Solo Exhibition 'Reimagine' - Preparation, setting-up, and finished work

Preparation for solo exhibition 

Putting up exhibition 

Reflection

Planning for this exhibition has been on my mind for months now, curation is something I am new to considering within my practice, however it has turned out to be something that I really enjoy. From the drawings I made initially I then developed final plans which I then left a whole week to put into action. The most gruelling part of the preparation side was making all these shelves that I needed to display my objects. Once I had marked with masking tape on the walls what size I wanted them to be they were cut and set aside for me to paint and fix the brackets on to. I found this task quite relaxing as it reflected the physicality of what up until now had been my conceptual ideas. When coming to erect all the shelving however the story changed, as putting up the amount of shelving I needed turned out to be a long and arduous process. I managed to get someone to come in and help me as putting up a whole two roomed exhibition single-handedly was becoming an incredibly slow process. With help on the way, I could get back to project managing which is a skill I feel is more useful for my portfolio in the real world. As I walked around the space, (now shelf ready) I started to interchange the placement of objects in my mind, carrying out a few physical exchanges until I was content with the way the objects were conversing. I included within this exhibition, a few of my time capsule works interspersed with some salt crystal sculptures, an array of shelves at mixed heights with a mixture of narrative provoking objects from different time periods that can be paired together like the children's game picture pairs to create poetical and metaphorical interpretations. A tank with time captures buried within it which acts as a cross cut of the land some of them have been buried in, as well creating a interesting object in itself. A couple of film works, two of which showing the burial performance of my time captures, the other one a mile walk in someone else's shoes which I have displayed to echo the tableau I set up across the other side of the room which echos some of the narratives within the time capsules. The whole room reads as many strands from narrative and feels conclusive yet provoking. Within the second corridor I have assembled two lines of prints that start off with intensity of colour and form, and gradually fade down until they virtually disappear. This echos the ghostly appearance of the images, there nature to appear and the fade into the back of our minds like a memory this concept has extremely poignant connotations, that act like an antidote for the business of the objects in the other room. What I have learnt about this experience overall, is that even with a great amount of planning little issues crop up and you need to think on your feet and be able to problem solve in order to overcome these difficulties. I feel like I have had to do that within this show, however I have become more resourceful as a result. I will keep considering the pros and cons to this exhibition and will create a battle plan for next time.

Unmonumental - The object in the 21st century

Reflection

I rented out this book to get some ideas about how to lay-out and display the objects within my own exhibition. I found it to be an exciting read, as it made me question the ways of evoking an reaction without being to over dramatic. A lot of the simper understated pieces here, work more effectively then some of there giant competitors. I feel this is due to the language of display, as these object leave questions still to be answers so that the viewer feels as though they can add some of their own interpretation onto the work. The decaying exterior is another way to generate multiple readings, as the context of the work hovers between time periods, its ambiguous form and how the work relates to language. I was particular inspired by the work of Mathew Monhanan, who carefully positions objects to act as narratives or words. When I look at his work I feel as though I am literally reading a book due to the descriptive qualities of the materials he employs. The metaphorical juxtaposition of objects is a key to how I want my own exhibition to read, with the placement and essence of each objects being to the feeling of the whole space, I will be sure to bare these things in mind when curating an assembling my own show. 

Cornelia Parker -Book

Cornelia Parker

 Reflection

I started looking through this book to help guide my curation of my solo exhibition. What I like about how Cornelia Parker's work has been displayed is that all the sculptural piece in the middle have similar motives behind them, there positioning nods to the next piece, within compromising on there own space and meaning. The work situated on the wall reads like it is backing up the sculptural work, which only goes to display a stronger reading to the viewer. Parker has used work on differing heights and scales to create interest when walking around the room. When comparing this to how I want to lay-out my exhibition, I think that using things on differing scales is important to keep the viewer engaging in the space, by sectioning the room off into different areas, I aim to create a the bare bones of a story line that the viewers can fill in to relate to their individual interpretations.