SCT: A Currency of Ideas, Afternoon 2

On Tuesday 13^th November, Holly Knox Yeoman and I returned to the Board Room at DJCAD to continue working with ExhibitionsDJCAD, Student Curatorial Team (SCT). The intention for the second part of our Workshop ‘SCT: A Currency of Ideas’ was to hear back from the students about the projects//exhibitions they would like to devise and to assist them to begin collaboratively developing their ideas as well as to consider their next steps.

To begin with, members of the team put forward their initial thoughts to the group. These ideas reflected their own diverse personal interests from investigating the artistic process in which the unintended is given room for creative development, to an ambitious interdisciplinary project, which would invite the viewer to more fully understand some of the craft and possibilities in printmaking. The SCT were encouraged to sketch//draw//write to help share and record their ideas during the discussions.

Morgan Cahn also told us of her plans for Fun-A-Day, which will return to Dundee in 2013, and invites participants to set themselves a simple//creative//fun//interesting project to undertake every day in January. These works will be installed for a new audience to investigate and enjoy, and is planned to take place in Roseangle Café Arts, early February 2013 (check out last year’s Fun-A-Day Wordpress here.)

Holly went on to discuss Fluxus and Richard Demarco’s involvement with members of the movement in Strategy-Get-Arts (1970), a ground-breaking “non-exhibition” taking over the Edinburgh College of Art. This led to discussion about Holly’s work at The Demarco European Art Foundation (DEAF), how Holly and I began collaborating on an on-going project barter and also introduced the opportunity for the current SCT to visit, research and possibly work in response to the archive housed within the Foundation. Last academic year’s SCT had a group visit and it is a dialogue Exhibitions DJCAD and DEAF are keen to continue.

 Dickie Webb's '12 x 9 x 9' (2011) installation at Demarco European Foundation

Strategy: Get Arts Catalogue and Joseph Beuys, 'What is Art?'

The SCT were encouraged to form smaller groups and barter their ideas – exchange//develop//remove//improve – to start to shape the curatorial projects they may undertake. Although still in the early stages it was excellent to hear how the plans evolved and to watch new working relationships begin to develop during the Workshop.

Once re-grouped we discussed general practicalities and asked them to consider the timeframe they envisaged for their proposals, the use of the DJCAD exhibition spaces and how to best go forward with their ideas as groups.   

We really enjoyed our experience of working with the SCT, we will be keeping in contact and cannot wait to see the projects discussed progress and become a reality!