Permacuratorial sessions

Permacuratorial Sessions

Project Proposal

The information below is subject to change, as we are in the process of applying and testing our theory. The aim of this “slow process” project is to experiment, analyse, discuss and assess Permacuratorial theory without any time or space limitations to create a sustainable and ethical Curatorial model.

About

What: A platform online and offline facilitating collaboration between practitioners around the following themes: Ecology, Art, Design, Permaculture, Ecosystems, Art collaborations, Activism, Sustainability, ways and ethics of Curating, Multidisciplinary / Interdisciplinary approaches, Rethinking space.

How: Acts as a catalyst; generating debate through a series of events, discussion and shared resources.

Where: Online (currently as a Facebook group, and will soon circulate as a website also) and Offline (materialised through a multitude of events organised without any time or space constraints)

For Whom: Attempt to provoke positive interactions between groups and individuals, practitioners interested in the themes proposed above, public audience from all ages keen to learn and/or discussed urgent environment issues along with ways and ethics of curating and art production. (Each event targets a particular audience, depending on the theme discussed, the format chosen and the locality of the space).

Objectives & Outcomes

• Create a platform gathering a community of practitioners working along similar themes

• Share, debate, discuss and raise questions around ecology and art

• Experiment and investigate ways of making art, designing and curating while addressing ecological issues

• Creating a flexible and ethical curatorial model/manifesto for cultural production/artistic collaborations

Session 1: Roundtable event

Permacuratorial session 1, was the first experimentation of Permacuratorial theory materialised under the shape of a roundtable event.

Participants:

Fred Bunglay, Artist

Sara Rodrigues, Artist

Alecs Pierce, Artist

Oana Damir, Curator

Danielle Ash, Curator

Valentine Comar, Permacuratorial theorist

Location:

Goldsmiths Curating Studio, 2 Deptford Church St, London SE8 4RZ

Matters discussed:

• Permaculture’s ethics and principles applied to art - Permacuratorial theory

• Would writing a list of “ethical” principles/aims/objectives to follow for your practice help, when you are facing particular demands? (compromising with an institution, funding etc.)

• Is raising awareness enough or should we be taking action? (Art and activism)

• Rethinking space: getting away from the traditional gallery setting to reach a wider public and its implications (coherence of projects “in situ”)

• Public reception: methods of translations for the general public to understand complex artworks -who’s responsibility is it?

• Are collaboration with other disciplines (science for example) necessary to discuss environmental issues in art? …And difficulties encountered

• Does an artwork loses its function once sold / owned by a collector?

• The notion of future in sustainability and the archive

Outcome:

Successful. Creation of a new platform online (Facebook group), to share resources and events, to continue this unfinished discussion, to involve more practitioners and to organise the next events.

Creation of a new platform

“A platform is a web site organised in a special way: as a relatively simple database with artefacts, or a more complex portal built around a database. A platform differentiates itself from other websites by the relations of creative, social, instrumental, educational and historical character it establishes and is involved with. A platform is aimed at supporting and stimulating creative initiatives and work, and it provides a possibility for continuous exhibition of artefacts, often accompanied by reactions to them and various discussions. [ … ] A platform often also puts effort into translating digital creative processes into offline and more official cultural scenes, establishing connections between cultural movements of different times and orders. ”

Goriunova, Ogla & Shulgin, Alexei, “FROM ART ON NETWORKS TO ART ON PLATFORMS (CASE STUDIES: RUNME.ORG, MICROMUSIC.NET AND UDAFF.COM)” in Krysa, Joasia, ed. Curating Immateriality: The Work of the Curator in the Age of Network Systems. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia, 2006. p. 237-238

Using

as our (first) platform for community building

Future projects

Event formats:

Roundtable discussions
Screenings
Talks
Symposiums
Performances
Exhibitions
Workshops
Sonic lectures (Listening series)
Project crits: artists/designers present their project in order to get some feedback, ideas, and possible collaborations

The format diversity of the events presented above, have been carefully selected in order to vary active participants, audience and locality of each Permacuratorial session

Funding opportunity

Goldsmiths Student’s Union have launched a fund called “Academic Communities Fund” to help building communities at university. The funding provided, however small, would be interesting first steps towards the sustainability of this project. Following Permacuratorial theory, a series of small events would potentially lead to a positive and flourishing outcome, evaluating the theory on a small scale, and receiving feedback from both online and offline platforms.