Beyond the Here and Now: What happens to Internationalism - both in Art and in our Relationships with Katrina Brown
Katrina Brown is founding Director of The Common Guild, a not-for-profit visual arts organisation based in Glasgow, presenting a highly respected, international programme of artists’ projects, events and exhibitions. Exhibitions have included some of the leading international artists of our times, such as Roni Horn, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tacita Dean, Roman Ondák, Carol Bove, Martin Creed, and key exhibitions by Thea Djordjadze, Anne Hardy, and Katinka Bock among others. Against this breadth and depth of experience Katrina shared with us her reflections on the conditions for artists and curators starting out now versus 30 years ago. Before she set up Common Guild she worked for 10 years at DCA, spent time at Tate Liverpool, and Tramway Gallery.
Starting her career at Transmission in Glasgow, it was a totally different time and a much smaller art-world. Katrina worked with Lawrence Weiner and Stan Douglas after his success at Docmenta IX. Thirty years ago there was much less competition for artists and much less attention. It was also a time of intense recession, before the boom in global travel and associated art world growth. At this time unemployment in the UK was up to 10%, which is interesting when thinking about this current moment, as conditions may prove to be comparable in coming years. Her 'origin story', working with Lawrence and meeting Stan, is not just nostalgia but embedded in her curatorial approach of how fundamental it is to work internationally and to have a two way flow of artists from here going elsewhere, and bringing artists here, from the rest of the world.
Katrina pointed out that the virus is not the only thing threatening international movement of art and artists and global travel, it's also the economic and environmental crises, in addition to lots of political issues including the UK’s departure from the EU. This has caused Katrina to think about what might be important medium to long term for the sector.
'There are catastrophic situations facing organisations right now, I’m parking this for my own sanity and sense of optimism, and instead and thinking what we might be facing in a year or so when we can see situation beyond crisis. Is what we will have, what we want and need, not just what is left?"
'What I value in the art world beyond the art experience are connections, trans-national reach, meeting people, visiting places, opening up to difference, new ideas and new ways of living and thinking. The different places, different life stories, perspectives and of course distinct and different practices that feed awareness, understanding and diversity.'
Since the 1990’s the availability and affordability of air travel has been so closely intertwined with an exponential growth in biennials and exhibitions. We‘ve seen local authorities understand the potential economic gains of inward cultural tourism, which has led to municipal support for biennials as a cultural magnet. While many people have expressed some relief at the cessation of the sort crazy travelling, and franticness which has characterised the art-world, Katrina asks whether this current period of limitation will allow us to build better behaviour for the future?
If the platforms and situations we are used to are disrupted or diminished what might we need to invest in to replace it? The three areas Katrina spoke about in relation to this are:
The Art Experience
'This is something that can endure… the physical experience of looking at a work, it's intimate and private but can happen in the new reality under new conditions.
Museums with great collections will reopen and I’m looking forward to that. The biennial model is however genuinely problematised because of the situation for artists who tend not to make a living through showing at biennials. They make a living through teaching or sales and choose to take part for attention, visibility, the potential opportunities - those incidental meetings and conversations with other artists, curators etc
If we choose to travel less how do we prioritise? A major museum show will take precedence over a biennial.
As curators can we imagine making exhibitions without the presence of the artist? I know it’s starting to happen and reluctantly am having to plan just that. But if the artist can’t be there what is lost in that situation? I am thinking about that, as I’d rather have an exhibition happen than not at all.'
Social/ Interpersonal Relationship
'The social and interpersonal flow of ideas between artists, through artists after an opening, drinks following a lecture …these are informal, incremental, inspirational, often tentative and mutually supportive moments...all the good stuff. So how do we make that happen if the artist is not in the room?
So much already has been done online…maybe now it will become better used, some things it cant' do, it has mismatches and delays, it is not so good for new relationships, those relationship which are purposeless at that moment, but may develop into something else.
I would rather countenance new online ways of cultivating face to face and hand to hand interaction than lose international programming.
There is never any dust in a virtual viewing room but maybe we can find ways to open up the messiness and solidarity one would find in real life virtually, and run this in parallel with the neater and cleaner viewing rooms and online discussions.'
Sense of Place
'A lot has been said about re-localising, and I think we need to re-articulate our purpose, function and relationship to locales That re-connection is no bad thing as place is so important to all of us. Artists live in places, and make work in, from, and about places
It is easy to put it content online but less easy to make content about a place accessible and understandable…. so I am thinking about who we are, where we are, and how we live. It’s important to do this without becoming the dreaded ‘parochial' or ‘provincial; or entrenched in nationally linked discourses and ideas.
Internationalism has had a bad rap as a facet of globalism….trans-nationalism is a more useful term but whatever term we use to retreat to the confines of our own political boundaries, is not something that will function well for our cultural selves.
Maybe institutions need to build virtual bars hosted by a different artist every month, a relatively safe protected space within a digital sphere, a purposeless gathering outside of public gaze as a way to keep this rumbling along. We need new strategies for connection but they may not be found via planes again for sometime.'