Curatorial decisions related to the WRF exhibition space

The exhibition space

Setting an exhibition space within the reading room of the Westminster Art Reference Library is a very exciting opportunity but also a big challenge. It must not disturb the daily activities of the library but still make enough of an impact and it should provide excellent conditions for the viewing of the videos. The tactic I opted for is to encourage a one-to-one experience between the viewers and videos by providing an intimate space where visitors can sit down and relax while looking at the videos. However, one of my responsibilities as a curator is to promote the art works exhibited in the space. I believe it is necessary to display physical signs of the importance that one attributes to a piece of art, in order that it is noticed and can be evaluated appropriately. The legends offered the perfect support to mark this statement. I hung them on the walls as if they were works of art themselves, they stood behind the television screens though so that were not the primary focal point. Instead, they signal, without imposing, to visitors that the videos are not randomly selected but artefacts worth careful attention.

The second decision I had to make was how to group the videos. The space and my budget did not allow one screen per work. It may not be suitable, as it would mean someone would have to change seats for each video, some of them last only a few minutes. So, how to group them? The case of the Microsoft video was simple, I got a separate dvd from Microsoft and so it had to be on a separate screen. The “Discovery of Magnetic North” video being the longer and most immersive one, I decided to play it alone on the only projector. I separated the rest of the videos in 3 groups:

• 3 utopians visions by corporations
• 2 artistic reactions to today’s ongoing progress along with a an original vision of the future. The 2 artistic reactions and the futuristic video are all colourful and entertaining.
• 3 artistic views at the past

Associating the videos this way creates a dialogue between the videos sequenced on each monitor but also between videos played at the same time on different screens, not far from each other. This dialogue purposively generates tensions and similarities.  Though the corporation videos are grouped on one side of the room, they were not isolated but well linked with other videos:  ‘Some things won’t change’ and  images of ‘Discovery of Magnetic North”  for example.

Interaction with visitors remain basic. They could add their email address to the guest book and take a program and flyer with them. I felt this was appropriate for an exhibition of this size. The philosophical debate and children’s workshop provided large enough spaces for dialogue.

Next: Legends and introduction to the exhibition