neil cummings

the enthusiast has the same relationship to capital as the gift to the commodity

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Exhibition Experiments (working title)

Exhibition Experiments is a collaborative practice-based research project into histories of exhibition. Students, staff, experts and others will together research the idea of exhibition as a bundle of technologies for display and exchange. There are an increasing number of academic publications and conferences in curatorial and exhibition history, although the premise of this project is research through practice; we will make things, and make things happen.

The project might construct key exhibitionary moments; for example architect Frederick Kiesler’s 1924 L+T System for museum displays; a fragment of El Lissitsky's Abstract Cabinet (destroyed by the Nazis in 1937) we may also re-enact projects such as op losse schroeven (Stadelijk Museum, 1969) the entrepreneurial Freeze exhibition of 1988, or maybe one of Rirkrit Tiravanija's convivial cooking exhibitions.

These are mere suggestions - the plan would be to develop an exhibition of key exhibitionary experiments, collectively. This will unfold through seminars and workshops before the Triangle ‘exhibitionary’ period, and during the physical construction of the exhibition itself.

Exhibition: Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art & Design

When: Monday 21st May – Wednesday 30th May 2012

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See the project blog or #ExhibitionExperiments

the object

I participated in Key Ideas one of a series of events organised by the Design Cluster at Camberwell College of Art Design. The series aims to examine issues and theories important to young designers.

Key Ideas: Object tackled the role of the object in contemporary society through multiple readings introduced by different experts via three themes:

Object as Sign

Object as Capital; the Value of Things

The Narrative of Objects

Guest speakers included: Grant Gibson, Neil Cummings, Stephen Hayward, Ralph Ball, Gareth Williams.

I spoke in relation to The Value of Things and tried to shift attention from objects to context; these are the notes for my presentation

The Class

Last week I went to see a film The Class - actually its called Entre Les Murs, by Laurent Catenet; it won the Golden Palm at Cannes. It's a riveting semi-autobiographical film with teacher François Bégaudeau - who wrote an initial film treatment, playing a version of himself - François. Its set between the walls of tough school in a suburb of Paris where François engages a class of 14-15 year olds, of differing cultures, ethnicities, attitudes and abilities in a microcosm of contemporary France.