Nothing New: Exhibition-Making Against the Myth of Novelty
Something Curated, 2024Space is often treated as a given entity, a set parameter that one may accept or reject, but never truly shape. Albeit entirely abstract, vocabulary around “space” is frequently employed towards utilitarian ends, so much so that its simultaneously undefined and open-ended character is disguised. To reclaim space, assume responsibility that comes with guardianship and make it our own would presuppose our command of said entity. However, in the attempt to define it, we find ourselves circling back to the words of Gordon Matta-Clark: “I don’t know what the word “space” means… I keep using it. But I’m not quite sure what it means”.
Full essay here.
On the Baadar-Meinhof Phenomenon, Accidents, and Spilled Ink
The Art Columnist, 2021Repetition, chances of an encounter, accidents and convincing coincidences. My personal case of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is, unironically, learning about accidents and convincing coincidences. It is a puzzling predicament, studying the development of art history, or any history, analysing the blend of colours, the choice of structure, and not fully appreciating the essential accident, or the essential restriction, that produced what we now consider a ‘genius’.
Full essay here.
Sleeping Woman (1929) by Man Ray. Gelatin silver print (solarized), 16.5 × 21.6 cm. © 2023 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.