Jem, Reiss and I decided to reflect on the exhibition collaboratively.
What worked…
– Having a small curatorial team of 3 meant that we were able to discuss and make decisions effectively, which would have been difficult if the whole group had been involved with this process. We were able to delegate tasks between the 3 of us in order for things to run smoothly and by having regular meetings and discussions between us.
– Although the nature of the community arts based exhibition/event was not something we had previously been exposed to, we found that we thrived on working in this area and managed to create an appropriate, well received event for the community of Barne Barton.
– Curating the work in the given space was extremely challenging, though we feel that we adapted the curating of the work to the setting and place. The result was an accessible, varied exhibition with a professional finish in terms of its curation.
– We were pleased with the work that we selected for the event as it provided a variety of art forms, including various participatory, interactive elements. The nature of the event and audience worked well with participatory works and was received well by the audience.
– Our time management worked very effectively in the run up to the event. As well as organising and curating the exhibition, we also planned for the follow up exhibition at PCA and had flyers designed and printed ready to distribute at the event. This meant that we could promote the archival show and raised the profile of the follow up exhibition. We made decisions on what we wanted to include in the archival show e.g. Photobooth images which gave an incentive to the audience to attend and view their images.
What could have been better…
– Communication from Kim and Gem on elements to include in exhibition – we weren’t given the relevant information and clear indications of what would be included in the exhibition from the offset.
– Large quantities of repetitive emails were sent back and to between BBROOTS and the curatorial team – this made things very confusing at times
– Lack of support from the rest of group for certain elements of projects e.g. Tony Whitehead ran several sound walks which were supposed to be attended by members of the group but after people expressed initial interest no one actually attended
– Website deadlines not met by web designer, this meant that Siobhan and Ellie were very rushed to get the website populated in time for the event.
– Filming and documentation of event was poor. We had delegated someone to film the setup and document the event, these plans fell through at the event which meant that the curatorial team had to juggle this task with various other duties during the exhibition.
– The number of external agencies that turned up unannounced meant that we had to negotiate space for them at the last minute. We had not been told that they needed space and this affected the curating of the event.
– Lack of interest from school – needed more encouragement from community to attend as not as many pupils and families came over to the event after school hours finished.
– difficulties in coordinating the group – people had their own roles within certain elements of the event this meant they went ahead and made decisions without conferring with us as the curatorial team when we had made plans for the overall event.
Artist As Curator 