Review / Masterclass Benjamin Lignel: 'Exhibitionism(s)'

To provide an outline of what this masterclass would entail, Benjamin Lignel started with a few questions aimed at all participants: What is the purpose of showing your work? What, for you, is the most difficult aspect of mounting an exhibition? And which aspect is the most exciting? These questions were meant to elicit a personal reaction based on a theoretical background. Combined with the stimulation of practical awareness, they illustrated the short-term goals of this masterclass.

The long-term goals of the masterclass are tightly related to Afterschool, the research project of St Lucas Antwerp, since both focus on strengthening postgraduate practice. By addressing topics such as the history of exhibitions, the absence of any neutral background for the presentation of art, and the opportunities that lie in the curatorial aspects of exhibitions, participants were introduced to exhibiting as both artist and curator. As a result, these insights could benefit the participants’ postgraduate career, and possibly their whole artistic field.

To further broaden the participants’ theoretical foothold, they were each asked to prepare two short presentations to be held during the week. The topic of the first presentation was an iconic exhibition assigned by Benjamin Lignel. The second exhibition was the choice of the participants, preferably one they had visited themselves. With both presentations, the focus lay on the curatorial aspect of each exhibition, supported by research and individual knowledge. Lignel focused on interaction while the speaker was presenting. During each presentation, Lignel interrupted the speaker whenever he felt he needed to comment or to ask questions. His comments and questions were addressed to the whole group, in order to reflect on a certain facet of the featured exhibition.

Following this assignment, Benjamin Lignel gave a substantial talk in which he explained his own background, as regards curating through his training and profession, together with some general history on exhibiting art and object display. He explained that exhibitions are evolving under the influence of an equally evolving variety of constraints and their instigators. These developments find their origin in curatorial archetypes such as the Wunderkammer and the White Cube in combination with curatorial conventions, such as wall hangings, pedestals and shallow glass cases in jewellery. Added attention was given to the duality of exhibiting in the case of contemporary art jewellery and other semi-autonomous objects, since they find their origins in craft (a commodity), but also act as artistic objects. All participants were given the chance to ask questions and were encouraged to get involved in the topics presented to them.

Keeping the theory of the lecture in mind, Benjamin Lignel asked the participants the following questions:
Who is your public?
What is the environment in which you exhibit your work? How controlled is it?
What constraints are you working against?
Is this the best way to show your work? Does this work pre-exist date to its presentation?
Who are you accountable to?
How intelligent do you assume your visitors to be?
Is this about innovation?
What are your criteria for success?
What display conventions are you playing with?
These questions functioned as an introduction to the first project held on the following day: to present the layout of a solo exhibition. For this, the participants had to work in pairs appointed by Benjamin Lignel: one acted as the artist, the other as the curator. The presentation consisted of a floor plan, a two-paragraph presentation of the exhibition (by the curator), and a caption for the work itself. Each pair was given specific constraints to work with for this first curatorial project. The constraints varied from the size of the exhibition space, the budget, and the institution with either set regulations to build the exhibition, or the nature of the visitors.

While the pairs worked on their assignment, Parisian curator Christian Alandete came to Antwerp to share his experience and expertise with the participants. As an introduction, he gave a talk on various curatorial projects he had either initiated himself or on which he had collaborated with other curators. Each project was described extensively, from what first inspired Christian Alandete to the public’s reaction afterwards. The talk was supported by images and videos. The participants were stimulated to question or comment instantaneously.
Drawing on the presentation by Christian Alandete, the participants continued to work on their project, while both Benjamin Lignel and Christian Alandete discussed their progress with them.
At the end of the day, each appointed curator held a presentation on the artists’ solo exhibition, staying within the constraints. For most participants it was the first attempt to curate or be curated. The ‘curators’ experienced what it was like to combine both the given constraints and the best way to present the appointed artwork, while placing it in the framework of a curatorial text. The ‘artists’ felt the pressure to provide all the information and artwork to the curator, while communicating the needs of their work. Each presentation was commented on and discussed extensively in order to learn as much as possible from each other.

The second project involved even more collaboration: the participants were divided into two groups of five, and were tasked with designing a collective exhibition. In each group a curator was to be chosen, with the constraint that he or she had not acted as a curator in the previous assignment. This presentation would be held at the end of the masterclass, and would be supported by a floor plan, a scale model of the exhibition, and a curatorial text presenting the exhibition and the work shown. Again, a list of questions formed the basis of the presentation:
Who are you accountable to (the public, the artist, the institution, history, an idea, …?)?
How intelligent do you assume your visitors to be?
What are you showing (the creativity of a school, the genius of a single person)?
Are you going to put each artist in individual spaces? Why?
Is this chronological?
Is this about newness of presenting? Does this work benefit from being accompanied by texts or other work?
What are your criteria for success?
What exhibition archetype do you claim?
What do we have to contend with?
Why show work (rather than other forms of presentation like film it, or do a book about it, etc.)?

With three short days of the masterclass left, the two groups set straight to work. First they had to choose a curator. Some participants were excluded from this position due to their role in the previous assignment. Others volunteered and the curators were chosen swiftly. The artists informally showed their work to the rest of the group, so as to establish what needed to be taken into account concerning the exhibition, such as the artists’ intentions with their work, their views regarding the display, and communication of the artwork. Apart from that, the two groups were dealing with the variety of artistic disciplines: jewellery design, graphic design, photography, fashion design and fine art. Both groups looked for similarities, to find a theme for their exhibition, and searched for documentation to support their ideas.

One jewellery professional attended this masterclass with a specific goal: to gain some insight and endorsement of the organization for her own curatorial project. As a result, she worked independently, while benefitting from the theoretical agenda and intellectual and practical experiences of the curators teaching in this masterclass.

One of those curators was Guillaume Désanges, who included the financial aspects of his curatorial work in his talk. In 2006 he started an agency for artistic projects called Work Method to manage the budgets, intellect and logistics of the exhibitions he curated. In doing so, he preserved the freedom to work on and control his exhibitions the way he wished. To illustrate his manner of working, he lectured in detail on several projects and exhibitions he had organized. They varied from group exhibitions, performance art projects, and exhibitions such as the 2013 biennale of contemporary art in Louvain-La-Neuve. Each of them required a different curatorial input due to the diversity of their constraints, but all were kept under his full authority. Illustrated with images of his projects, Guillaume Désanges explained how and why he focused on certain aspects of his curatorial ideas, from the design and content of the catalogue, for example, to communication with the hosting institutions. The participants were encouraged to ask questions during the lecture, which were eagerly answered by Guillaume Désanges, and supported with the appropriate images.

After the lecture, both groups discussed their project with Guillaume Désanges and Benjamin Lignel. They both gave valuable feedback, ranging from their project ideas to questions regarding the execution. Each group responded differently to the information they received. At the end of the day, one group continued to explore their initial idea and took minimal account of the professional comments, while the other group decided to completely change the set-up of their exhibition.
The jewellery professional working on her own project also had the chance to exchange thoughts with Guillaume Désanges, further developing and broadening her vision accordingly.

To review the three presentations, Benjamin Lignel had invited Belgian curator Anne-Claire Schmitz. She introduced herself during a brief presentation, explaining the exhibitions she worked on at the Centre for contemporary art Witte De With in Rotterdam and her current position as director and curator of La Loge, a privately funded, non-profit, art production and exhibition space. Compared to the other curators involved in this masterclass, Anne-Claire Schmitz displayed a contrasting point of view. Her curatorial interests revolve around dialogue, collaboration and interaction between artists and the space employed for their artwork.

Directly after this introduction, the participants held their group presentations. The first group focused on ‘collecting’ as the theme of their exhibition and used the bowerbird as the collective force. The bird was appointed a large cuboid space to work in (referring to the ‘white cube’ exhibition heritage), which was then rebuilt in a museum setting. Visitors would see a curatorial text and a list of the participating artists before entering the exhibition space. Apart from practical comments, this exhibition raised questions on the background of the artwork, since presenting it in this way would diminish the work to just colour and texture.

The second group presented their exhibition as a graduation show, located in the school’s spacious entrance. Clearly going for the ‘white cube’ exhibition archetype, they aimed to show the artworks of every discipline to their fullest, while minimally interfering with each other. An exhibition poster would announce the participating artists, while each artwork would be accompanied by a curatorial text. The questions to this way of exhibiting involved the location and, ultimately, the set-up of the graduation show.

By attending this masterclass, participants gained a thorough knowledge of the curatorial aspects of exhibitions on various levels, from historical background to practical capacity and the importance of personal involvement. The consensus was that the masterclass’s short-term goals were met.

The participants received a substantial historical and general theoretical base, through the lectures held by professional curators and by their fellow participants. Furthermore, the participants gained experience in the research of the curatorial facets of exhibitions, and were able to practise public speaking, by giving talks and presentations themselves. Through both projects, the participants were stimulated to work together with other artists from a variety of disciplines. Besides that, they experienced the challenges of exhibiting their own or other artists’ work, and the various aspects, both practical and theoretical, to contend with when curating. Participants had the opportunity to improve their curatorial skills both during and after each project, since Benjamin Lignel and the invited professional curators reviewed them. Therefore the ambitious long-term goals for this masterclass and research project Afterschool (an insightful view of curating responsibly), will likely be met, considering the commitment and intensity shown by both the participating students and curatorial professionals during the week-long masterclass.
Text: Broes van Iterson

hartlandvilla.com/
format.no
www.artjewelryforum.org/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Pb9nykjQA
www.institut-francais.org.ukwww.paris-art.com
centerforthehumanities.org/conference/exhibit-authorship-display/

www.guillaumedesanges.com/
www.stuk.bewww.yumpu.comwww.guillaumedesanges.com

www.wdw.nl/nl/
www.la-loge.be

Guillaume Désanges: The artificial kingdom:www.celesteolalquiaga.com
Guillaume Désanges: Les chateaux de la subversion: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Le_Brun