NYAB Event - Be Andr “Uncurated”

Be Andr “Uncurated”

Scaramouche

This event has ended.

“Art practice that seeks a place from which to speak and be heard almost inevitably means dissenting from the prevailing institutionalized language.” - Jean Fisher, 1996

With issues of authorship prevalent within the contemporary discourse and the proliferation of curatorial studies degrees flooding the educational component of an industry unable to absorb its constituents, action is called upon to confront this phenomenon. While process-based practices and horizontal formats are dominating contemporary art developments - from artist collectives to institutional programming - borders are collapsing between disciplines, genres and functions, and collaboration is becoming the norm. Can there really be autonomy and identifiable boundaries between roles in artistic practice? How can the cultivation of curatorial power and the star-curator culture continue to remain sustainable within the consistency of its own subversive environment? In order to meet and examine that premise, any intended curatorial authority here is automatically reconsidered. The question then arises, how can I question the role of the curator and curate a show at the same time? Can I un-curate?

To assist this predicament, and to further challenge the power relations of art production, Be Andr’s site-specific installation becomes a collaborator in this process by stepping deeper into the issues of authenticity and creative invention. While the format of the gallery’s white cube represents the art institution in its entirety, its white canvas aesthetic allows for its incorporation in the work as an element. By borrowing quotes from Boris Groys and other common proverbs, and incorporating the gallery as a reconfigured installation element, Uncurated is a long-term collaborative effort that attempts to transgress and question notions of authority, hierarchy and roles in contemporary practice. - M.N.