SECTION 1. Preliminary Stage (Guidelines for Curatorship)
This curatorial project designed for the Social Creatives communal mural and Kolor Kathmandu project segment, from 14th to 26th March 2013, in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Back in December 2012 Faris Basharahil, Chief Executive of Social Creatives, invited me to join his collaborative multiple mural project with Sattya collective of Kathmandu, in Nepal, on an unusual curatorial expedition.
Six artists from Social Creatives were assigned a wall in Kathmandu where they could unleash their creativity jointly and were also invited to collaborate individually with six Nepalese artists on six collaborative murals, as part of the larger project named Kolor Kathmandu.
PREAMBLE
Travelling to Nepal, where the birthplace of Siddharta Gautama Buddha is thought to be (Lumbini), is already an inspiration in itself for a further journey of self-discovery.
Coherently with my preceding curatorial projects, I continue to move in marginal spaces, where I firmly believe I can recover the authenticity and connectedness between art and life, that I regretfully find missing in most main-stream and market-oriented works.
Both with my curatorial practice and art writing, I try to stay focused on my intent to promote an experience of art that on one side is non-elitist and yet probing and on the other can offer opportunities for alternative and more visceral readings and reflections.
Sensing a gap all too often misleading between art theory and art practice, I have personally embarked on an experiential journey within performance art to supplement my concurrent research.
Benefiting from a strong humanistic background, ultimately my efforts tend to encourage the audience of my projects into a more holistic experience of art as a means to cultivate their own individual aesthetic sense and to recover their humanity beyond the flimsy parameters of a decadent and commodity-driven society.
PROJECT
The Social Creatives communal mural and Kolor Kathmandu project segment were the perfect opportunities to embark on a collective journey of art making that could be site specific yet paradoxically transcending time and space.
As curator, my predominant role was working with artists, assisting them in filling gaps, proposing or shaping raw ideas, much the same as Socrates would paraphrase the figure of the midwife to describe his role in assisting his students during their thinking process.
How
In my vision, this journey implicated a modus operandi in three interspersed segments, one evocative, one conscious, one wishful, so that past (memories), present (experience) and future (visions) could be elaborated by each one of us in the most meaningful and personal manner to produce relevant yet individual works that would appeal and communicate, uncover and hide, give answers and raise questions.
In relation to the Social Creatives communal mural, the theme I proposed, or rather the springboard I proposed all of us to depart from and use in order to shape this journey in a more focused fashion, was something of a dilemma for the human presence and the surrounding natural space: the urban environment.
Departing from and therefore reviewing one’s past experiences of Singapore in these terms, I tried to encourage all to discover this place unknown to us, in terms of culture, architecture, history, food, customs, quirkiness and so forth.
I also encouraged all of us to open all our senses and alert them in a bout of prolonged consciousness of the different and the similar without any consideration for right or wrong, better or worse, without any temptation of judgment, but keeping an open mind.
For the Kolor Kathmandu project segment, the process entailed a slightly different modality, as the choice of subject matter to be depicted had to naturally be within the confines of the entire Kolor Kathmandu objectives, namely one of the 75 districts of Nepal. I had to keep an open mind as to how dealing with the established project and the input of the Singaporean artists invited.
Art is not only the result of conceptualization; it is also a way to transcend life and somehow to make sense of its inherent dichotomies.
It can potentially speak to anybody beyond obvious barriers of language, culture, religion and other human infrastructures, which hamper open communication amongst people.
Art can become a way to reconcile differences to present the only monistic truth of our lives:
One who sees everything as nothing but the Self, and the Self in everything one sees, such a seer withdraws from nothing.
For the enlightened, all that exists is nothing but the Self, so how could any suffering or delusion continue for those who know this oneness? (Isha Upanishad, sloka 6, 7)
When
I suggested the tight time scale as follows:
1. Experiential session (from the morning of 15 March onwards)
2. Discussion & sharing (afternoon of 15 March & 20 March)
3. Action painting (from 16 March onwards)
What
This section served merely to propose suggestions.
I had briefly researched but also experienced murals: from antiquity to present day, from funeral ones in Tarquinia’s necropolis to political ones in Northern Ireland, …
I think it would have been effective to incorporate the following elements:
Key deliverables of Daniela’s involvement
The core of my deliverables was predominantly centred in the second phase, namely in the moderating of the discussion and sharing session which ultimately concluded with a plan for the contents and execution of the murals.
I was of course involved in the whole process I have highlighted above and activated myself in mediating and negotiating where and when required.
There was a certain amount of fluidity in my role, but to assist the artists and work with them was the constant modality throughout the project.
Furthermore, I have documented the whole event through photographs, with the purpose of preparing this report, not an essay as such, rather an opportunity to charter the entire experience.
For more information, please refer to
http://socialcreativessingapore.weebly.com
http://www.sattya.org
http://kolorkathmandu.sattya.org
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEXT SECTION
This curatorial project designed for the Social Creatives communal mural and Kolor Kathmandu project segment, from 14th to 26th March 2013, in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Back in December 2012 Faris Basharahil, Chief Executive of Social Creatives, invited me to join his collaborative multiple mural project with Sattya collective of Kathmandu, in Nepal, on an unusual curatorial expedition.
Six artists from Social Creatives were assigned a wall in Kathmandu where they could unleash their creativity jointly and were also invited to collaborate individually with six Nepalese artists on six collaborative murals, as part of the larger project named Kolor Kathmandu.
PREAMBLE
Travelling to Nepal, where the birthplace of Siddharta Gautama Buddha is thought to be (Lumbini), is already an inspiration in itself for a further journey of self-discovery.
Coherently with my preceding curatorial projects, I continue to move in marginal spaces, where I firmly believe I can recover the authenticity and connectedness between art and life, that I regretfully find missing in most main-stream and market-oriented works.
Both with my curatorial practice and art writing, I try to stay focused on my intent to promote an experience of art that on one side is non-elitist and yet probing and on the other can offer opportunities for alternative and more visceral readings and reflections.
Sensing a gap all too often misleading between art theory and art practice, I have personally embarked on an experiential journey within performance art to supplement my concurrent research.
Benefiting from a strong humanistic background, ultimately my efforts tend to encourage the audience of my projects into a more holistic experience of art as a means to cultivate their own individual aesthetic sense and to recover their humanity beyond the flimsy parameters of a decadent and commodity-driven society.
PROJECT
The Social Creatives communal mural and Kolor Kathmandu project segment were the perfect opportunities to embark on a collective journey of art making that could be site specific yet paradoxically transcending time and space.
As curator, my predominant role was working with artists, assisting them in filling gaps, proposing or shaping raw ideas, much the same as Socrates would paraphrase the figure of the midwife to describe his role in assisting his students during their thinking process.
How
In my vision, this journey implicated a modus operandi in three interspersed segments, one evocative, one conscious, one wishful, so that past (memories), present (experience) and future (visions) could be elaborated by each one of us in the most meaningful and personal manner to produce relevant yet individual works that would appeal and communicate, uncover and hide, give answers and raise questions.
In relation to the Social Creatives communal mural, the theme I proposed, or rather the springboard I proposed all of us to depart from and use in order to shape this journey in a more focused fashion, was something of a dilemma for the human presence and the surrounding natural space: the urban environment.
Departing from and therefore reviewing one’s past experiences of Singapore in these terms, I tried to encourage all to discover this place unknown to us, in terms of culture, architecture, history, food, customs, quirkiness and so forth.
I also encouraged all of us to open all our senses and alert them in a bout of prolonged consciousness of the different and the similar without any consideration for right or wrong, better or worse, without any temptation of judgment, but keeping an open mind.
For the Kolor Kathmandu project segment, the process entailed a slightly different modality, as the choice of subject matter to be depicted had to naturally be within the confines of the entire Kolor Kathmandu objectives, namely one of the 75 districts of Nepal. I had to keep an open mind as to how dealing with the established project and the input of the Singaporean artists invited.
Art is not only the result of conceptualization; it is also a way to transcend life and somehow to make sense of its inherent dichotomies.
It can potentially speak to anybody beyond obvious barriers of language, culture, religion and other human infrastructures, which hamper open communication amongst people.
Art can become a way to reconcile differences to present the only monistic truth of our lives:
One who sees everything as nothing but the Self, and the Self in everything one sees, such a seer withdraws from nothing.
For the enlightened, all that exists is nothing but the Self, so how could any suffering or delusion continue for those who know this oneness? (Isha Upanishad, sloka 6, 7)
When
I suggested the tight time scale as follows:
1. Experiential session (from the morning of 15 March onwards)
2. Discussion & sharing (afternoon of 15 March & 20 March)
3. Action painting (from 16 March onwards)
What
This section served merely to propose suggestions.
I had briefly researched but also experienced murals: from antiquity to present day, from funeral ones in Tarquinia’s necropolis to political ones in Northern Ireland, …
I think it would have been effective to incorporate the following elements:
- - working with spaces: use negative, unpainted or pre-painted areas; use features of the wall; the wall is not a virgin canvas, but can leave space for “interaction” rather than complete oppression with colours; use a challenge in the wall as a point of strength or feature for the mural.
- - creating a trompe-l’oeil, deceive the eye, very effective and catchy.
- - creating a door or window opening: a mural in relation to the viewer as his/her imaginary, metaphysical space of dreams and hopes.
- - creating a mural that has depth and draws the viewer in.
Key deliverables of Daniela’s involvement
The core of my deliverables was predominantly centred in the second phase, namely in the moderating of the discussion and sharing session which ultimately concluded with a plan for the contents and execution of the murals.
I was of course involved in the whole process I have highlighted above and activated myself in mediating and negotiating where and when required.
There was a certain amount of fluidity in my role, but to assist the artists and work with them was the constant modality throughout the project.
Furthermore, I have documented the whole event through photographs, with the purpose of preparing this report, not an essay as such, rather an opportunity to charter the entire experience.
For more information, please refer to
http://socialcreativessingapore.weebly.com
http://www.sattya.org
http://kolorkathmandu.sattya.org
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEXT SECTION