Continuous Curatorial Conversations

: An Exploration of the Role of Conversation within the Writing of a Supplementary History of the Curatorial

Abstract

Continuous Curatorial Conversations is a practice-led exploration of conversation, both as a medium and as a tool for capturing supplementary histories of the curatorial. The primary question of this research project is how the medium of conversation can be explored to write supplementary histories of the curatorial which thus far have been omitted from extant publications on the subject. Three important sub questions guide this exploration. First, what is and has been the role of conversation within the curatorial? What are the possibilities and limitations within the medium of conversation? What roles do conviviality and hospitality play within the process of conversation?

This thesis reflects upon a series of curated projects that explore the sp/pl/ace for curatorial conversation and also reviews a collection of one-to-one recorded conversations conducted by the author, including conversations with Alfredo Cramerotti, Hedwig Fijen, Mel Gooding, William Furlong and Sarah Lowndes. Sites of fieldwork include: the 54th Venice Biennale; Manifesta 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art; and Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012. Through these projects and related recordings it unpicks the norms and possibilities of what and when one can record on the subject of the curatorial. The hypothesis of this study is that a great deal of curatorial activity is locked up in conversation, yet a disproportion makes it to the pages of the history of the field. Furthermore, in its clean transcribed form it misrepresents the fragility and nuance of the original exchange. The theoretical context of this research looks at Nicolas Bourriaud’s notion of Relational Aesthetics, the writing of Maria Lind and Paul O’Neill, with a focus on Audio Arts. A new methodology relating to curatorial conversation and its recording has therefore been identified as ‘critical conviviality’.

The writing relating to Continuous Curatorial Conversations research takes the form of four books. The book ‘An Introduction’ comprises the PhD thesis and sits next to a bespoke online platform www.continuous-curatorial-conversations.org which hosts a selection of audio recordings collated during the research process. The books ‘Continuous’, ‘Curatorial’, and ‘Conversations’ unpack the lineage and context of Alexandra C M Ross’s practice and projects conducted during her research and are to be read in no strict order. The new knowledge resulting from this thesis and relating practice is the attention to the subtleties of conversation and its capture as it relates to the instigation, recording and presentation of semi-private matters in semi-public contexts.

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