C H I S E N H A L E G A L L E R Y

PER HÜTTNER
‘I am a Curator’

Dates 5 November – 14 December 2003
Open Wed – Sun / 1pm – 6pm

Admission free

‘I am a Curator’ is an ambitious new project that empowers the viewer, giving Chisenhale Gallery’s visitors the chance to be a curator for one day.

Prospective visitors can book a one-day slot at Chisenhale, and each individual is then given the opportunity to curate their own exhibition during the day. Each curator will be able to select artworks housed in a specially constructed architectural environment designed by Gavin Wade and Celine Condorelli. Here, there will be a large and diverse pool of work available to each curator: sculpture, video, sound works, painting, performance proposals, drawing, social intervention and action descriptions.

‘I am a Curator’ is initiated and directed by Per Hüttner, a Paris-based Swedish artist-curator. To realise the project, Hüttner is collaborating with a number of international artists, curators, artist-groups, architects, organisers, critics, assistants and designers.

‘I am a Curator’ is an experiment in democratising the curatorial process. For Hüttner, democracy comes with great responsibility, and his project aims to encourage a dialogue about the complexity of the curatorial process. It also seeks to engage the visitor in a debate about the limits of interpretation of an artwork. The project starts with the question: what are the intentions of the artist, and are those intentions more truthful than the interpretation of the visitor?

Per Hüttner divides his time between a solo photography-based practice that investigates notions of pleasure and pain and their position within our media saturated society; and his curatorial projects, the latter often involving a degree of intervention on the part of others.

Per Hüttner’s recent exhibitions and projects include: Kontainer, Los Angeles (solo, 2003); Redefining the La-La-La Landscape, Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver (2003); Fadren, Platform, Vasa, Finland (solo, 2002); 3 in 1, Nylon Gallery, London (2001); All we need is a preacher and a Motel, La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille (2001). Per Hüttner was co-founder and co-director of Konstakuten, an artist-run space in Stockholm from 1996-2001, and was founder-director of The Hood Gallery, Los Angeles (2002-2003).

‘I am a Curator’ is supported by: The Canada High Commission, London; Billedkunstrådet, Copenhagen; RSA, London; Nordiska Ministerrådet/Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.

CHISENHALE GALLERY encourages and promotes innovation and experimentation in contemporary visual art. The gallery commissions and presents ambitious new projects from artists early in their careers, and is dedicated to delivering its programme to a local, national and international audience.

For more press information please contact Stuart Croft:
tel: +44 (0)20 8981 4518
email: stuart.croft@chisenhale.org.uk

CHISENHALE GALLERY, 64 Chisenhale Road, London E3 5QZ
http://www.chisenhale.org.uk