rsithara /210 /proposal

Cadangan Projek

1. Narrative description of concept

REMOTE CURATION- Curating from a distance, mediated by the Telecommunication technologies

This project is an extension of a project from Malaysia. Initially the project started as a site and time specific curatorial project, under the name of "Letartmoveyou" or LAMU in short. Before going deeper into my project proposal, it is essential to understand LAMU as this project is closely connected with the artistic and conceptual framework of LAMU. LAMU is an art exhibition that brings together the artists, the public transport and the commuters on a visual art event taking place in Kuala Lumpur. It aims at presenting the dynamic and creative situation of urban life in KL, drawing the connections between the rapid city development and the artistic interventions. It provides the KTM Komuter trains as the platform for artist to create art that actively engage the commuters and help bring art to people in real and mundane way. The stations serve as transitory space, where notions of borders, time and place are temporarily suspended, while the trains are bearing the citizens like constant flow of blood pumped in and out the heart of Kuala Lumpur, through the stream of TIME, sustaining the life of KL. In short, LAMU explores the spatial and temporal distance between events happening in the train and at the stations. The prospective investigations all come down to the management of TIME and the management of SPACE.

For further information on the project, you can visit the project website at http://www.blog.letartsmoveyou.com/

The project consist of 3 curators - Yap Sau Bin, Lim Kok Yoong and myself. Initially all 3 of us were present(physically in Malaysia) when the project was launched May 2007. The open call for participation was distributed to major arts initiatives and institutions around the ASEAN region, seeking for artist proposal. By August 2007, we managed to select the respective artists proposal and artworks for exhibition. The next stage was finalizing exhibition site/venues and negotiating with the KTM representative on the selected spaces in the train stations. This is when I departed and left to US. Indeed, this is the core issue being addressed through this project I am proposing. Can I curate an show by physically dismissing myself from the actual presence of the exhibition site?

To address this issue, I decided to emulate and combine two theories to Niranjan Rajah, they are:

Niranjan explain the shift in curating as curatorship engages the Internet as a space for exhibition and artwork presentation. He looks at how the roles of an artist,curator and audience are intertwined and interconnects on the Internet.

Niranjan examines the connection between the physical and virtual space. This study is framed in a cultural context whereby he argues that the works on the Internet are being perceived differently from one audience to another thus proving the claim of Internet art as a "universal form of artwork" is a fallacy.

Both of these theories are connected in relation to TIME and SPACE, in coherent with the LAMU project and indeed Niranjan's theory and LAMU are experimenting with similar concepts and issues. This rationalize the adaptation of the theory for the project.

2. Design

With the theoretical guidance of Niranjan Rajah and strong, collaborative support from my fellow curators from the Malaysia side, I decided to explore something that I would define as "remote curating"- a curation from a distance,mediated by the telecommunication technology. Curatorship is a process, rather than an end product, althought such end result is the goal of the process (the exhibition/show). Keeping this in mind, I have listed several needs for the project:

  1. the process must be documented and presented along with the project. Process here is defined as not only the actual implementation of the project but also the conversation between fellow curators and artist.
  2. the definition of a curator begs for redefinition
  3. The outcome of the project must leave its mark in a physical space, in this case at the KTM station in Malaysia.

For remote curating project, I intend to have a mediated guided tour of the audience along the KTM station, describing the artworks and its context. This could possibly be in real time or pre-recorded, depending on the logistic and technical efficiency of my counter part in Malaysia.

3. Development Timeline

The timeline of the project is aligned with the LAMU project. The opening of the LAMU project is on October 27th and its runs for a week until November 4th. Based upon the tight deadline, the project's participation in the LAMU event in Malaysia might even serve as a prototype stage, thus it wll continue growing and expanding.

4. Budget

Webcam - 200
Video, Audio and text documentation - 400
Labor - 500
Contingency-500


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