Above: Tansy Spinks, seaNOISEsea, 2010, still from video of performance piece, with collaborator Antoine Bertin, Redsands Seaforts, Satellite Programme, Whitstable Biennale, 2010. Watch the full video here Lee Patterson recording sound for Elemental Fields, 2010, Tufton House, Ashford. Listen to Lee Patterson discussing Elemental Fields on Framework Radio in July 2010 here
Working with Canterbury City Council, Shea Debnam Associates has developed two editions of CD:EK, taking place in 2005/ 6 and 2009/ 11
Read about the First Edition
Read about our approach to project managing CD:EK |
Curatorial Development in East Kent
Second Edition 2009/ 11
CD:EK’s second edition was championed by Canterbury City Council and built on the strengths of the original programme, focusing on sustaining new curatorial expertise in East Kent. Ashford Borough Council joined the programme as a local authority partner.
Three emerging curators were engaged in intensive placements with three high profile visual arts organisations to deliver three exhibitions or commissions, three seminars and a conference.
The second edition ran over a longer period of time, eighteen months (January 2009 – June 2011) and involved more experienced emerging curators as mentees, offering them the chance to make their first key public statements in curation. This time there was just one mentee per partner arts organisation, adding depth and breadth of experience for those taking part.
The mentees were hosted by Stour Valley Arts, the Whitstable Biennale and the Herbert Read Gallery at the University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury. The mentors comprised their key curatorial staff, Sandra Drew, Sue Jones and Christine Kapteijn.
The mentees were Matthew De Pulford, Sian Mc Millan, and Kate Phillimore. Matthew's curatorial interest was in heterotopias which sat within his long-term interest in ‘bad translation’. Sian's interest lay in mediation and languages of collaboration. Kate's interest was in the carnivalesque. ______________________________________________________________
Symposium - The Jester-Curator University for the Creative Arts at Canterbury 20 May 2011, 11am - 5.30pm
Matthew, Sian and Kate worked as a team to deliver a one-day nationally advertised symposium.
TJ Demos, Dave Beech, Pablo Leon de la Barra, Matthew Poole, Sally O'Reilly and Richard Layzell contributed to a one day event of talks and performance which explored art as a social and political instrument by establishing parallels between the role of curator and that of court jester. The day was chaired by Tom Morton.
As well as adding to current critical debate, the symposium embraced the experiences and interests of the CD:EK mentees supported through their placements.
For full details of the symposium, click here
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Seminars, Networking and Peer Review Matthew, Sian and Kate worked as a team to deliver three sub-regional seminar events, exploring contemporary curating and engaging a wider constituency of curators, artists and practitioners from East Kent. These were inspired by issues arising from their placements, and by their interests and aspirations and their curatorial work with the venues. They were focussed on the mentee's work in progress and involved external guest contributors and case studies.
The Mentees and their Work
Matthew De Pulford
Matthew with the University for the Creative Arts to research and develop an holistic management structure for curation based on project management theory.
Exhibition - The Other Workspace - 5 March to 8 April 2011 The academically based, publicly facing exhibition, The Other Workspace, took place at the Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts at Canterbury.
Aernout Mik, Laure Prouvost and Francesco Pedraglio, Sally O’Reilly, Jamie Shovlin, Cally Spooner with a new commission by Ben Cain
Seven international artists using sculpture, film, performance and text explored collaboration and its role in defining space.
Ben Cain was commissioned to make a set of new works for the exhibition which were interpreted for film by IVIVI Dance Company. Cain transformed the Herbert Read Gallery into a ‘twenty-first century workshop’, where the ‘work’ and production of that work were not material objects, but the immaterial work acted out by the gallery visitors.
To find out more about The Other Workspace click here
Seminar - Edutopia – the role of galleries within educational institutions - 18 March 2011 Matthew's seminar examined the notion that if a gallery’s role within an education institution is to promote the institution, does it achieve this best by presenting an accessible version of the arts or by demonstrating examples of exceptional practice to drive and inspire its students?
Sian Mc Millan
Commission - Elemental Fields - 24 to 31 July 2010 Sian worked with Stour Valley Arts. With artist Lee Patterson she delivered a new sound commission at Tufton House, an empty 1960s office block in the centre of Ashford, to complement environmental art interventions that the artist will be developing at King’s Wood, Challock in 2011. The installation included the sound of wind through wire fences, cars travelling over a bridge, tadpoles feeding in a pond and pondweed releasing bubbles of oxygen.
To listen to recordings of these sounds and read more about Lee Patterson's work with Stour Valley Arts click here
Seminar - Spaces of Mediation - 26 November 2010 Sian's seminar focussed upon the complexities of working with people from different specialisms, through partnerships and collaborations, in current curatorial practice and how these influence the role of the curator as mediator between artist, artwork and audience. Sian says:
‘The more specific we are in our terms and definitions, the more insular or exclusive our language may become. When working across industries there is the need to not only find new ways of articulating ourselves but also perhaps a new frame work for negotiating these differences.’
Spaces of Mediation took place at the forest office of Stour Valley Arts. It included a walk in King’s Wood, retracing steps that Hamish Fulton took in creating his work for Stour Valley Arts Walking Through, 1999.
As a result of the discussions, Sian says that she has:
‘…become preoccupied by the role of diplomacy within curatorial practice, the art of conducting negotiations and the value of sometimes, saying nothing….what to share and what to hold back, while still maintaining a very reflexive practice.’
For a detailed written and audio account of Spaces of Mediation click here
For details of works of art commissioned by Stour Valley Arts click here
Kate Phillimore
Exhibition - Whistable Biennale 2010 - 19 June to 4 July, 2010 Kate worked with the Whitstable Biennale to develop a new approach to the delivery of its satellite programme in summer 2010 and on commissions for the main Biennale Programme. She worked with Karen Mirza and Ruth Beale on their film and installation for the main programme, Voyage of Nonsuch, scouting locations, negotiating fees and advising on the editing process. Kate is working with with Uddin and Elsey on the development of their commission for Whitstable Biennale 2012.
Seminar - The Endless Seminar - 20, 27 June, 4 July 2011 Kate's three-part event was delivered as one hour sessions across three consecutive weekends at The Little Blue Hut, Tankerton Slopes and addressed the nationally and locally relevant issues:
To read Kate's own Endless Seminar blog click here
To find out more about the Whitstable Biennale Satellite Programme 2010 click here
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