Conversation with Kate Mothes
Curator/founder, Young Space and Editor/co-founder, Dovetail Magazine
Do you have any advice for our members regarding maintaining work and productivity through lockdown?
The biggest lesson I've learned during lockdown has been to let go of structure and embrace going with the flow. Despite often being a one-woman-show in terms of projects and initiatives, I can be my own worst micromanager, and loosening up some of the controls helped to open my mind and stay not only productive, but creative. Because if the creativity or openness goes down, then productivity goes with it.
Are there any inspiring quotes that have resonated with you at this time?
It's more of an adage than anything, but "Stop caring how you seem and start caring how you are" has popped into my mind almost daily. Especially during the Black Lives Matter discussions and protests over the past few weeks, I've been reminded that artists are often at the forefront of these discussions, and artists are the vast majority of my community. My responsibility as a curator and founder of an art platform is to make sure the narratives are represented openly, and that it is an inclusive, safe, and diverse space. Especially because we are online and much of social media and web presence is about optics and marketing, I've had to be cognizant of what it means to be genuine and honest about the initiatives I work on and present.
Have you launched any online initiatives?
For the last five years I have run an online platform which often leads to projects in physical spaces as well, but during lockdown, the virtual platform took on new significance as artists and gallerists were suddenly all there together--and pretty much exclusively. In response to this, I commissioned a new "capsule" site adjoining yngspc.com called Young Space Views (views.yngspc.com), which expands virtual exhibitions I was already presenting, but not in such a targeted way. By making them collaborative, even participatory, depending on the project, the hope is to catalyse the most meaningful way of viewing art online so that as we move forward and can start to see work in physical spaces regularly again, it can serve as a good complement to that programming as well. Young Space Views showcases seasonal group exhibitions, and aims to be a place for invitational solo projects and guest-curated exhibitions going forward.