A group exhibition curated by Rachel Gugelberger with Tashi Brauen, I-Ting Hou, Avigail Talmor (Israel), and Liang-Pin Tsao.
Saturday September 21, 2013,
12pm-6:30pm – Free and open to the public
4pm : Conversation between Rachel Gugelberger and the artists
Residency Unlimited
360 Court Street #4 (big green doors)
Brooklyn, NY 11231
While one could argue that the work of Tashi Brauen (Switzerland), I-Ting Hou (Taiwan), Avigail Talmor (Israel) and Liang-Pin Tsao (Taiwan) share a documentary impulse or present a savvy investigation of subject/object relations, imposing such common threads as a curatorial premise would negate the unique characteristics of their respective practices. In lieu of presenting a group exhibition that forces a theme, the artists have opted to create a collaborative project.
During the planning process, each meeting began with the exchange of a gift–material or conceptual–that represented an aspect of their respective practices and cultural backgrounds. Consequently, the discussions revolving around gift-giving and cultural and artistic exchange will serve as the parameters for a collaborative relay, the title of which is taken from Tsao’s notes, in which he summarized the artists’ reflections on the project idea.
Writing about gift, collaboration, experience and art in her essay “Cultural Giving” (2005), Mary Jane Jacobs describes the very existence of art as contingent less on what is made, than on the possibility for personal exchange. Collaboration as transformational experience is central to art as exchange; i.e., a gift: “the intention of cultural giving is to create a situation which generates and opens up possibilities.” In this spirit, the artists will present their Residency Unlimited exhibition in two parts: a presentation of one work each, created while in residency in New York, and their collaborative project, as informed by their discussions, writings and respective interpretations on the concept of gift-giving.
A conversation (4pm) with curator Rachel Gugelberger will touch on the genesis and challenges of their collaborative process; issues of creation and self-imposed restraint; the possibilities for a prolonged meditation on their respective themes; and the potentially liberating deviations from their work to date.
Curator’s bio
Rachel Gugelberger is a curator and writer based in New York. Independent projects include Data Deluge at Ballroom Marfa, TX; Library Science at Artspace, CT; and What is left at Curatorial Research Lab/Winkleman Gallery, NY. Rachel was previously interim curator at Exit Art, and co-director of Sara Meltzer Gallery. At Exit Art she curated the organization’s final exhibitions Every Exit Is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art and Collective/Performative. Publications include exhibition catalog essays, as well as contributions to Art Galleries International: Post-War to Post-Millennium and Unfinished Memories: 30 Years of Exit Art (forthcoming). She is currently organizing Irreducible Form, a research exhibition that imagines the future form(s) of the book (Center for Book Arts, NY, 2014). Rachel received an M.A. from Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, NY.
This program is supported in part by iaab, the International Exchange and Studio Program Basel and the Ministry of Culture, R.O.C. (Taiwan) and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
