Performa 13 New York. Performance in Exhibition
Thoughts on the talk given by Triple Candie at Performa 13 in New York.
Karl - previously Manager of Theatrical Development @ProjectMeanwhile
Daria - previously Manager of Community Engagement @ProjectMeanwhile
Karl
The thing that I found most interesting was that they used what they described as a “theatrical” style but the end result didn’t seem to be too radically different from my typical idea of an exhibition- particularly with respect to Triple Candie.
Daria
Jens Hoffmann talked about how he translated the narrative of each book into each exhibition. He used different objects to take the visitor to the original story. Some of the objects were from the collection, some objects were artists’ work. One of my first difficulties was extensive use of artists’ work. I do not deny the idea of using artists’ work, but in that exhibition example it was troubling to imagine the smooth and natural connection between artists’ work and the book’s narrative.
Karl
One of the things that I narrowed in on when writing my thesis was on the ability of artists and artwork to generate an emotional response in visitors that other exhibition techniques can not do. I think this is a key component of theatricality that is often over-looked or assumed rather than explicitly sought after. Hoffman’s commissioned works in his exhibitions got to some of that.
Daria
All three of his exhibitions seemed like a hybrid of artifacts (accurate information) and art exhibitions (free interpretation). Another confusion was not seeing the physical theatricality. Was it more conceptual?
Overall, I thought that Jens Hoffmann had great ideas and was very articulate about them. However, they did not translate to me in his exhibitions really.
I do not remember what exactly Jens Hoffmann said about the relationship between dramaturgy and curating. Could you remind?
Karl
Dramaturgy is a difficult concept for people outside of the theater world to grasp, largely because its definition is a moving target. Dramaturgs are part researcher, part historian, and part guardian of the narrative logic. They are usually considered an academic and not an artist, which is especially where their similarity with curators comes in to play.
I think what Project Meanwhile can take away from this lecture was a format for approaching our story about William Ireland that Hoffman and Triple Candie shared- identifying Narrative, Character, and Props. These are not end-result oriented approaches, which is good because our end result is going to be very different from what we saw at the lecture. But it is a great way to take a theatrical approach towards exhibition development.
Daria
Right, exactly. I think that the artworks in those exhibitions were to evoke the emotional response. However, it was difficult to judge if that really gets the visitor to that emotional point by just looking at the images the presenters showed. All of the exhibitions felt two-dimensional. However, theatrical does not necessarily mean three-dimensional … right?
Karl
Yeah, theatrical is a very loose term in the context of exhibitions, I think. For some people creating a strong story is enough to hook them in- to take part in the world. Others want a theatricality that is reflected in the visual elements of the world- the 3D elements that can continually stimulate them. Neither of these concepts constitutes a complete work of ‘theatre’ on their own. Project Meanwhile has already started developing these elements with the Ireland forgeries story and we will hopefully be taking it to the next theatrical level- beyond what we saw at the lecture, by collaborating with theater artists in the creation of explicitly “theatrical” moments that will include Sets, Lights, and Sound to support the Narrative, Character, and Props that Triple Candie suggested.
Daria
I agree with your vision of our project and Triple Candie. I think that “conceptual artists” could be a quite accurate definition of them. I find recreating or interpreting someone’s art by creating other “art” (?) about that art strange but also interesting. All what they did seemed pretty conceptual to me. It seems like their theatricality might lay in the objects and conceptual ideas behind them. Our theatricality as I see it at the moment seem to be in creating the environments for the narrative. And we as designers create those environments.
