‘Walk On’ is an exhibition being held across four venues in Plymouth city centre; a showcase of work created through the act of walking.
In the second venue, The Peninsular Arts Gallery, what struck me first of all was the comments book that greeted you upon entry. I don’t normally look at books like this but you don’t often see them in contemporary art galleries on show in such a prominent place. What I tend to find is that it tends to be a love or hate response to work which provokes a reason to record your feelings, almost like a message to the establishment. The topic that frequently appeared in the book was the lack of labels on the pieces of work in the exhibition space. A message was left from the gallery in the book, claiming that the curators asked for no labels, so that the viewers could ‘experience the work’ without prejudice or distraction. An interesting concept in a gallery space, but the way that the dialogue has been carried through this book is fascinating. Sarah Cullen’s ‘The City as Written by the City’ is a collection of 16 drawings that have been made using a drawing box; an invention created by Cullen in order to create marks in response to her walking style and pace as she walks in different locations. What I really liked about this work was the unusual method of mapping a journey through the use of marks. Because the box is sealed there is no way of knowing what marks are being made, they are unprejudiced. Cullen herself had left a comment in the visitor book only a few days before my visit. A label identifying the date and place of each drawing, integral to the presentation of her work is not on show (presumably to fit in with the rest of the non-labelling theme). This shocked and upset me; even the artists own wishes were ignored in the hanging of the work. This experience has reminded me of a publication called ‘What Does the Word Curate mean to you?’, published by mac Birmingham in response to ‘Anticurate’, a series of exhibitions curated by artists who have never curated work before in 2011. During the course of the exhibitions, art professionals were asked to respond to the question What Does the Word Curate mean to you? And their responses have been recorded in this pamphlet. Similar to the comments book, it is a collection of responses. This is an idea which has intrigued me and I want to take this idea further into the development of my ideas.
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AuthorThird Year BA Hons Fine Art student studying at Falmouth University Archives
April 2017
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