looking at the processes of
materialization and rematerialization of artworks across media).
What I wanted to do with the LEA exhibitions online was to have a proper
show - believe me you when I say that the Internet medium is not conducive
(Jeremy Hight, Vince Dziekan and myself experience this several times) -
keeping in mind consistency and scholarship throughout as if it were a
proper exhibition but also a proper catalog.
The beauty of the medium I found is that it allows to blur these boundaries
- to be at the same time exhibition, catalog and archive and to leave to the
viewer the perception of its structures favoring one over the other.
We have received many emails looking at these projects from all three angles
and in the end perhaps the most important signals of success beside the
strict audience reception of likes and dislikes - are the opportunities for
the artists to showcase and exhibit somewhere else as well as leaving the
archived traces of the artwork/documentation of what is happened.
I would like to raise two other points that I believe your important
question raises in my mind:
a) the exhibition pages and all their dissemination and visibility
structures could be defined as artworks in themselves - Neural (
http://www.Neural.it ) has been defined by some media critics an artwork in
itself and this definition for what should be traditionally considered an
online/print magazine is an interesting definition.
b) the other element that I would raise is perhaps the economic. I think
that if we are talking of catalogs and documentation the economic element is
what underpinned the documentation of collection of artworks mainly for
auctions. I believe that particularly in these days in which the Internet is
'maturing' exhibitions and online activities have to fund legitimacy also in
economic terms - otherwise I believe we will do a disservice to the artists
and the artistic aesthetics that we are trying to promote. I am starting to
think and work around this particular issue now and I hope to implement and
present some new approaches soon.
=> how do you appreciate, as a viewer/audience, a work online/on screen that
DOES have (that is based on, that is mainly) a physical component that is an
installation ? It cannot be the same experience. Can you say then that the
exhibition and the documentation can be labelled with the same word
"exhibition" ?
My answer to the second part of your question here - following all that I
have written must be yes. I am someone that believes in transculturalism and
transmediation - so even if online an exhibition presented as such is an
exhibition.
Then we have to discuss in methodological terms if the 'transmediation' was
effectual or ineffectual. I look at it as a process of translation from one
language to another - from one medium to another - from one space to the
next. I like to work closely with the artists and you will be surprised of
how much pain we have to go through in order to ensure that their 'vision'
matches somehow or negotiates with the restrictions of the online medium and
the social networking platforms.
I look at the transfer from one space to the next in the same way in which
an artist I believe should look at the transfer of a sculpture from New
York, to Paris, from Paris to Istanbul, from Istanbul to Tokyo. The choice
of space, positioning, lighting, colors, smells, all become part of a new
re-definition of the artworks and its engagements with the surrounding
spaces.
In this sense is the artist that has an input in deciding how to
'transmediate' the artworks or asks to work with somebody who has that
expertise (be it a videographer, a curator or a coder). At times the
creation of the 'online piece' may be so distant from the original piece
that solely a 'loose inspiration' connects it to it. At other times you
have attempt to create a perfect (or as close as possible) re-production
on-line of the different elements that are at the basis of the physical
object and the surrounding space.
=> what are those new modes, in-between exhibition-documentation-publication
? and to stick with the topic, how the previous boundaries are evolving ?
I wrote an article in a journal called collections just about this problem -
almost two years ago. It was inspired by the archival process and
recontextualization of a collection of digital media. My problem with it was
the like of new media in the representation of the work. What I mean is that
everything was being reduced to 'prints'.
Not only that - but the archival methodologies themselves I found them to be
not considering the context of production - the digital environment. I would
have preferred a strong contribution to the curatorial approach from the
community itself.
Although some things have to be said at times about the fact that the
community's interactions are mainly fast and furious...
So my guess is that the previous boundaries are altering modalities of
'institutional belonging', necessity of 'curatorial' approval,... my
analysis is that the branding upon which most institutions relay in order to
present the validity of this work or that work, of that artist or the other,
will somewhat decrease with an increased contribution by community
selections and approval with artworks and artists emerging bottom up and not
top down.
This is perhaps the major social change that I envisage the re-drawing of
social boundaries and social hierarchies. This is why for example LEA is
supporting the artwork of Tamiko Thiel
http://www.leoalmanac.org/index.php/lea/entry/cyber-animism_and_augmented_dreams/
=> How do you conceive or design projects that can be transfered from the
virtual to the real and vice versa ?
Generally speaking there has to be a collaborative understanding. At LEA we
are too few in juggling the platforms while doing too many other jobs to be
able to 'persuade' riotous partners. Generally speaking are artists that
approach us and ask if we can work with them.
Then it starts a process of selection (very painful for us because I would
always like to do everything) and we discuss it internally and then let the
curators and artists do their magic. I am surprised in a way at the interest
in visibility and dissemination through social platforms. We are already all
booked for 2012 in regards to the Digital Media Exhibitions (the ones
disseminated via facebook, twitter, flickr, etc.).
Regarding what the major issues that we consider are the following:
Artist's proposal
Artist's understanding of threats and opportunities
Artist's commitment to the project
Then we start the discussions regarding what spaces we have and how we are
going to 'frame' the work.
That is the moment in which the budget comes in bringing with it a reality
check.
For me the most important thing is the willingness of the artist to 'adapt
and transform' the artwork in relationship to the surrounding space and
cultural influences. It is the process of translation of which we were
talking before.
I am trying to plan for example for an artwork with Judit Ersko here in
Istanbul in 2012.
http://www.leoalmanac.org/index.php//lea/entry/lea_recent_and_upcoming_exhibitions
it is in a way a follow up to the online exhibition but there will also be a
new artwork as a garden installation
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150147769611253.346156.209156896252
So the difficulties we are facing here are several:
a) relating the previous online show to the physical space
b) linking the new piece which is an outdoor piece in a different location
to the internal pieces in the gallery
c) transferring the new artwork in an online presence
d) consider how the new context will affect the artwork itself and its
development
My personal response probably to your question in short is - we do this with
a lot of sensitivity from both parts. It is like a date each time with many
unknowns and only one certainty that both the artists and us are trying to
do a good job.
On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 11:57 PM, Annick Bureaud <bureaud@altern.org> wrote:
> Dear Lanfranco,
>
> I have been very happy to read the following lines that you wrote
> describing your process with LEA as I think it is a crucial issue currently
> :
>
> There are so many exciting things happening with the Leonardo Electronic
>> Almanac including the possibility of transferring exhibitions from the
>> virtual to the real.
>> For this reason we have developed a collaboration with Kasa Gallery in
>> Istanbul where some of these shows will take place and where we will have
>> research symposia and seminars on the current state of contemporary art.
>>
>> LEA will continue this strategy moving as well between the boundaries of
>> physical spaces and screens - analyzing and discussing both the complexity
>> of data but also the boundaries of artistic activities that can no longer
>> be
>> restricted within national borders.
>>
>
>
> In the digital community, there have been many discourses about the
> re-materialisation after so many years of de-materialisation. And I have
> taken my part in those discourses. At the same time, we are witnessing
> recently the "return of the screen" and screen-based works, projects and
> exhibitions of which LEA is part.
>
> Exhibitions and artworks moving from physical spaces to screen spaces and
> vice versa is a very interesting approach as it would mean the malleability
> of both the works and the spaces.
>
> However I would like to raise the issue of what do we call an exhibition as
> opposed to documentation, to publication :
>
> => What is showing on LEA a video of a sound installation ? Is it what we
> used to call "exhibition" ? or what we used to call "documentation"
> (archiving) ? what the catalogues were for ?
>
> => how do you appreciate, as a viewer/audience, a work online/on screen
> that DOES have (that is based on, that is mainly) a physical component that
> is an installation ? It cannot be the same experience. Can you say then that
> the exhibition and the documentation can be labelled with the same word
> "exhibition" ?
>
> => what are those new modes, in-between
> exhibition-documentation-publication ? and to stick with the topic, how the
> previous boundaries are evolving ?
>
> => How do you conceive or design projects that can be transfered from the
> virtual to the real and vice versa ?
>
> Those are issues and topics that I am currently researching and discussing
> and that I am really interested in.
>
>
> Best
> Annick
>
> --
>
> ------------------------
> Annick Bureaud (abureaud@gmail.com)
> tel: 33/(0)1 43 20 92 23
> mobile/cell : 33/(0)6 86 77 65 76
> Leonardo/Olats : http://www.olats.org
> Web : http://www.annickbureaud.net
> -------------------------
>
>
>
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