STRUCTURES WITHIN AN INTERVENTION
CURATORIAL NOTE
MAY 18 2010 - JUNE 18 2010
Legend
(i) Time Period:
May 18th - June 18th 2010
Opening Reception May 18th
6:30 – 8:30 pm
(ii) Artists:
Rajkamal Kahlon, Swati Khurana, Vandana Jain, Michael Buhler Rose, Afruz Amighi, Mariam Ghani, Fawad Khan, Redo Pakistan (Fatima Hussain and Hamja Ahsan), Divya Mehra, Aninditta Dutta and Nidhi Jalan
(iii) Curator:
Meenakshi Thirukode
(iv) Institution:
The Guild Art Gallery, New York
45 W 21st Street, 2nd Floor
Buzzer #39, New York, New York 10010
212.229.2110
Structures Within An
Intervention:
What are we without structures? A structure is inescapable. Its’ ubiquitous and
certain. Be it thought or action, the more we strain to lose structure the
closer we get to finding it.
Structures Within an Intervention is a project that culminates from this
realization. In it are players, participants, collaborators and individuals who
are all functioning either for or against their perceived notion of a
structure. Like any structural system there are parameters within which those
involved function. It started with the specific vision that the institution
functions under in relation to its place within the larger system. A curatorial
intervention within this structure was to engage the institutions vision in
such a way that it reinforces what has already been discussed and debated upon
by theorists and philosophers, critics and historians, you and me. Or it could
possibly lead to something more radical, if radicality exists. I'm inclined to
believe it doesn't but I will humor myself.
Here is what finds me as I plan my escape. Here is a structure, a blueprint.
Structure 1: The Personal: Blueprint A
A shared relationship as employee, colleague and friend exists between the
institution and the curator. A common place that is relegated as the work place
has seen many interactions within the realms of the professional and the
personal. This place, The Institution, is commonly called the Gallery.
The curator shares multiple relationships with a number of individuals who are
commonly called a broad range of descriptive terms such as artist, curator and
collective. While engaging predominantly from a professional perspective, that
is curating them or writing about them, there are varying levels of a personal
relationship she shares with them such as going out for coffee, gossiping or a
mutual need to follow each others Facebook updates.
Structure 2: The Project: Blueprint B
The project culminated from the myriad layers within Structure 1. The curator
has decided to approach every one of those artists, curators and collectives to
be involved within the parameters of a structure called 'gallery exhibition'
and create further structures without acknowledging that they could be
structures. One of the most dominant parameters that have come about in the
project is the idea of place and identity.
Structure 3: The Interventions: Blueprint C
A sub system within Structure 2. A deliberate insertion that saw the
displacement, either by choice or without, of everyone involved. Some were
relegated as artists while others as Intervenors, individuals who in essence
operate under an institutional insignia, have been given the elevated task of
creating or recreating contexts. Some chose to remain as artists, some crossed
the border to become an Intervenor, some didn't have the time to be involved
but goodnaturedly gives us their support and validation.
Structure 4: Text
Curatorial Note -
chronicled above
Press Release -
The Guild Art Gallery presents Structures within an Intervention a curatorial
project by Meenakshi Thirukode that includes artists Rajkamal Kahlon, Swati
Khurana, Vandana Jain, Michael Buhler Rose, Afruz Amighi, Mariam Ghani, Fawad
Khan, Redo Pakistan (Fatima Hussain and Hamja Ahsan), Divya Mehra, Aninditta
Dutta and Nidhi Jalan. The project seeks to challenge preconceived structures,
both, within the immediate purview of what constitutes a 'gallery exhibition',
to broader issues of place and cultural identity within the contemporary art
world. This is being orchestrated by collaborating with individuals and
collectives who have created their own branded identity in an effort to create
frameworks that range from curatorial endeavors to publications, performances
and discussions. These individuals, who operate under an "institutional
alias" include Town Hall Meeting (Christopher Stiegler and Dina Shaulov),
Ad Hoc Vox (Colleen Asper and Jennifer Dudley), Shifter (Sreshta Rit Premnath),
Greshams Ghost (Ajay Kurian) and Parlour (Leslie Rosa Stumpf and Ciara
Gilmartin). Each of them have been asked to interpret, re-contextualize or
react to the contexts the curator has created. These have been labeled
Interventions. During the duration of the show Interventions will take place at
a predetermined date. The extent to which the nature of these interventions
will be publicized is dependent on the amount of information each Intervenor is
willing to disclose. Rest assured, however, that they will take place at the
said dates and timings listed below.
