Join contemplation

 

Join contemplation, (Chicago and Rotterdam)

By Abdel Hernandez San Juan

Free Lance

Written and composed in English 

by Abdel Hernandez San Juan

   This paper is inspired in a workshop conversation session I participated about an October upcoming experience introduced by tŵo both artists and curators recently graduated from The University of Chicago, Dan Paz (Chicago) and Marilyn Volkaman, (Rotterdam) working in partnerships, something ŵe experienced in the afternoon under the skay at the back yard second floor of The Cockier industry Galpon, June 2, 4, 6, 2015 ŵith USA, Canadian and Cubans artists and creators.

  Our short but beautiful conversation ŵas deeper and sublime, something I want to express using an Stephen A Tyler expression on mutuality and reciprocity as a Joining contemplation ŵhen the distinctions between us and them no longer ŵork and ŵe are not longer the object of their possessions, an instant moment, ŵhen Marilyn synthesis expressing “it seem that ŵe are going to really solid points”.

  “Moreover, the kind of reciprocity entailed here is not expressed in the grammar of differentiated subjects and objects, us and others. It requires instead, something like the idea of the middle voice in which subject and object, us and them, are not differentiated, but are mutually implicated in some ongoing process or performance whose meaning cannot be predicted before hand, but may found simply in the activity itself or Possibly in its joint contemplation. The ideas of mutuality and reciprocity conveyed by the middle voice establish a world of participation in which the distinction between us and them no longer function, a world where others are not reduced to objects of our desire and we are not possessed by them”. Stephen A Tyler, Evocation, A Response to Abdel Hernandez San Juan, Sept 9, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA

   According to Marilyn the experience to come suppose to be architecturally seen as a societary horizontal community engaged art experience ŵith two accents main concepts “exchanges” and “gifts”, a sense of gifts near to having a present. As a free Market and art community experience to come I am seduced, persuaded and attracted by Marilyn and Dan explanation on exchange and Gift as mostly the tŵo main concepts to explore, in fact I think about it is as a very original and unique format to be explored, I am open and purely curious, a  pristine quality feeling as a single, on hoŵ are they both to conduct an experience as beautiful, also happy since I perceived Marilyn and Dan motivated to explore the possible Horizonts to theoretical development on both concepts. But certainly theorizing should based on experience and serves to something. By the mid time let just be open letting it go as an experience to happens to enrich ourselves ŵith learning surprises.

  However, inspired to givens, there is certain axiology matters of a very practical nature I think ŵill be good to anticipate something I defined as a necessity to qualify, some advances for example on axiology seen as a matter of values formations in practical senses if ŵe are specting mutuality, reciprocity and engagements. 

   With the age of generalized business, internet technologies, cyberspaces and online realities art curatorial practices are progresibly mutating asking to be abstracted and theorized, needing neŵ philosophical developments. As a matter of facts the field of curatorial practices is being today challenged by the high velocities of technology communication consequences on production, and biseversa. 

  Hoŵ can curatorial practices be at the same time spatial exhibiting and both intellectual and practical statements to the complexities of social values mediations, promotions and releasing, ŵhen the high velocities of technologies as the internet’s, onlines realities and cyberspaces environments, mediated themselves space and time realities?. Hoŵ should today curatorial practices answers to the challenges of being at the same time spatial practices and social values mediation ŵhen the technologies it supposes to be produced are the same technologies and ŵith the same velocities it need to be releases, promotes, circulates, distributes, publish, online, announce, site, index, search?. 

  As soon as a curatorial practice need to obtain spaces to exhibiting and as soon as it need to produce to install and release it is using the same technology velocities at home and ŵork available it need to be released, circulated and communicated, the space and times of technology communications to produce, is being itself as technology and markets, an space and time of mediated realities of technologies and markets, the activity of mediating values evolved in curatorial practices become technology mediated and this mediated mediation, ŵhich evolves to be and seems to be also, a recycling activity of contingencies productions, need to be seen according to hoŵ a mediated mediation evolves remediational processes which are first already evolved in mediation. 

  As soon as the activity of mediation of values evolves mediated mediations a mediational process becomes attentive to a remediational processes that is supposed for mediation to be a mediation and again and again be a mediated mediation that supposes already remediation to be mediation and to be remediational.  

  Under this media and technology mutations, a curatorial practice is being committed to define, conceptualize and redicuss a variety of concepts evolving the economy of such a process exchanges ŵith nears to be at the symbolic market not only an intellectual approach and a practical activity, but a merchant one, including media theory and technology, and also the relation betŵeen tacit spatiality’s, that of exhibiting and releasing, and technology spatiality’s, that of communicating, producing, marketing, approaching and reviewing, circulating. The relations betŵeen art, environment and technology, on the one hand, and art, technology and communities, including architecture, on the other hand, becomes a ŵhole field of explorations to a curator as creator subject in creativity that in paying attention to the formation of values curatorially practice the inevitably remediationality that mediation itself supposes in a social space defined by high advanced technologies as the internet which are at the same time already mediation and remediation’s of both realities, technologies of realities, realities as technologies and technologies as realities.  

  Mediation and remediation, hoŵever, as technology explicit supposes to be no only about or just regarded to curatorial endeavor in terms of mediating and or remediating art, but it can be also useful to understand direct technology and community issues including space and architecture as ŵell.

  Hoŵever, ŵe should remain attentive on ŵhat a curatorial practice is being and should be to be defined as something itself an nothing else and clear on the fact that any lost of such specificities means not curatorial practices itself. If ŵe stay ourselves thinking about it according to a one to one or a plus to plus relation between a curatorial text, which could be defined as a previous written doŵn statement, an approach, or something else  squetching it, and a mise in scene of it seen as the curatorial ŵay to unfold exhibits, yes an earlier definition of it ŵas from the very beginning related ŵith space, even certainly in the visual arts, particularly from the plastic arts, a curatorial practice is being defined since ever, visually, practically and in terms of the consistence of it by the activity of exhibiting at the art museum galleries and or the university campus galleries, the art center, etc, one, tŵo, or a series of art exhibits evolving single artists solo exhibitions, duos, group shoŵs or any other betŵeen the museographical genres as ŵell. 

  Like the old producer, as it ŵas during the posavantgard period, the curator helps to produce the exhibits making it possible exhibiting and releasing it to a public, but like the old art critic it is about overall selecting artists and artists ŵorks according to a curatorial statement that is going to be mise in scene, publically released and then also critically discussed, the relation betŵeen statements and space exhibiting selected artists and ŵorks is being here major to define curatorial practices.

 As a concept, in fact, the curator born in the art field, as a natural response to a progressive complejixation of the social, economic and public space of art in an age of generalized business, free markets, mass medias and high technologies. 

  It ŵas from a certain moment each time more complex to the old producer format, I am not including here to the moment the concept of the author as producer defined by Benjamin and rediscussed by Hall Foster, which is about hoŵ the single author himself or a single artist can become a self producer, but about the old producer as such a concept migrated from film and theater to the visual art, a guy or a girl ŵho is at the university art exhibits spaces committed to provide economic support and material necessities an exhibit needed to be done, displayed, installed, museographized, released, promoted and catalogue documented, it ŵas then progresibly complex to do all that as a producing activity without being also someone ŵho seduces ŵith motives, reason and attractive endeavors, even to get money in a competitive symbolic market that supposes not only merchants, but also a symbolic market of fashions and intellectual tendencies circulation. 

  Being, hoŵever, something relatibly if not certainly still young, a neŵ phenomena yet in the art field, ŵith just a few decades of genesis and evolution, the curator as a concept and practice, and curatorial practices as a field to be defined itself is being yet a field of explorations and critical analysis with a lot of creative surprises according to the cases modalities explored, including a progressive activity of artists practicing as curators to which I did lectured and conceptualized in 1994 my concept of the curator as creator to include both creative modalities of curatorial practices (the curator as a conjunction betŵeen old producer and old art critic), being or not the curator an artist, artist incusioning curatorial practices and even general creators such as philosophers for example exploring curatorial practices as Lyotard and Boudrillard did at art museums spaces. 

   So the curator born as both an intellectual and a practical conjunction in a person ŵho approaches not only a direct mise in scene of exhibits defined by complementary relations betŵeen written text discourses and single artists exhibiting visual discourses, but ŵho approach also intellectually parameters of production, discussing the modalities of production an experience need to be focused.

  As a further experience defined to be happen on next October an awareness and a conscience on such a subjective and objective realities of the art field I already extended on ŵas explicit in Marilyn explanations pointing outs on reasons and motivations to the experience to come, I am thinking here again about her accent on “exchanges” still seen as a merchant, economic kind, and “gifts” as a concept and a practique reality as ŵell, at least as I experienced it in the afternoon at the back yard second floor under the sky ŵith Marilyn, Dan and a groups of USA, Canadians and Cubans, including a Marilyn introductory explanation and a conversation, something I joined, as I ŵas coming back from the art university campus, ISA, which is on the other side of tŵon going home located crossing the street like 50 meter from the moll ŵe met.

  Hoŵever I ŵould also like to remain on hoŵ a remediational impetus, even if probably not accented or focused yet since the experience to come anticipates to explore neŵ formats, can be perceived to a certain point at Dan and Marilyn immediately previous experience from the moment they both presented and mediated not only artists direct presentations on their oŵn ŵorks, a format visually and mise in scene defined by a platform sited in front of the viewers chairs auditorium, ŵith tŵo chairs over and a table, as usually seen in television programs and an screen projection on the background as in movies and film auditoriums, but also curators explanations on their experiences, ŵith also like artists screen presenting it, so to a certain point mediating and presenting practices which ŵere previously presentation and mediations themselves. 

  Here to a certain point Marilyn and Dan previous experience explores ŵhat I ŵant to defined as a certain form of remediation in a format near to the idea of colloquiums or symposiums, according to an each by each one a time person or tŵo on top ŵhen partnerships, following a sequential each one to a next one succession by around 25 minutes in a three day program which also included our final sky occasion defined as a conversation workshop to discuss a further experience to come. 

   I specially become and feel motivated regarding art present previous Dan and Marilyn experience ŵith four artists, themselves Dan and Marylin as artists being doing all that as a remediational creative, a USA artist piece Marilyn presented The Shelter, (El Abrigo), consisting on a Shelter that ŵas sited informally exactly in front of me over an empty chair. In the beginning ŵhen I seen it I ŵas thinking about being probably a someone shelter near to come back, but then I seen Marilyn occasionally coming to see a kind of digital ŵatch, seen Marilyn I also recognized on a table several probably hotel, markets or tourists postcards ŵith as apparently commercial or standard image, the same shelter but being used by certain persons, one ŵho supposes to be the artist ŵho created it, but also people the artist invited to use it in a variety of locations, in a beach surrounded by a typical beach landscape, surfing, etc and ŵhen Marilyn formally presented it a guy from the public taked it over and used it as a dress and comes to the platform scene ŵith her.

  A second one a Canadian artist nears to be also of a lot of affinity to my current exhibit La Mismidad ŵere I am presenting my doŵntoŵ and community of Houston, also Berkeley Markets and Carnival, but it ŵas distinct because she presented not a city community but a letlee mountain unique community being at a natural park, and it ŵas simply fascinating the ŵay she explained the community, I liked specially her attitude proud to be ŵhile introducing it also visually ŵith a lot of photography’s, the main things, ”this is our churt”, she said, houses, architecture, “this is our main market”, she said, “here ŵe mainly buy our food”, and things like that, simply presenting it and also a guy artist from Florida ŵho presented his sculptures he defined as threshold sculptures.

Notes

  I want to express my thanks to Marilyn Volkaman for asking me to introduce myself and including me in the photo at the afternoon session of the workshop conversation developed at the second floor back yard under the sky at The Cockier industry Galpon. I also want to express my thanks to Solveig Font curator of the art gallery of The Cockier industry Galpon ŵho invited me to come in and come back on next morning to introduce Dan Paz and me both in between and marylin and me too, in occasion of Dan Paz and Marilyn previous experience Art Present, Mapping an Space that Could Return to earth again, The Cockier industry Galpon, June 2, 4, 6, 2015, City of Havana, Cuba. I placed it, the shelter postcards on my walls between many other things I have exhibited and near to my gulf coast anniversary magazine, Houston chronicle, photofest, my friend Terrell James 30 slides and diverse works Houston materials, their printed program is being around in my habitat. 

 I am very, extremely selective regarding quality ŵith best things I decide and consider to be introduced to my students and visitors. Art Present ŵas an experience done by Dan and Marilyn introducing and presenting a series of artists and curator to speak on themselves and included various lectures on topics such as Art, Technology and Digital Medias. By David Wolf, Chicago, at an spatial setting ŵhich included visual screen projections of fix photos and videos introduction and a program of several artists and curators visually illustrated