Modes of Curating / Curating as Research
Curatorial study day led by Alfredo Cramerotti at GSA – The Glasgow School of Art
31 January 2018
I conceive and understand “research” as a form of curating – namely, organizing connections and defining touchstones in contemporary visual culture by means of my work as a writer, speaker and visual project organizer – developing a discourse, or a statement through works of art, which of course can also overwhelm or enhance the project’s rationale.
In the course of this research, I have found myself working in a combination of modes, according to the various tasks I set myself. Sometimes taking a more authorial role and developing concepts and frameworks, some others becoming a conduit for ideas not mine, but translated and transformed by the visual authors I was working with. Thus, as a curator, I have acted as meta-artist; the work undertaken is less about the “what” and more about the “how”.
PART ONE
The Curator as Meta-Artist.
Presentation of three curatorial drafts recently delivered by Cramerotti: Michael Takeo Magruder’s De-Coding the Apocalypse at the King’s College Cultural Institute London (2015), Marinella Senatore’s The School of Narrative Dance at MOSTYN (2016), and Shezad Dawood’s Leviathan at Palazzina Canonica / Fortuny Factory Venice (2017). An insight into the research involved in developing the various themes and approaches for these exhibitions, the conversation with the artists, the solutions in relation to the spaces, and the mediation tools adopted in each case.
PART TWO
The Social, Humanitarian, Historical, Scientific, Logistics as Art.
Participants are invited to discuss and present to the group their views / answers to questions such as: What does beauty has to do with, for instance, migration, climate change, mental or physical conditions? What is our understanding of aesthetics in relation to ethics? How do we tackle themes that lend themselves awkwardly to a presentation in the (critical) visual realm? Could the initiative be produced somehow else? Is new media and digital platforms following the concept and the execution or preceding it? Is the selection of artists or speakers leading to unexplored territories or consolidating an approach?
Alfredo Cramerotti: Modes of Curating / Curating as Research @ Valletta 2018 International Curatorial School, Malta
Valletta Campus of the University of Malta
28 August – 1 September 2017
Conceiving and understanding “research” as a form of curating – namely, organizing
connections and defining touchstones in contemporary visual culture by means of my
work as a writer, speaker and project organizer – the 5-day curatorial course will focus on developing a discourse, or a statement through works of art, which of course can also overwhelm or enhance the project’s rationale.
As curator, I act as meta-artist; the work undertaken is less about the “what” and
more about the “how”.
PART ONE
Keynote speech: Beyond and Besides Me: The Curator as Meta-Artist.
Presentation of three curatorial drafts recently delivered: Michael Takeo Magruder’s “De-Coding the Apocalypse” at the King’s College Cultural Institute London (2014/15); Marinella Senatore’s “The School of Narrative Dance” at MOSTYN (2016); and Shezad Dawood’s “Leviathan” at Palazzina Canonica Venice (2017). An insight into the themes and approaches to these exhibitions, the conversations with the artists, the “research outcomes” in relation to space, mediation and diffusion as a form of research.
PART TWO
Research Module 1: The Social, Humanitarian, Historical, Scientific as Art.
What does beauty has to do with, for instance, migration, climate change, social cohesion, mental or physical conditions? What is our understanding of aesthetics
in relation to ethics? How do we tackle themes that lend themselves awkwardly to a
presentation in the (critical) visual realm?
PART THREE
Research Module 2: The act of thinking, planning, resourcing,
delivering, closing and finalising your next exhibition or curatorial project.
Speculations. Three type of curating (from Cook / Graham):
Project making as exchange / trade show: the modular model, based on one incarnation of a multilevel event structure / platform with the possibility to scale up / down elements of the project without affecting its overall coherence (curator as filter / stylistic editor)
Project making as broadcast: the distributed model, based on “exhibitions” where different curators create their own infrastructure / agency or occupy existing platforms to circulate art and the process of curating itself (curator as node / translator).
Project making as software program / data flow: the iterative model, based on change from one venue to another (or one exhibition to another) each time – growing around a selection of key works (curator as maker / producer / managing editor)
PART FOUR
The Pitch (one day): Poster(ing)
An “exhibition of ideas” where curators can get an inkling of what has been taking place in other workshops. A collective poster session during which participants present a diagrammatic idea of their individual concept / project to each other, and particularly to participants and curators in other groups, informed by both feedback and speculations of the days before.
The Valletta 2018 International Curatorial School, Malta is organized by Raphael Vella with the participation of Alfredo Cramerotti, Sebastian Cichocki, Mick Wilson, Bassam El Baroni, Fulya Erdemci, and Maren Richter.
Press coverage for Michael Takeo Magruder’s DE/CODING THE APOCALYPSE, CULTURAL INSTITUTE AT KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON
Cassone
The International Online Magazine of Art and Art Books
Argula Rublack
15 April 2015
Crane TV
by Tom Jenkins
05 December 2014
Full video interview (3.30 min) at http://www.crane.tv/apocalypse-now
The Creators Project
by Kevin Holmes
17 November 2014
The Guardian Guide
by Skye Sherwin
01 November 2014
Private View of De/coding the Apocalypse
De/coding the Apocalypse
A new exhibition by the visual artist Michael Takeo Magruder exploring contemporary creative visions inspired by and based on the Book of Revelation
Thursday 6 November 2014, 18.30 – 20.00
Followed by an Artist’s Talk, 20.15 – 21.00
Exhibition: Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing, Strand, WC2R 2LS
Talk: Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus, King’s College London, Strand, WC2R 2LS (free)
Please RSVP by Monday 27 October to sophie.cornell@kcl.ac.uk stating whether you would also like a free ticket to the Artist’s Talk at 20.15.
De/coding the Apocalypse is a new exhibition by the visual artist Michael Takeo Magruder. It explores contemporary creative visions inspired by and based on the last book of the Bible – the Book of Revelation – investigating our enduring fascination with the Book, updating and interrogating both its positive and negative aspects.
The word ‘apocalypse’ originally indicated an ‘unveiling’, and the Book not only documents the destruction of the current world, but also maps out the creation of a new, better one. Using the latest in technology, from 3D printing to virtual reality, the show brings various elements to life in ways that are as playful as they are challenging.
The exhibition is an interdisciplinary collaboration supported by the Cultural Institute that blends arts practice and academic research and follows a one-year artist residency by Michael Takeo Magruder in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies with Lead Academic Professor Ben Quash at King’s College London and Curator Alfredo Cramerotti (MOSTYN). By aligning contemporary art and theological study, the collaboration aims to create new ways of looking at an ancient text and make it relevant for modern audiences. The exhibition is an opportunity for the public to think differently about theology and to gain unique behind the scenes access to the work of leading King’s academics.
Find out more at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/culturalinstitute.
The exhibition is open to the public from 7 November until 19 December, Tuesday – Sunday, 12.00 – 18.00. Admission is free.
Presented by the Cultural Institute at King’s College London in partnership with contemporary art centre MOSTYN and the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King’s. 3D printer and materials generously supplied by PrintME 3D.
King’s College London – De/coding the Apocalypse: Events
De/Coding the Apocalypse @ Cultural Institute King’s College London
Thursday 6 November, 20.15 – 21.00: Artist / Curator’s Talk – Michael Takeo Magruder / Alfredo Cramerotti
Wednesday 3 December, 14.00 – 17.00: A symposium with the artist, curator & academics behind ‘De/coding the Apocalypse’
King’s College London – De/coding the Apocalypse: Events
De/coding the Apocalypse is a new exhibition by artist Michael Takeo Magruder. It explores contemporary creative visions inspired by and based on the last book of the Bible – the Book of Revelation – investigating our enduring fascination with the Book, updating and interrogating both its positive and negative aspects. The word ‘apocalypse’ originally indicated an ‘unveiling’, and the Book not only documents the destruction of the current world, but also maps out the creation of a new, better one. Using the latest in technology, from 3D printing to virtual reality, the show brings various elements to life in ways that are as playful as they are challenging.
Join artist Michael Takeo Magruder, curator Alfredo Cramerotti, lead academic Professor Ben Quash, and the four academic ‘readers’ of the Book of Revelation whose ideas informed the artist’s work in this adventurous exhibition for a talk and follow-up discussion on the guiding idea at the origin of the project, its process in the form of research, and its ultimately realisation as an exhibition. A truly inspiring conversation at the interface between academic research and artistic creativity.
On Expansion: Photography’s Status in a Digital World
On Expansion: Photography’s Status in a Digital World
News Story and Vimeo Links
On Expansion was a roundtable discussion that recently took place at King’s College London on 21 January 2014. It was a closed-door workshop led by curator Alfredo Cramerotti (Director, MOSTYN) in partnership with artist/researcher Michael Takeo Magruder (Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London) that attempted to unpack certain aspects of the status of photography in an increasingly digital world. It is part of the AGM conversation series and was recorded as part of Alfredo Cramerotti’s ongoing research in this area.
The event focused on two lines of enquiry, namely: What is photography’s ontological status in the world today when thought in relationship to the omnipresence of the digital image and video? and How does this (digital) photographic moment in the history of image-making change the methodology of artistic and curatorial inquiries, their value, and their justification?
Discussion topics included:
- considering how the visual translations of ideas through various networked social systems have a major impact on our artistic and curatorial practices; examining how – now – images are made, distributed, recycled or found; and how curators are curating contemporary artists using new technology to reflect upon its meaning today.
- exploring how the artistic and curatorial act of making, manipulating, distributing and ‘digesting’ pictures is hybridized by devices like mobile phones, tablets and computers but, also, virtual reality glasses and game consoles.
- discussing the work of some artists and theorists in relation to these networked systems.
With an invited group of specialists and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, On Expansion looked at the ways in which conceptions about photography, art, digital practices and curating are in flux, and how these shifts – particularly in the artistic production and curatorial presentation of photography – can engender new ways of thinking about archives, collections, exhibitions and display.
Discussants included: Anna Bentkowska-Kafel (King’s College London), Gair Dunlop (University of Dundee), Marialaura Ghedini (University of Sunderland), Andrew Prescott (King’s College London), Anna Reading (King’s College London) and Gillian Youngs (University of Brighton).
Organisers:
Alfredo Cramerotti
Writer and Curator
Director, MOSTYN; Head Curator, APT Artist Pension Trust; Editor in Chief, Critical Photography series, Intellect Books; Research Scholar, eCPR European Centre for Photography Research, University of South Wales
http://www.alcramer.net + http://linkedin.com/in/alcramer
alcramer@gmail.com
Michael Takeo Magruder
Artist and Researcher
Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London
http://www.takeo.org + http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/ddh/people/affiliate/magruder
m@takeo.org
Links:
AGM Culture
http://agmculture.org
On Expansion video documentation
(part 1) http://vimeo.com/85040796
(part 2) http://vimeo.com/85046523
(part 3) http://vimeo.com/85054088
(part 4) http://vimeo.com/85069770
(part 5) http://vimeo.com/85069771
All That Fits: review by Regine Debatty of we-make-money-not-art blog
You can find the original review here
All That Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism on N_P Networked Performance
ll That Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism [
Derby]
Networked Performance Blog
[Image: Insurance.AES256 by Michael Takeo Magruder. See video below.]
All That Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism — Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti & Simon Sheikh :: until July 31, 2011 :: QUAD Gallery, Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby, DE1 3AS.
The exhibition All that Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism presents the provocative idea that art and journalism are two sides of a unique activity; the production and distribution of images and information. The exhibition brings to the surface how images and information are communicated, and the aesthetic principles used in the act of transmission.
Whereas journalism provides a view on the world, as it ‘really’ is, art often presents a view on the view, as an act of reflection. All that Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism will examine both as systems of information that define truth in terms of the visible but also what can be imagined.
In the course of two months, the exhibition will be presented in three chapters: The Speaker, The Image and The Militant. The three separate displays of artwork refer to the rotation of the news cycle, while each responding to the overall theme.
The Speaker (May 28 – June 19) concerns a specific figure, the speaking subject or author, also in terms of editorial processes and camera angles. What can enable a subject to appear as authentic, authoritative and truthful?
The Image (June 22 – July 10) examines how images are produced, through framing and positioning, but also how counter-images are created. Despite the claim of neutrality and pragmatism, this chapter proposes an ‘aesthetics of journalism’.
The Militant (July13 – 31) continues the strand of counter-images, but by using journalistic means such as exposé and research. These methods often work to uncover what a corporate media industry does not, and thus return to some of reportage’s initial claims.
Sammy Baloji (DR Congo), Yael Bartana (Holland/ Israel), Eric Baudelaire (France), Ursula Biemann (Switzerland), Ross Birrell (UK), Michael Blum (Canada /Israel), Broomberg and Chanarin (UK/South Africa), Abraham Cruzvillegas (Germany/ Mexico), Anita Di Bianco (Germany/USA), Marcelo Exposito (Argentina/ Spain), Douglas Fishbone (UK/USA), Zachary Formwalt (Holland/ USA), Wynne Greenwood and K8 Hardy (USA), Tamar Guimaraes (Brazil/ Denmark), Lamia Joreige (Lebanon), Graziela Kunsch (Brazil), Michael Takeo Magruder (UK/USA), Renzo Martens (Holland), Oliver Ressler (Austria), Katya Sander (Denmark), Slum-TV (Kenya), Hito Steyerl (Germany), Walid Raad/ The Atlas Group (USA/ Lebanon) and Alejandro Vidal (Spain).
All That Fits – video introduction of Michael Takeo Magruder’s work from Alfredo Cramerotti on Vimeo.
All That Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism is supported by the Danish Art Council, Mondriaan Foundation, Autograph ABP, The Jack Kirkland Collection, the Embassy of Brazil in London and Centre National des Arts Plastiques (France).
Also see The Production of Truth: The Aesthetics of Journalism by Alfredo Cramerotti and Simon Sheikh, Digimag.
‘All That Fits’ exhibition – video introduction of Michael Takeo Magruder’s work
All That Fits: the Aesthetics of Journalism, curated by Alfredo Cramerotti and Simon Sheikh, includes the work ‘Insurance AES256 by Michael Takeo Magruder.
This is his video introduction to the work.
Interview: Michael Takeo Magruder at Manifesta 8
Michael Takeo Magruder talks about his work “(in)Remembrance(11-M)″ at MURAM in Cartagena for Manifesta 8.
Footage and interview by Davis Berg and Henna Hyvärinen.
Produced by the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and CPS Chamber of Public Secrets.
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