Summary: Lauren Fournier speaks to Andrea Fraser about her book 2016 in Museums, Money, and Politics to unearth political and economic conditions that influence the boards of public arts institutions. While this information is public it often goes unaddressed, and Fraser not only directly addresses these conditions but calls on artists and intellectuals to put their critical analysis into political practice. One thing the text mentions is for artists to make researched and informed decisions about the people and institutions they work with.

Comment: It seems as though it often takes for people and institutions to be publicly denounced before the public considers their affiliation with them, which highlights the need for more pre-emptive research before these partnerships are formed.

This mention of Kant reminded me of Ivan Muniz-Reed’s text Thoughts on Curatorial Practices in the Decolonial Turn, and prompted me to consider how the Bienal de La Habana engages with decolonial aestheSis. Muniz-Reed asserts that “a decolonial curatorial practice would advocate for an epistemic disobedience, replacing or complementing Eurocentric discourses and categories with alternative perspectives”. As Muniz-Reed argues that ‘Dominó Caníbal executes a form of decolonial curatorial practice, I can see corresponding evidence that the Bienal de La Habana may enact an analogous operation. I believe the way in which the Bienal de La Habana pivoted from national organization, discontinued prizes, and initiated an international conference incited a decolonization of the traditional biennale model created in accordance to Western ideologies.

Comment: Digital catalogues of exhibitions have brought artworks outside the confines of the museum/gallery. However, this tool is not always used and thus concerns about accessibility prevail. I find video works are often regularly omitted from exhibition websites as well as artist’s websites, which makes sense to me from a copyright perspective. In the absence of the videos themselves, they are often documented by extensive descriptions, which indicates an effort to make the information public.

Connection: This reminded me of 24 Hour Psycho (1993) by Douglas Gordon, for which the artist slowed Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho to two frames per second. The artist alters cinematic time to create an installation art piece that shows in a museum, but rather than compressing time he extends it resulting in a video that can’t be watched from start to finish. Those visiting the gallery are intended to only view a fragment of the video. https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/10858

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer write about the relationship between labor and the culture industry in their text aptly titled The Culture Industry. Similar themes are also discussed by Guy Debord in Society of the Spectacle.

Hito Steyerl, How Not to be Seen. A Fucking Didactic Educational (2013). https://www.moma.org/collection/works/181784

You may or may not be able to watch this artwork on youtube.

Connection: This relationship between domestic labour and artistic labour has appeared a few times in my research this semester. In the introduction to Radicalizing Care: Feminist and Queer Activism in Curating Elke Krasny mentions how this relationship informs curatorial practice as “caring labour”. Another text I have come across with Maya Wilson-Sanchez in conversation with Lisa Myers touches upon how Myers struggles with navigating cooking in her artistic practice as “devalued women’s labour”.

Summary: Praznik establishes a connection between the way in which art production is culturally understood and how it is compensated. In order to establish living wages for art practitioners, artistic production must be reframed as labour.

Comment: I am also interested in how the artist as genius results in unequal pay. Praznik mentions Netflix, which made me think about the film industry and how the director as “creative genius” is not compensated for their labour but rather their creative abilities while other roles that are also creative but conceived as laborious are often underpaid. Perhaps reorienting labour in artistic production can also redistribute payment.

Q: Do you agree with the author’s suggestion that video offers artistic expression outside the art institution? How has this statement aged in the past 11 years since the article was written?

S: McKittrick identifies that the use of multi-media for Volcanic Spine alters the atmosphere of the gallery. The layering created by disparate mediums interacting with one another in a single space echoes the interdisciplinary conversations taking place in Hunter’s artwork through sampling, citation, and collage. McKittrick and Hunter also talk about their experiences seeing Wangechi Mutu’s exhibition at the AGO, and the way in which the artist not only altered the institutional space atmospherically but physically by putting bullet holes on the walls. This consideration of space takes into account how art and research can incite anti-colonial discourse and anti-colonial configurations of public space.

C: Seymour Mullings was the Deputy Prime Minister for the People’s National Party and news coverage of his death portrays him as a beloved public figure. In an interview for the Cooper Cole podcast Hunter explains that his interest in Jamaican politics is informed by his father who supports the PNP. While working on Volcanic Spine Hunter was reading Carl Stone’s Politics versus Economics: The 1989 election in Jamaica, which he borrowed from his grandmother. Mullings features in Volcanic Spine as an ode to Hunter’s research process.

C: This statement about "black quietness and elegance and love" reminded me of Devon Pryce’s work which was recently on display at the Plumb for the exhibit Please Be Gentle. Pryce’s paintings focus on tender moments of care and self-care, evidence of pause can be read in some of the works. A recent article in Blog TO praises Pryce's popularity at his opening at Galerie Nicolas Robert, however thinking about the article in conjunction with McKittrick's text leads me to question the exhibition experiences that are not being reported on.

Comment/Summary: I am interested in this dichotomy between touchable and accessible as it differs from my previous associations that linked the two concepts; with tactility facilitating accessibility. I think this play between engagement and distance reiterates McKittrick statement’s “to not colonize the work,” which emphasizes that interacting with a piece of work does not have to be motivated by access or answers but rather the process of learning.

C: Hunter’s fear about being taken out of context or misread reminds me of Kobena Mercer’s text, “Skin Head Sex Thing: Racial Difference and the Homoerotic Imaginary,” that we read for Art Methods; because Mercer explains that he is altering his position on Mapplethorpe in order to avoid being appropriated by the alt-Right (13). Mercer returns to his own writing, embracing unknowingness and the learning process but also as an attempt control how his work is interpreted and engaged with. I think the concept of looping has the potential to address this fear, as it points to a continuous dialogue in which one can respond to their own writing but also to those who have sampled/cited it. I understand the desire to avoid being misread, especially when thinking about the vulnerability of curiosity, but I also think being taken out of context can indicate a conversation that needs to be had.

S: McKittrick positions looping as a subversive device that resists colonial time-line continuums that prioritize linearity and progress. The act of returning refuses erasure and creates ongoing dialogues that forge connections across time and space. Hunter and McKittrick’s discussion explores how the device assists diasporic studies and anti-colonial praxis through the resistance of colonial configurations of time and space that systemically erase the black body and black history.

S: McKittrick discusses sampling and citations as communication tools that are important for black communities. Sampling and citations focus on research as a collaborative experience opposed to a colonial discourse that prioritizes authorship, an authorship that often erases citations. While sampling allows black studies to navigate the erasure of black history and create a framework of resources, McKittrick also points out that sampling divides those who are in know from those who are not. Hunter’s art as research practice speaks to what can emerge from not knowing.

C: This statement connects to our discussion in Art Methods and Methodology last week regarding Charmaine Nelson’s “Introduction: Towards an African Canadian Art History”. Nelson specifically mentions the omittance of black history from the Canadian school system, as well as, art historical scholarship and museum collections. Our discussion in class focused on the ways in which black academics and patrons have contended with this systemic erasure with research, private collections, and mentorship. Hunters art practice as research exhibits this process with an emphasis on sharing research through both citation and public presentation.

Q: Thinking about the breaks Hunter creates in his work as a moment of pause or reorientation led me to consider the ways in which the presence of rhetorical questions in the text function to create an analogous effect. Both Hunter and McKittrick ask questions throughout their dialogue that prompt contemplation and reflection, inviting each other and the audience to join in on their unknowing. This also allows people to return to the work and continue the conversation.

What are other strategies artists and writers use to create breaks for their audiences?

S: In previous classes we have discussed the emergence of process as product in regards to the appearance of artworks that centre the act of making as an artistic product in and of itself. McKittrick discusses another form of art practice as process that resists the concept of a completed product and explores the potentials offered by conceiving of artworks as active rather than static. The author identifies the sense of vulnerability that accompanies this approach to practice, as the presentation of a product as complete erects protective barriers that are removed when repositioning the artwork in a state of flux. Instead the approach necessitates an opening up to unknowing.

S: Philips defines the commons as a site for public discussion and an opportunity to contend with controversy. Drawing connections between the commons and public art, Philips asserts that public art has the potential to reinstate the commons if it embraces controversy. The author critiques the superficiality of public art and suggests that in order to be functional it would benefit from assuming a critical position.

C/Q: This concept of public art as “minimum-risk” art leads me to think about objectivity, and the ways in which objective viewpoints have been employed to conceal and silence. What is being silenced by minimum risk public art? For one, Philips discussion of the commons neglects to address that any contemporary conception of the commons in North America is conducted on unceded land. Addressing who is making public art and for what purposes might be a start to considering the audience of public art and the audience that is being excluded by public art.

Connection: This reminds me of the conversation Daniela has been raising regarding wall texts. Wall texts present as an authoritative reading of the exhibition and can limit the opportunity for divergent interpretations to emerge.

Summary: Referencing Roland Barthe’s text Writing Degree Zero, Filipovic suggests that attempting to present an objective perspective when arranging an exhibition is harmful as it creates a dynamic in which a subject dictates the collective experience. In contrast, acknowledging subjectivity invites the opportunity to consider the various ways in which the exhibit could be constructed.

Q: What makes They Shoot Horses socially collaborative? The way in which Collins pays the teenagers to feature in his video sounds more like a typical exchange of labour for money to me rather than a socially collaborative practice

Connection: While reading this text I was thinking a lot about the text for CADN-6001, Decoloniality is Not a Metaphor written by Eve Tuck and Wayne Yang. Having read Tuck and Yang’s text prior to this one, I was sensitive to the ways in which Muñiz-Reed defines and applies decoloniality, finding evidence of what Tuck and Yang refer to as using “decolonization as a metaphor” (7). Tuck and Yang critique over-use of the term decolonial, particularly as it is applied as a synonym for liberation and taken outside the context of specific goals for repatriation (7). In Muñiz-Reed’s text I found the author’s use of the term decolonial to be broad at times; using the term in a manner that was more confusing than constructive.

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1). (PDF on Canvas)

Connection: Candice Hopkins’ essay Repatriation Otherwise describes ways in which objects can be engaged with when repatriation is denied. Hopkins provides examples of how artists have found ways to be with items displaced by colonialism. This embodied approach to items held hostage by museums suggests that processes of “re-framing or re-contextualizing” are also about rebuilding relationships with items and histories that have been forcibly estranged.

Candice Hopkins, ‘Repatriation Otherwise: How Protocols of Belonging are Shifting the Museological Frame’, Constellations. Indigenous Contemporary Art from the Americas, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico, October 2020. https://catrionajeffries.com/assets/artists/lukin-linklater-tanya/Candice-Hopkins_Repatriation-Otherwise_Constellations_MUAC_October-2020.pdf

Connection: Wilson’s dive into the Maryland Historical Society’s collection made me think about the film Inuit Piqutingit/What Belongs to Inuit, which documents a group of Nunavut elders as they enter museum collections in North America. One of the museums they visit is the ROM, offering an opportunity to think about the collections located in Toronto and how decolonial interventions can be made locally. The elders’ engagement with the ROM’s collection of Inuit belongings addresses the way in which colonialism continues to operate in the museum.

Inuit Piqutingit/What Belongs to Inuit (49 min), Documentary, Igloolik Isuma Productions, https://www.isuma.tv/iu/isuma-productions/inuit-piqutingit

Connection: I agree with Muñiz-Reed, that decolonial efforts in museums should be approached critically. While reading this essay I thought about the exhibit Indigenous Voices of Today at the McCord Museum. I am thinking about how Canadian museums are approaching decoloniality, which efforts seem to have positive effects and which efforts reproduce power hierarchies. The exhibit statement at the McCord includes mention of Indigenous testimony and Indigenous knowledge systems, however, I remain concerned about how these testimonies are being filtered by the institution and how the institution remains a barrier between the collection and the community.

https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/exhibitions/indigenous-voices-of-today/

Connection: When reading about Mignolo’s connection between Kant and modern aesthetics I was reminded of a text by Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime” in which Loos equates decoration with degeneracy and modern aesthetics with intellectual superiority. Loos’ racist text went on to be a foundational text for modernist aesthetics, particularly in architecture. The connection between Kant and Loos and the influence they had over modern aesthetics highlights the way in which the physical landscape has been constructed according to racial biases.

Loos, Adolf. “Ornament and Crime.” The Architecture of Adolf Loos, trans. Wilfred Wang (1908): 100-103.

Summary: As museums and curators fail to put decolonial theory into practice, Muniz-Reed celebrates ‘Dominó Caníbal’ as it allows artists to restructure traditional models. The program takes a collaborative form centered upon artist engagement, whereby the role of the institution shifts from an authoritative presence to a host. Furthermore, Muniz-Reed notes the program’s diverse configuration as a transition from the homogenous representation that has historically dominated in the industry.

Summary: Muniz-Reed argues that decolonial theory has not yet been translated into a decolonial curatorial practice. While museums are contending with colonialism they fail to critically engage with the institutionalization of colonialism and the redistribution of resources. Muniz-Reed critiques the efforts made by museums, but then suggests that the reason for disjuncture between decolonial theory and decolonial curatorial practice lies in the formers limited consideration of art history and criticism.

Side note: Personally, I believe the onus lies on curators and critics to translate theory into practice. Furthermore, I believe the struggle to enact a decolonial curatorial practice is indicative of the influence of colonialism in the structuring of the museum as an institution and the substantial change that needs to occur in order to restructure the museum.

Summary: Mignolo’s theory on decolonial aesthetics addresses the colonial history of aesthetics, highlighting the way in which perception of the sensory experience has been formulated according to Western ideology. The connection Mignolo identifies between European philosophy and modern aesthetics calls attention to the way in which Eurocentric biases are inscribed into the production and display of art. Decolonial aesthetics in turn, mandates an exploration of the sensory experience beyond the Western perspective in order to remove barriers that perpetuate colonization through art.

Summary: Thinking about how postcolonial discourses contend with coloniality in a manner that maintains colonial systems, Muniz-Reed describes a curatorial approach that aligns more with the postcolonial rather than the decolonial. This method of curating preserves the traditional structure of the museum while attempting to address colonialism. What this approach fails to acknowledge is the ways in which the museum functions as a colonial force. Like postcolonial theory, curating that upholds vertical hierarchies continues to reinforce binaries.

Summary: Muniz-Reed distinguishes postcolonial and decolonial theory with the assertion that the former centers its scope of inquiry on Europe, thus perpetuating structural inequalities that separate the West from the ‘Rest’. Thinking about Piotr Piotrowski’s theory on vertical and horizontal art histories (discussed in CADN-6001), leads me to think about postcolonial theory as operating according to a vertical hierarchy while decolonial theory could potentially be necessitating the shift to horizontal dialogues. I am also interested in Muniz-Reed’s use of the word “aftermath” as it points to another limitation of postmodern and postcolonial discourses, as they position colonialism as inactive.

Question: How is the boundary blurred by the artist-run-centre? Does the boundary remain intact today? Will we see an increase in artists curating their own shows?

Summary: Kolb and Flückiger cite artists and curators as influential forces driving the transformation of the art institution away from a traditional model and towards an increasingly project-based model. The evolving collaboration between institution and its exhibiting artists permits the opportunity for exhibitions to be informed by the perspective of the artist and their individual practice. Rather than the institution presenting as a static repository for art, a relationship of this nature creates a dynamic in which the institution is altered in accordance with each exhibition. However, Kolb and Flückiger identify curators as having a more substantial impact on the project-based model as contract curators operate within the institution but according to independent agendas. The delineation between curator and institution thereby creating an opening for critical distance and new forms of engagement.

There is a show that has just opened up at the Jackman Humanities Institute called Mnemonic silences, disappearing acts that I believe engages Reilly’s concept of curatorial correctives. The exhibition deals with the ways in which the queer community has been occluded from the archive and represented according to dominant narratives that do not include a queer perspective. The exhibition seeks to create space for queer narratives and build an archival practice attending to queer histories. [https://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/exhibition/mnemonic-silences-disappearing-acts/#:~:text=Mnemonic%20silences%2C%20disappearing%20acts%20grapples,keeping%20that%20serve%20marginalized%20communities.]

Summary: Groys argues that historically the museum facilitated an examination of art that encouraged the spectator to narrow their focus towards a given artwork. Cultural context was discussed in order to further assist such inquiry. Physically, artworks were quarantined in museums and the written word was used to filter external influences. In contrast, the contemporary museum is designed to facilitate an event that is experienced by the spectators. This experience is then broadcasted, thereby engaging with a broader cultural context. Groys' comparison of the two modalities emphasizes the way in which the spectator's engagement with art has changed as the museum has restructured.

Connection: Thinking about the contemporary curatorial project as event, I thought about MOCA’s exhibit on Thomas Demand in 2022. One component of the exhibition that stood out to me in particular, in relation to this essay, is Rirkrit Tiravanija’s piece “untitled 2013 (Thomas Demands here)” (2022). For this project Tiravanija built a life-sized structure situated on the first floor of MOCA, equipped and run as a karaoke and cocktail bar. This structure existed within MOCA for the duration of the exhibition, bringing new ideas regarding the curatorial project as event and the relationship between the museum and visitor.

Rirkrit Tiravanija, “untitiled 2013 (Thomas demands here),” 2022. “House of Card”, MOCA Toronto, 2022. https://moca.ca/exhibitions/thomas-demand-2022/

Question: What does Groys mean when he states "time became space"? What is the space he is referring to? Is it data storage? How does permanent surveillance constitute as space?