firstdraft

2018 Program pt 1

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Workshop 2


Workshop 2

Curated By Valerie Schlosberg & Isabella Cornell

Opening 02.05.18 6-8pm
Artist Talks 24.05.18 6-7pm

Serwah Attafuah
Meg Driver
Angela Goh
Kimci Princi
Jasmine Pickup
Emma Size
Justyna Stanczew
Celeste Stein
Mashara Wachjudy
Seb Wighton-Tuckey

Workshop 2 brings together a range of multidisciplinary creative practitioners in a celebration of process. Treating the exhibition as assemblage, Workshop 2 creates new dialogues through conversation, exhibition making, public workshops and text.

The second in a series of interventions into conventional curatorial methodologies, the project’s premise lies in asking, rather than answering questions: What is the role of the curator in 2018? What relationship might this have to concepts of voice and authorship? Can important social action or intervention be housed within or come out of art institutions? As makers and as curators, what kind of responsibilities do we have to our broader communities? The project serves as a multi-platformed mediation on some of these big questions.

Dedicated to expanding the potential of curatorial methodology toward more democratic, expressive, informal, and collaborative intervention, facilitators Isabella Cornell and Valerie Schlosberg bring together practitioners from a wide range of disciplines – including architecture, choreography, non-fiction writing, sculpture and performance – for a series of open-ended conversation sessions. These conversations, which begin the exhibition-making process, aim to uncover threads of commonality, dialogue and collaboration between participants and their practices. The outcome of these sessions guide the development of the project as a whole, culminating in the group exhibition Workshop 2 to be held at Firstdraft from May 2nd-25th. The ‘process collateral’ that results from this conversation and collaboration is also edited into an exhibition book which showcases not only the artists’ work but also their own inspirations and processes.

Expanding the project’s ethos of sharing, fostering connection, and experimenting into the community beyond the gallery walls, Workshop 2 will also involve a series of public workshops hosted by a number of participating artists, to be run throughout the month of May at Firstdraft. From experimenting with the way we interact with sound to learning how to express ourselves through rhymes, these workshops allow participants of all ages to share skills and ideas in playful dialogue with artists. Workshop 2 considers what it might mean to use institutional resources to produce radical ends, and invites you to partake in the mischief!

About the Curators

Isabella Cornell is an emerging multi-disciplinary curator and arts writer with an interest in experimental curatorial methodologies that focus on feminist/queer theory and cultural politics. Currently finishing a dual degree in Sociology and Art Theory at UNSW Art & Design, Isabella conceived and co-facilitated Workshop 1 alongside Valerie Schlosberg at AD Space in 2017. She has experience at AGNSW, MCA & Kudos Gallery, along with community arts organisations such as Heaps Gay. Isabella has written for publications such as Runway, Framework and Lipmag and served as the English editor for Tokyo-based arts publication Mita.

Valerie Schlosberg is an emerging multi-disciplinary writer and curator, with a focus on socially engaged practice and community facilitation. Valerie’s current interests are in queer ecologies and mystical mythologies. Currently completing a degree in Art Theory at UNSW Art and Design, Valerie conceived and co-facilitated Workshop 1 alongside Isabella Cornell at AD Space in 2017. Valerie’s writing has appeared in Gusher Magazine and Voiceworks.