On a cold, wet winter day, the 6 finalists for The Fifth Curator competition arrive at the British Council's headquarters in London, for an intensive week of work with the Visual Arts team. On the first day, the curators are introduced to Andrea Rose, Director Visual Arts, who has some wise words for them:
"If I had one key piece of advice for you, it would be to see this week as a journey - ask questions of your initial selection and let the work lead your proposals. We want to see the Collection from your perspectives, but all of you need to raise your game and deliver an exhibition that is worthy of following the fantastic selections made so far this year".
With these thoughts ringing in their ears, the finalists travel to the Whitechapel Gallery, where Chief Curator Achim Borchardt Hume gives them a brief history of the Gallery, before handing them over to Shamita Sharmacharja for a tour of the spaces. Finally they get to see the Collection Gallery, where one of their proposals will be realised in March 2010. So what do they think?
23 year old Fatma Hendawy from Alexandria, Egypt is an art student and exhibitions assistant at The New Library of Alexandria. This is her first trip out of Egypt and she is suffering from a sore throat. Her proposal seeks to show the wider public that everyone is implicated in contemporary art practise, through themes of interaction, emotion and humour. "It's very interesting, we have been waiting for this moment, and now we have to take it all in... it's amazing to be here."
Ntando Ayanda Xorile is 36, from Soweto, South Africa and has a varied background of experience in performance, design and curating in the South African Visual Arts scene. His exhibition explores his particular view of British culture and looks at themes of society and nationhood. Ntando had chosen a large number of works in his 'longlist' - "The Gallery is smaller than I thought it would be, but it's beautiful light, so I have to think what would work best now I've seen it."
The issue of scale is a general theme amongst the finalists - Maya Shimony explains: "Even with plans, dimensions and photographs of the space, it's very difficult to visualise the true dimensions of a gallery until you see it for the first time". Maya, a 33 year old artist and associate curator at Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv, Israel, has curated several independent exhibitions in Israel and has a particular interest in contemporary British artists. Her exhibition looks at exported notions of ‘Britishness’ and features works by Mark Wallinger, Damien Hirst and Peter Blake.
The finalists are then treated to a tour of the current exhibition, My Yard, by the co-curator Jeremy Deller, an artist with lots of knowledge about British contemporary art. He is joined by Sarah Gillett, Visual Arts Manager of the British Council. They discuss the process of working on an exhibition. "We kind of knew what we wanted almost straight away" says Jeremy, "Alan [Kane, his co-curator] and I went to the stores and were amazed at the stuff we were looking at - it's one of the best Collections we've ever seen".
Latika Gupta is taking this all in. Latika is 32 and lives in New Delhi, India where she has completed courses in Painting and an MA in Art and Aesthetics; she currently works in the programmes and publications department of KHOJ International Artists Association in New Delhi. Her exhibition looks at the contradictory connotations of 'the outsider' in relation to modern society. "The tour was really inspiring for me - I loved the exhibition and the more I looked, the more interested I was in seeing more - the range of works has given me lots to think about."
Over the next three days, the finalists work with Diana Eccles, Head of Collections; Sarah Gillett; Emma Williams and Delphine Allier, Exhibitions Officers and Amy Pettifer, Exhibition Co-ordinator, to try and see as many relevant works from the Collection as possible. They travel to the secret location of the Collection stores where racks of paintings, drawings, photographs and prints are pulled out, discussed, noted or discarded. Sarah reminds them “Some of the works will be much bigger or smaller than you thought, so it’s a good time to start thinking about where to position your larger key works, and to make sure you have the right balance of scale and media.”
For the finalists, this is also where they find out which works are already committed to other exhibitions and are not available to them. As Diana explains: "This is part of curating - you rarely get exactly what you want when you want it - but the challenge is to find other works that can do the same job for you."
The finalists are confronted by the revelation that this issue affects all of them, but it is a particular issue for Maya, Mika and Theodor, who are all disappointed to find that they will not be able to show their key works. Theodor Ringborg, 26, lives in Stockholm, Sweden, where he has recently completed MA studies in Critical Writing and Curatorial Practice at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. He has curated exhibitions at Färgfabriken Gallery, Stockholm and his exhibition looks at British art produced in response to war and conflict. “I wanted to show a particular Mona Hatoum piece, which is very important to my exhibition, but I’m not sure if it will be available now. However, I’ve also found out about a lot more pieces, including a couple of exquisite Mat Collishaw works which are new acquisitions to the Collection and have not yet been seen – maybe I can be the first to show them.”
Out of all the finalists, Mika Iwasaka is most affected by the problem of unavailable works. Mika is 30 and currently lives in Tokyo Japan. She works as a producer for the Visual and Web Design Company WOW and whilst she is in London her company are installing the Digital Art exhibition Decode at the V&A. She worried that she should go and support her colleagues, but everyone is insistent that she concentrates on her own exhibition! Mika lived for a short while in East London in 1999 and developed an interest in our relationship with the city and how we travel around it. Unfortunately, Simon Patterson's The Great Bear, one of her favourite works, is already in Shanghai for an exhibition and will not be back in time for the Whitechapel show. “Don’t worry” Amy tells her, “there is lots more to see”.
For Maya, these development days were especially tough and she struggled to stay positive. "It's so difficult when the works that form the backbone of your exhibition aren't available - I have to completely rethink, but I can't help wondering, what is available?" Everyone rallies round, especially Diana and Delphine, who show Maya more and more possibilities and by day three she is back on track and much more positive again.”I’ve found some really extraordinary works and I’m really excited now about my proposal”.
Ntando is facing a dilemma. “I love these for different reasons” he says of the works of Terry Frost and Anthony Green, “but I don’t think I want a straight painting show. I’m very tempted though - I don’t know what to do now!” For Fatma, she has fallen in love with the photographic works of Suki Dhanda. “They are such powerful works. They make me feel sad but the girl in them looks strong – I almost feel like I am in the works next to her.”
The night before the finalists have to give their presentations to a panel of art world experts, Theo has come up against another set of problems. "I had produced an animated exhibition plan, but my computer hard drive has crashed, so it looks like I will have to redo it all tonight on another computer. I just hope I can get it all together before tomorrow”.
At the last minute, Latika has decided to include a large Tony Cragg sculpture in her exhibition.”I’m so pleased – it’s called Canoe and it just brings the whole exhibition together. I think that audiences will walk in and immediately understand the exhibition now.”
And what of Mika and Ntando? Ntando is still working on his proposal with Emma, but it is coming together. He thinks he will have to carry on working until late, and he will be the last to face the judges tomorrow. Mika has refined her proposal and is happy with her final selection. She is first tomorrow morning. All the finalists are nervous but they will all have to wait a little bit longer before they find who will be The Fifth Curator….
And the winner is Theodor Ringborg.
