3 Julie Ault, ed., Alternative Art New York, (Minneapolis and New York: University of Minnesota Press and The Drawing Center, 2002).

Transcription

1 HOW TO BEGiN? The Agreement Regine Basha 14

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3 HOW TO BEGiN? reconsider the traditional format of the thesis exhibition (that being an exhibition in the galleries and a written thesis by a single author). With this new openness in form and format, the thesis, as I understand it, may now manifest in a radio show, a newspaper, a TV show, a fictional novel, a manifesto, and other formats that invite collaborative production and speculation. Within these new forms (like a new media class for artists) the risks are higher, the learning curve may be steeper and the results may be more experimental and surprising. Alternately, the relationship to the artist may become more contingent, as the energy and focus is shifted to the curator s creativity and innovation. By the same token, these are the formats that are now available and pursuable within contemporary art museums, mimicking in a way the production criteria available to contemporary artists today. Much in the same way artists are arriving at this from the other direction, exploring their own role as alternative pedagogical institutions, so to speak (as with Anton Vidokle s artistic practice and unitednationsplaza/night School, for instance). 2 It is so interesting to see this kind of flattening of production and hierarchies happening the museum or school once being teacher is now the student. I am both excited and suspicious of this prospect. It seems to take the alternative out of the alternative. It seems to be jumping the gun. What I mean to say is that if the parameters of the curatorial frame are blown wide open, where is the critical edge? If the institution plays student, then where does that leave the student? How long 2 Organizers Mai Abu ElDahab, Anton Vidokle, and Florian Waldvoge were unable to realize their vision of an art school for Manifesta 6 due to political reasons in Cyprus. Anton Vidokle took it upon himself to establish the project on its own in a building on United Nations Plaza Berlin and named the program after this address. Two years later, the New Museum invited Vidokle to reinstate the program under the name Night School as his artwork. 16

4 Regine Basha before these new formats become the new institutional garb? One year? Two? What becomes the alternative practice if this is now built-in to the system? It will be interesting to see the next ten years of this track. I believe Julie Ault s book on this subject is a good read towards these thoughts. 3 It is doubly relevant that within this paradigm shift at CCS you are choosing to open up your thesis to engage multiple voices and collaborators as a way to look at an institution that is doing quite the same thing in Abu Dhabi. The question is, are we talking about collaboration or are we talking about outsourcing? Please understand that I am not making a straight comparison between your thesis, CCS, and the Guggenheim, because each has different motives, interests, and power structures, but I did want to point out the slippery slope this kind of approach can often turn into. In the best light, I see your project as closest to an editorial one, as if you were constructing an anthology or compilation of texts and voices on the topic at hand. In slightly more suspect light, it could be construed that you are outsourcing your thesis project. As my contribution, I could in fact turn the gaze back to you and assign a number of questions that I would ask to be explored in your own portion of the thesis. I suppose the questions that come up for me at this point are, What are the ethics of collaboration? What is at stake? What is gained and what is lost? What I am particularly fascinated by in the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi model are the terms of the contract of agreement that the Guggenheim will have with 3 Julie Ault, ed., Alternative Art New York, (Minneapolis and New York: University of Minnesota Press and The Drawing Center, 2002). 17

5 HOW TO BEGiN? the invited local organizations. To what degree will this be transparent? In the grey area that is the art world, contracts and agreements need to be at once cautionary and open, to allow for the changing or relational terms of engagement with art and artists. Though I imagine the Guggenheim will want to follow a strictly-business model, how will the smaller organizations represent their own voices contractually? The fact that the Guggenheim has already announced this as a program is in itself a great leap for the behemoth global institution looking almost folkloric compared to its other, more aggressive and colonial-like approaches to establishing its brand in foreign countries. I would be interested to know if this change of heart appears contractually as well. Though, that said, this kind of approach (institution as host) is certainly not new in the museum world. A more recent example is the New Museum s Museum as Hub program, which offers a small space to institutions and non-profits abroad to program within the New Museum. Before this even, in 2001, the Americas Society experimented with a similar model called AS a Satellite and brought organizations from Latin America to use their space as a platform in New York (Latin American programming being their mission). A particular case in the Museum of Hub program brought to my attention the plight of the artist and the artwork in the midst of all this institutional coziness. Museum as Hub hosted the Van Abbemuseum not long ago, which presented a project by the artist Michael Blum under the auspices of a program they had previously called Becoming Dutch. Michael Blum s installation was extremely dense, provocative and invasive on the Museum as Hub s 18

6 The Agreement floor, though throughout the other floors, including the lobby, there was no mention of his name and no mention of the title of this important installation. Instead we could read about Museum of Hub s hosting of the Van Abbemuseum s Becoming Dutch program. Van Abbemuseum not only replaced the artist, but marketed an already dated program which shed absolutely no light on the content of said artist s work (which was about Israel/Palestine in the future). 4 It was the same on the website and in the press material the artist was mentioned last. I read this as a sign of the cult of the institution (by-passing last year s cult of the curator), with this being very much a surprise coming from what are considered to be enlightened institutions and curators. All this to say that institutional collaborations are not always good for art or artists. So I would hope that the Guggenheim contract, which could also be called The Agreement, or even The Argument, should be made transparent for the sake of exploring/learning about new forms and formats of diplomacy in the art world. The best example I ve seen of this transparency is a wonderful catalog I mentioned to you in our meeting: the one regarding the 1971 Art and Technology project in Los Angeles, curated by Maurice Tuchman and administered by Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 5 Artists were invited to create works in collaboration or with the resources of major industrial companies so partnerships such as Richard Serra with Kaiser Steel, or Robert Irwin with Rand Industries, and so on, started up for the first time 4 The project was called Exodus More information can be found at: 5 Maurice Tuchman, ed., A Report on the Art and Technology Program of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971). 19

7 HOW TO BEGiN? in history. The project failed in most places for a variety of reasons. For one, the idea of art differed for the corporations/industries and many of the artists ran out of patience with them. Another conflict of interest was that some of these corporations were also engaged in the Vietnam War machine when some of the artists discovered this, they pulled out in fury. Some projects were realized but then the question of ownership became thorny. Therefore the most successful aspect of this project was in fact the catalog, which, in a stroke of genius I think, revealed the contracts, the agreements, the letters of refusal, the altercations and the reasons for all the failed attempts at making this unholy alliance work. It is truly a work in itself, covering issues way before their time in contemporary discourse. The transparency has even more impact in posterity, as if the authors were confident enough to realize the future relevance of the initiative and its failures. I bring this up as an example because this is the crux of what contemporary art and its changing terms of production need to be constantly vigilant of. This is where institutions like the Guggenheim can have a real impact on the way culture is produced, shared, distributed, consumed and understood both in the present and in the future. Otherwise it s really all just spectacle and masturbation all over again. In other words, the call for transparency is not to say that their efforts will inevitably fail, but to say that the effort is important to track in and of itself and if there are to be failures along the way, it will be as valuable to know why than to not know at all. Anton Vidokle recognized this with the failed Manifesta 6 project. Also, Walid Raad s recent show at Paula Cooper touched upon the politics of 20

8 Regine Basha administering culture in the Middle East in a way very similar to (though more elegantly abstracted than) what I m talking about. I hope he makes a work about this upcoming arrangement. On the subject of creating an art scene over an art center, there is something else we discussed that day... I could go into the well-trodden territory of how an art scene needs more than just a building or a center to ignite an area. We often hear the term ecosystem, meaning the area would need to develop alternative spaces, artists residencies, supportive collectors, and strident non-profits to round itself out and flourish as a real art scene. What is happening in Abu Dhabi not only with the Guggenheim, but also with NYU Abu Dhabi as well as all the other American institutions taking position there is very intentionally by design, like forming an international soccer team. 6 We have yet to see how the players being put into place will actually play. I believe we are all fascinated by the spectre of Western liberal arts ideas colliding with the conservatism of the region. What we perhaps cannot envision yet is how this effect will happen in reverse how will the region play upon these initiatives and ex-pat populations? Will there be a consensus around censorship issues? Will there be a moratorium on hiring Jews when the politics heat up locally? Will anyone convert to Islam while there? As I told you when we met, I am certainly not an expert of any kind on the region or the cultural initiatives taking place there at this time. I can only speak from a remotely familiar place, having a Middle Eastern background and having visited only some of the art organizations in the region. I can though, speak towards what 6 NYU Abu Dhabi is establishing a campus on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. 21

9 HOW TO BEGiN? I have witnessed elsewhere in places like Austin or Marfa, Texas, where I spent five years watching the rise of local art scenes, including new museums, residency programs, and collectors coming out of the woodwork. I can happily say that there is still hope for the viral quality of the art world and no matter what institutions intend, there is always a surprise element that actually causes a tipping point, to use Malcolm Gladwell s term. 7 Who knows what that element is, but it certainly helps to have all the ingredients in place before it really bubbles. I bring up Texas here not only because I lived there but also because it offers something of a parallel to Abu Dhabi. Most of the art world supporters in Texas are either from large oil or landowning families most of the funds going into culture come from these sources. Often, these are also the same people who seem to be most interested in liberal education and explorations in art, culture, and relations with the rest of the world, leaving us cultural workers in a conundrum about how to mingle at parties, for instance. It s a very different scene than New York, where the art world is generally made up of like-minded people with similar interests. In the cracks and fissures of this unlikely community of people came some of the most compelling ideas, conversations, projects, and institutions I have seen. I could say that it is precisely this mix of conflicting interests and social capital that leads to a friction that creates fire. This eccentricity might be the very quality that produces a new effect in Abu Dhabi. 7 Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000). 22

10 The Agreement These are my thoughts for now. I hope they make for a productive contribution. Thank you again for inviting me! All the best, Regine 23

11 Designer Tiffany Malakooti Copy Editor Ginny Kollak All rights reserved. Published in April How to Begin? Envisioning the Impact of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is a thesis project edited by Özge Ersoy at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. Center for Curatorial Studies Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, NY ccs@bard.edu