Tuesday 25 January 2011

Day 2 of set up and the private view

Day 2 has been very stressful for Clive and although i managed to get him a coffee this morning  the lighting was  taken out of my hands (I'm not tall enough to hang them)- Jacob was a better choice for this, he's probably about 6ft (that is 6ft taller than me...). Everything came together in the end though- it was very difficult not putting my oar in during curation but i think i was successful. The performance was good- my role in the end was to talk to people about the work but in a humorously obvious way. to be honest, the only way i could find to make it funny and not just seem like i was patronising people was to list numerous ways things could break if health and safety was challenged. I also had my favourite line for when people asked real questions about the theory of the work "I'm sorry i couldn't possibly tell you that, i wouldn't want to mis-represent the artist" I got some really excellent feedback (i.e. laughter) and I've prompted somebody to want to work with me in a collaboration. Hooray! I did manage to upset a couple of people that didn't speak English very well though- I think they were really looking for some insight into the work and i wasn't giving them any information that they didn't already know. I also got some very negative remarks from people that presumed that i was just a tour guide and instantly brushed me off through not wanting to know anything about the work. A lot of the people i spoke to actually got it straight away and went along with it. one couple asked me to give them a tour at least three times because they enjoyed the remarks.
I think the overall piece of work ended in a crescendo however I'm not sure whether or not the work would have been more effective if it had been in an exhibition with different people that didn't know me or feel responsible for me at all. I think the idea that in an exhibiting situation outside of a college institution there are often people that create systems and i think placed in an exhibition outside of college i probably would have been given a more systematic role that was needed as opposed to the 'nice' piece of work role that i can be graded on. However again, i suppose it depends entirely on the people you are working with and obviously always the first impressions as an artist that i give.
The Crit is tomorrow, photos of the PV to come...

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