Video documentation of the Afterall ‘Artist as Curator’ symposium. Introduction by Charles Esche, Series Editor, Afterall Exhibition Histories, followed by ‘Group Material: Curation, Activism and the Politics of the Studio-Gallery’ by Alison Green.
Video documentation of the Afterall ‘Artist as Curator’ symposium. Introduction by Charles Esche, Series Editor, Afterall Exhibition Histories,followed by ‘Group Material: Curation, Activism and the Politics of the Studio-Gallery’ by Alison Green.
Looking at the first year of Group Material’s activity, when they rented a storefront gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, this talk considers the way that, in their work, curatorial practice converged with activist politics. Dubbed a ‘laboratory’ and a ‘public practice’, the group produced ten exhibitions in less than a year. This series of shows, which re-thought the exhibition form whilst addressing politically urgent issues and initiating audience-participation, offers a set of distinct points of reference – both aspiration and material solution – for current discussions of ‘discursive’ and curatorial practices by artists.
– Alison Green, abstract ‘Group Material: Curation, Activism and the Politics of the Studio-Gallery’
Alison Green is an art historian, critic and curator. She teaches history and theory at Central Saint Martins, and is the acting Course Leader for the new MA Culture, Criticism and Curation. She is a frequent contributor to Art Monthlyand Source, and is writing a book on artist-curators for Reaktion, as part of the new series Art Since 1980 edited by Michael Corris.
