Tag Archives: Hans Ulrich Obrist

Opening Tonight: my Instruction-based Curatorial Project “do it UGA”

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Tonight an exhibition of instruction-based art that I curated with fellow art history graduate student Brooke Leeton is opening at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. I’ve been interested in do it since attending tranzit’s do it (party) in Budapest in 2013. do it is a curatorial project originally conceived by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist based on a simple proposition: “Create an instruction that someone else can use to make an artwork.” Initiated in the 90s, do it has expanded on a global scale and into the present day to include instructions from numerous artists around the world. Obrist considers this proliferation a form of continuous exhibiting. With a focus on interpretive freedom, participants realize instructions provided by contemporary artists found in the book do it: the compendium. Naturally, instruction-based art privileges themes of variation, copy and authenticity, play and experimentation, resulting in a work of art unconcerned with a specific aesthetic or ownership. Instead, what drives the exhibition is the act of interpretation.

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As curators, we were intrigued by the emphasis this exhibition places on individual interpretation and variation within the parameters of the instructions. We selected seven artists from the Lamar Dodd School of Art to realize the do it instruction of their choice: Michael Benedetti, Joe Camoosa, Allan Innman, Courtney McCracken, Ry McCullough, Hilary Schroeder, and Janelle Young. What is exhibited is the result of this interpretive process. In addition, Brooke and I will be contributing on our own performance–a first for both of us. As all the works were made for the show and some, like ours, will only come into being in the course of the opening, the show overall was and is a surprise even to me.

Opening reception if from 6 – 8 pm tonight in the Suite Gallery. More information available on the exhibition’s website.

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do it: Taking the Global Local

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I’m excited to get the ball rolling on a few projects for Fall, one of which is an exhibition that art history PhD student Brooke Leeton and I will be curating at the Lamar Dodd School of Art entitled Let’s do it UGA. We recently created a website for the project at www.letsdoituga.wordpress.com.

do it is a curatorial project begun by Hans Ulrich Obrist based on a simple proposition: “Create an instruction that someone else can use to make an artwork.” (More about that on e-flux’s project website.) In “Let’s do it UGA,” graduate students select different sets of do it instructions that form the basis of works of art. Instruction-based art privileges themes of variation, copy and authenticity, and play and experimentation, resulting in a work of art unconcerned with ownership or style. Instead, what drives the exhibition is the act of interpretation.

Brooke and I have enjoyed preparing the framework for the exhibition, but most of all we are excited to see what it will look like when it opens October 17. Because the artists are working from different sets of instructions that changes how they normally work, rather than us selecting objects or artist’s who work we are familiar with, the end result is a surprise. The only performance we can predict is one we will do ourselves, on the opening night of the reception. Following Amalia Pica’s instructions Throw A Party (2012), Brooke and I will end our night sweeping confetti evenly against one wall.

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When in Doubt: Do something…

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Lucy R. Lippard’s instructions for Hans Ulrich Obrist’s DO IT project (included in a DO IT party-as-exhibition in Budapest last Spring):

imagesDo something that is: visually striking, socially radical, conceptually and contextually sensitive, sustainable, in the public domain (outside of art venues), and hurts no living thing–something that will change the world. Good luck!

 

 

Not bad advice, art or no.

kj