"Curating The Net"
Cached 5/ ICA London
20.06.98
Reviewed by Aurora Lovelock

"It is clear, however, that natural selection reveals both aspects of
feedback, Natural Selection–which would be more accurately
characterised as 'natural destruction'…compels organisms and species
to strive for stability and preservation…but the selective pressures
of a changing and variable environment mean that they must learn to
operate their capacities for adaptation innovatively at the 'edge of
chaos.'"–Keith Ansell Pearson, "Viroid Life"

Redefining curatorial practice; escaping systems of art curation;
dissolving boundaries between the roles "artist" and "curator"–these
were just some of the issues addressed at "Curating The Net," the fifth
seminar in the Cached series at the ICA. It was a very hot and humid day
in London and those attending the seminar seemed to be physically
dissolving, as the heat made it very difficult to maintain any sense of
separate body space. Combine that with a meltdown of mindspace and you
start to get the picture…

Benjamin Weil set the scene by looking at the changing role of the
curator since the 1960's, when the emerging ephemeral nature of Fluxus,
Performance and Conceptual art gradually effected a move away from the
strictly traditional conservation of collections and towards a "more
artistic" approach where the "curator makes an interpretation of the
instructions given by the artist" (Weil). Specifically Weil described
his experience on ada web of translating the art concepts of Jenny
Holzer and Yoko Ono, neither of whom had computer skills, into the
technical requirements of the Web. He felt their work addressed issues
relevant to "the understanding of the network," and this was why he had
commissioned them. It also suggested the importance of affirming a link
between process art and the perceived transient nature of
net.art–whether this link is challenged or confirmed by current
practice remains to be seen.

The theme of the curator implementing the technical requirements of an
artist's vision recurred frequently in subsequent presentations. This
was particularly the case with Simon Faithful, talking about the
"Container-ship" website, where his role in commissioning "containers"
of web-oriented works had so far led him to focus on artists whose work
he "admired" and who had not used computers before. Again, their art
practice was "translated" into web based programs by designers and
programmers who were then credited on the site.

In contrast to this approach was the work of Nina Pope + Karen Guthrie,
and Alexei Shulgin. They had developed their own skills in html
programming over recent years. While their work might have seemed more
"clunky" it had a fresh and strong integrity of intention. Shulgin was
very witty about his role as self-styled artist, curator and inventor of
"form-art" and the form-art competition which had a jury of one (i.e.
him). Pope + Guthrie made "off-line" comments about such things as
"themed exhibitions" where "you search around on the floor of your
studio to find anything that will fit the theme" and they expressed a
sense of feeling outside the general trends or support systems of new
media in the UK. Basically what these three had in common was their
ability to get on with the job whether they were funded or not and
tackle technical problems which would put many artists off using "new
media," but which had led to truly original inventiveness in their use
of the web.

Shu Lea Cheang presented her latest web project "Brandon"–and the
spirit of Brandon was well and truly summoned that day. As the event
took place in the Brandon Room at the ICA it was an entirely appropriate
location for him/her to emerge. The exploration of a Trans-sexual
identity within cyberspace enables the tensions, generated by "mutation"
in terms of physical and digital realities, to be addressed.

Cheang really captured the sense of curation on the edge of chaos. The
fact that she personally has "no fixed address" but moves between cities
internationally–working within public institutions to access venues and
equipment, organising finances and collaborations with other
artists–seemed very unstable in the best sense. Through her experience
as a film maker Cheang treats the project as a "big production" with
multiple interfaces, multiple authorship and the additional use of
others' technical expertise to realise the concept of an
"ever-processing site." Interestingly she did acknowledge that at some
point in her work she does get "sick of the whole thing" (some things
don't change) and so will hand over the site to a "curator" who can
carry on maintaining it and finding artists/writers who want to
contribute material in the future. Ironically this brings the whole
practice back full circle to a new kind of conservationism in curation.

The most problematic and seemingly unsatisfying project was presented by
Graham Gussin who, with Susan Collins, had been commissioned to work on
"Tumblong" a UK/Australian on-line project exploring trans-cultural
relationships between Engish and Australian artists, with colonial
history being a possible source of tension. In this case the
"translation of the artists instructions" was not so successful. Gussin,
another artist who was new to the web and computers, was irritated that
the Australian curators/site-managers had not translated his
instructions as he had described them. The Tumblong site seems to have
been over-curated in the sense that the UK artists felt they had no
chance to respond "freely" but instead were supposed to respond to
"virtual artefacts" which did not inspire them.

There does seem to be a kind of uneasy tension between the "novice"
artist and the "expert" curator in control of technical realisation. The
"curator" must respect the artist's vulnerability in the sense that they
must handle their ideas accurately and sensitively, otherwise the whole
thing just falls apart as in the case of Tumblong.

The afternoon culminated with a discussion chaired by Peter Ride
(Imag@nation), who did well in picking up the ever-dissolving-processing
elements of the day and trying to get them to stick together in some
kind of identifiable entity. Questions were asked from the audience
about the importance of artists having technical expertise,
accessibility by the public to the net–viz curated sites being easier
to understand than artists own sites, as well as the relationship
between the web and gallery spaces.

There seemed to be a general consensus that artists ideas need to be
translated by curators + programmers + designers, even though this
raised concerns about the expenses involved of paying programmers, as
well as the problems of artists being over-controlled by curatorial
"experts" in the production of the work.

"Brandon" illustrated an alternative phenomenon (in more ways than one)
of artists/programmers/curators interpreting instructions given by the
director/artist Cheang. In this sense Cheang is acting as a dynamic
mediator "organising" both curators/artists/technicians in their
overlapping roles as maintainers and producers. In her role of "guiding
the motion" of the project, Cheang is directing rather than curating in
the traditional sense of the word (of maintainance and exhibition).
However, due to the emergence of the curator-trans-art or
artist-trans-curation it becomes difficult to tell the difference…

It seems that the current challenges for artists working with digital
technology are still similar to those which first occurred in the 60's.
Artists either have to develop their own technical skills in computer
programming/ electronics or they have to find a way to collaborate with
or pay others for those skills. Sometimes if you are clever or lucky
enough you might even get paid for your idea alone while someone else
"makes" the work for you. It is clear that this only works if the artist
is already very successful in other media, otherwise you're in danger of
being in a meltdown situation: ever-processing matter in the
artist-trans-curators hands.

+ + +

My apologies to David Sinden (Artec) and Michael Gibbs (Why not
Sneeze?). I missed their contribution due to temporary bodily meltdown
problems of my own.