Between intention and reception

I have been worrying away at Sovay Berriman's current exhibition at Exeter Phoenix: Entertaining at the Dust Lounge. The whole thing gives me such an itch, especially after I heard the artist in dialogue with curator Matt Burrows.

They talked a lot about spontaneity, escapism, Busby Berkeley musicals, stage sets, cruise liners, Gothic literature, science fiction - a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, further fed by intelligent questions from the audience. The trouble is, when I look at the work I just can't find those connections in it. It's a wonderful show of drawings and sculpture: precisely constructed, with stark white spaces and neutral palette. The whole thing has an air of scientific detachment and a slightly cruel edge. But no dancing girls.

I tracked down a review by Lizzie Lloyd and find I'm much more in tune with her reading of the exhibition. Also slightly relieved to find I'm not alone. But it does bring me back to the persistent problem for contemporary artists. We are expected to be able to talk about our work, to discuss its influences (at least the ones we're conscious of) and to offer suggestions as to its interpretation, but it's not always helpful.

Yet in this case, it's precisely that gap between what the artist says and what I see that compels me to keep re-visiting the work. Funny that.

Until 2nd May at Exeter Phoenix Galleries. www.sovayberriman.co.uk

More art on the street

Sylvia Llecha, a postgraduate design student based in Exeter, has delivered a bit of surprise this weekend. The former ceramicist has transformed the windows of her neighbours' homes in Mount Pleasant into an art installation space. It's as much a piece of community activism as an exhibition, encouraging people to look beyond their own front doors and develop a sense of shared purpose.

You can read the local news coverage and see pictures here.

Until 28th April, in Iddesleigh Road, Exeter.

One show, 19 curators?

The Stowage exhibition is now up and running in 17 shops in Exeter's Fore Street and New Bridge Street. We went to great lengths to place everything just so, but quickly discovered we have recruited 17 co-curators with their own ideas about the right position for works and strong opinions about the level of interpretation that's necessary.

We decided lengthy texts were pointless in busy retail environments and confined ourselves to labels giving artist, title and materials only. Interpretive material was instead offered in a leaflet given to all the shops, and on a website. But this absence of explanation has inspired a flurry of improvisation from the shop staff. We've found everything from blown-up launch invites to old letters from us positioned alongside the work.

I might flinch occasionally at the fate of some of the displays, but part of me is proud of the level of engagement we seem to have created. Many shop owners have clearly taken ownership of their pieces. They are talking to each other about the works, comparing what they have and discussing them with the customers. And it's not just people making discoveries of art while shopping. Some shop owners have reported new customers walking through the door while looking for an artwork.

Along with the excitement and interest surrounding our project, we've faced bemusement, amusement and sometimes plain cynicism. But, I tell myself, these are at least reactions. Which is far better than just being ignored.

Stowage runs until 14 May 2010 in Exeter's Fore Street and New Bridge Street.

Small works, big challenge

Just days away from installing Stowage and I'm fighting my way through a torrent of tasks that are all urgent and all important - press, invitations, installation logistics, preparing a launch event, finalising an exhibition guide and trying to develop an online catalogue - to name a few.

So this is what it's like to be a curator. Or is it? Like any project Stowage has required a series of negotiations and compromises. But this has been particularly complex because it’s not taking place in a spacious, white-walled gallery but a series of active retail premises.

Nothing could feel further from a giddy curatorial power trip than negotiating the placing of piece of art in the crowded window of a hardware store. Or explaining contemporary art to the sceptical owner of a sports shop.

I’ve also felt an overwhelming responsibility - duty even - to get it right for the artists who are participating. Most of them have put a lot of effort into meeting a brief that turned out to be rather more challenging than we could have imagined.

The making of meaningful work in this context wasn't the only challenge we underestimated. Putting small-scale artworks in shop windows sounded like a simple, low-key way for me and a fellow artist, Felicity Shillingford, to ease ourselves in to curating. I imagined about 15 artists and 5 shops. Somehow it grew, until it entailed bringing together 24 artists and 17 shops. Which in turn has meant carrying on almost 40 separate negotiations.

Only time will tell if it's going to all come together. Nine days to launch and counting...

Stowage, West Quarter Shops, Fore Street and New Bridge Street, Exeter
17th April - 14th May 2010

Sex, death and shopping

My review of Emily Wardill’s Game Keepers Without Game at Spacex appears in the current issue of a-n magazine.