CREATIVE ACTS: Curating and Writing with Artists

Abstract

The published texts and curatorial practice collected together in this PhD interrogate the nature of the creative act in contemporary visual art practices. They focus on the complex of co-creation in relation to: - creative acts of dialogue between the practices of artists, curators and writers - creative acts of experiencing the world - creative acts of making art about experiencing. They form a coherent programme of research addressing: - site-based and contextually engaged curated projects since the 1950s - relationships between, and definitions of, the roles of curator, writer and artist in contemporary practices - the nature of authorship and collaboration - histories, theories and practices around Body Art and Land Art - current philosophical and scientific debates around consciousness - the situated, immersive and creative nature of embodied consciousness - writing practices that address consciousness and experience. The material draws, in particular, on the ideas and work of James Joyce and Marcel Duchamp, as well as a range of other thinkers including Georges Bataille, Rosalind Krauss, Mary Douglas, Francisco Varela and Elaine Scarry. Section 1 Includes materials and discussion of independent site-based curatorial projects In the UK including New British Sculpture, Edge 90, Edge 92, TSWA, Tyne International, Artscape Nordland and Artangel. Artists discussed include Helen Chadwick, Cornelia Parker, Guillermo Gomez Pena & Coco Fusco, Maria Thereza Alves, Alan Michelson & Jimmie Durham. This section also includes articles on Marina Abramovic, Dorothy Cross and Carolee Schneemann. Section 2 includes materials and discussion of curatorial and writing projects concerned with the nature of experience and embodied consciousness. This includes the projects EarthWire with artists Kathleen Rogers, Rena Tangens, Jozefa Rogocki and Bruce Gilchrist, James Turrell's Northumberland Skyspace and Twilight It also includes writings on the artist's body, embodied consciousness, documentation and performance, James Turrell, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, Chris Burden, Joan Jonas and Cyril Lepetit. Section 3 considers embodied consciousness immersed in its environment and the work of artists addressing this theme. It includes the curatorial projects Here, Contemporary Romantic and the sound art festival OX' with artists including Ray Lee and Alexel Shulgin, the exhibition projects KnoWhere, Generator and Dialogue and writings on art and weather, women's art, KnoWhere, Marcus Coates, London Fieidworks and Optik.