It's time to put OSE under the curatorial microscope!
Next week I shall be reflecting on the curatorial concepts of Open Source Embroidery explored at a symposium called 'Exhibiting the Lab' organised by I+C+i at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) on May 27th.
As the information about the event explains: it aims to explore the mutating exhibition genre in the 21st century, focusing on physical space and virtual scenarios. New terms such as 'evolving exhibitions', 'open exhibitions' or 'meta-exhibitions' will come under focus, along with the function of curators in this new context, and the influence of participation and collective creation in new working methodologies. The exhibition has gone into the laboratory, like most genres and formats. It is time for change.
My talk will explore the Open Source Embroidery project in terms of the curatorial facilitation of material networks, which is interesting after arguing for the immateriality of both digital and socially engaged art practices. But a material network is not the same as a material object. Instead the network is embedded or represented by the object, and the tension between object and process is maintained.
I'll be discussing the relationship between the physical and online aspects of artworks in the Open Source Embroidery exhibition which blur the boundaries of material / immaterial, spectator / participant, amateur / professional and process / object.
