AVALANCHE is an exhibition that works based on a set method, rather than on a theme or curatorial concept. In this way, the curatorial process is decentralized and connections between works are “out of control”, the result of chance, serendipitous.
AVALANCHE works as follows: We are inviting 4 curators based in Berlin to invite one artist who will invite another who invites another. Every curator starts a chain of three artists, maybe knowing only the first one he or she chooses.
We consider AVALANCHE interesting for the following reasons:
1. The idea of taking a thematic concept as a point of departure from which to start selecting works is broken – simply because there is no such concept underlying the show. Whatever happens is out of the control of the participants: the show will come about as a result of a number of interactions that run in parallel and are only connected through the persons who invite others and the physical works in the space.
2. The idea of authorship (“curated by”) is blurred thanks to the combined effect of the wider number of curators involved and the way the process limits the scope of their decisions.
3. Such loss of authorship “frees” the show’s meaning from the burden of intentionality and thus opens up an almost limitless horizon of possible readings.
We also consider AVALANCHE as an investigation on new exhibitions formats and working methods within a commercial gallery milieu. |