| ROUND
TABLE
17th October - 21st November 2003
Emma Biggs/Matthew Collings, Matthew Higgs, Jon Thompson with texts by
Jeremy Deller, Colin Lowe, Roddy Thomson, Mark Wallinger
Private View Friday 17th October 6 - 9
The carriage door opened and a well-manicured hand beckoned me to enter.
I was handed a blindfold and told to put it on. We drove through the night
for what seemed about an hour, the cold fragrant air giving no clue as
to our destination. I was led from the carriage over a gravel driveway,
up some steps and a heavy door was closed behind us. The blindfold was
removed and I was confronted by a group of gentlemen sat around a large
table.
MOT is interested in the big questions; the structures and systems that
govern the art world and an artist's changing relationship to them. Over
the years the boundaries between education, curation, criticism and an
artist's personal practice have become consistently more blurred. Artists
have become so involved in the mechanics of their own destiny, that it
has become common to find artists who curate exhibitions, write reviews
and lecture within art schools while continuing to make work. We are interested
how these crossovers are changing the traditional roles and how this effects
the type of work that artists make, what gets exhibited and how the art
world is presented to a wider audience.
The proposal for Round Table was to invite three artists who have become
widely recognised as facilitators, educators and commentators within the
art world and to take a look at their personal practice. MOT then invited
three more artists, who had benefited directly from the professional attention
of the initial practitioners and asked these artists to write a short
text in response to the work. All these elements will make up the exhibition.
Round Table has been curated around personality, rather than work and
as such the artists were asked to choose which pieces of work they would
exhibit. The three artists that we invited to show work are Matthew Collings,
Matthew Higgs and Jon Thompson each for their major roles in the fields
of comment, curation and education. Matthew Collings chose to show a collaborative
piece that he is making with his wife Emma Biggs and so we invited both
Colin Lowe and Roddy Thomson, who normally work together, to write two
separate responses to the work. Jeremy Deller will write a response to
the work of Matthew Higgs and Mark Wallinger to that of Jon Thompson.
It was important that all the participants and their inter-connecting
relationships were internationally recognised so that even though we were
only presenting a slice, up for scrutiny, it would at least retain a high
proportion of the icing. Also, we limited ourselves to British artists
in order to keep some continuity, although many of the participants live
and work abroad and all are widely known throughout the world for their
work in the arts.
These crossovers have existed before now, but never have they been so
prevalent as today and this trend seems to have emanated from Britain
over the last decade. Previously our art scene was notorious for being
stuffy, outdated and traditional in comparison to that of other countries
and it was, as a reaction to this, that many of our artists decided to
take more control. The artists in Round Table are just some of the key
figures responsible for this turn around. They have become so successful
within their fields that they are now an established part of the new mechanic
and, as such, it is interesting to subject their work to the critique
of other artists. It is a mark of the greater understanding of the need
for constant reassessment that all these established figures have agreed
to take part in this project at MOT and highlights the importance of supporting
independent spaces such as our own.
I was asked to roll up my left trouser leg and repeat a number of words
in a language that I did not recognise.
FUTURE EXHIBITIONS AT MOT
RENDER RED NOSE 28TH NOVEMBER - 11TH JANUARY
MOT
Unit
54/5th floor Regents Studios
8 Andrews Road London E8 4QN
t +44 (0)7931 305 104
e motlondon@yahoo.co.uk
Open Fri, Sat, Sun 12-5 or by appointment
Bethnal Green
Underground Bus 394,106,253,26,48,55,D6, D3, 8
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