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Exhibition Etiquette
236 Plays4 months ago
This is a different kind of episode... We decided to record smaller formats here and there for you to explore a topic related to exhibitions that everyone thinks is a given. There are no givens for us, we like to question everything.
And we know that unlike cinemas, or bookshops, exhibition galleries can feel intimidating. And we want you to know that an art lover and an art professional can also feel this discombobulating feeling of alienation in exhibiton spaces, which at times, prompts us to feel embarrassed, out of our depth, or even to make a few faux-pas.
It happens to everyone, especially, I would say, to exhibitionistas. And by now, you, dear listener, can consider yourself as such! We are a big community!
This is the last episode of this season. We will be back very soon, with a new string of exhibition experiences, and perhaps, who knows, smaller episodes like this one alternating with the big ones. A weekly episode drop?! Who knows, anything is possible. After all, we did start this podcast with innocent and extravagant confidence. And look at us, here we are.
@exhibitionistas_podcast
Music by Sarturn.
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Transcript
Season Finale with Joanna
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello fellow exhibitionistas, Joanna here. I'm on my own for this last episode of the first season of our podcast because Emily had some personal issues to take care of. She'll be back next season when we return in September of this year of 2024. And what a year! We have started a podcast with great enthusiasm and some hubris, let's say it, and it paid off. We are ever so glad to be in your presence and what a treat, what an honour. I hope you've had as much fun as we have and that we're able to bring much needed headspace for a different kind of experience.
00:00:53
Speaker
We are not really about escapism, but we try to open some new doors of perception. This is a different format, shorter and sweeter, so this next episode is kind of a novelty. We've been playing with the idea of producing smaller episodes to be dropped between our regular formats, which we'll keep doing of course.
Summer Exhibition Highlights
00:01:12
Speaker
The title of this short one is Exhibition Etiquette. And no, no, no, no, it's not a fever dream from the uptight 50s. If anything, it's quite the opposite. We'll be back after a short summer break. We're already discussing the exhibitions we want to cover, which is quite exciting because there are a few interesting ones coming up.
00:01:36
Speaker
Meanwhile, during the summer, there is Francis Alice at the Barbican, and you still have time to go see Judy Chicago at the Serpentine and Yoko Ono at the Tate. The ICA is doing a retrospective projection of Margarita's films as well, and there's always Shogun in the Disney Channel. I was surprised to love it as much as I did. If you haven't tried it, believe me, give it a go. That's all for today. I'll be in your lovely presence one more time before the summer break. And yes, you are stuck with me. If anything, this episode will prove how crucial Emily is to the podcast. But I hope you have a good time with me nonetheless. I give it a good shot.
00:02:35
Speaker
Hello! Hi there and welcome back to the special episode of exhibitionistas. Yes, you heard it right. This is not only the last episode of the first season, but it's also a different format that we're testing out. It would be wonderful to know what you think, so reach out to us on Instagram, exhibitionistas underscore podcast, or send us an email, exhibitionistaspod at gmail dot.com. but There you go.
Exhibition Etiquette: Personal Stories
00:03:05
Speaker
I am Joanna Piernevos, and this is the podcast where we visit exhibitions so that you have to, or so that you experience the thrills, the delights, and at times the befuddlements that exhibitions make you feel. This episode is probably much more about the latter.
00:03:24
Speaker
This time I'm on my own to bring you this smaller but intense episode we decided to call Exhibition Etiquette. And let me tell you, we're getting real here. And we certainly, or we actually don't want you to think that we don't go through the same doubts you do when you're visiting exhibition spaces. We are also scolded by security guards and we also sometimes feel Well, not very comfortable, let's say it. But once the embarrassment has subsided, these etiquette breaches can be funny stories to tell. They can even become a podcast episode, mind you. They can even be weird little parables about the connection between art and life. So that's where this episode comes in. I'm sure you're wondering what this episode is about. What the hell is exhibition etiquette?
00:04:20
Speaker
Well, this is a time where I will share some of my exhibition whoopsies, or ones I have witnessed, because exhibition spaces are places like no others, beyond likes and dislikes. And at a time of clickbait follows and like buttons, it is a space where Emily and I, and all of you, I'm pretty sure, exhibitionists out there, find something different. A place where to be mindful, introspective, while connecting to sheer difference and creativity.
00:05:00
Speaker
in the form of objects, of stuff, of projections, of things on plinths and things on the wall, they are not moving for you. You are the one moving through spaces, looking at things. Where else do you have this experience? However, we know we know exhibition spaces can be a bit highbrow. So at times, visiting exhibitions can feel a bit risky and you never know exactly how to behave, where to look and how long to stay. You suddenly become conscious of your body. It itches. It makes too much noise. Or maybe that's just me. Perhaps you don't feel that you're wearing the right clothes. Anyway, the banana peel on our thumbnail represents precisely that discomfort. I would reckon that that's what makes me keep going back. Art is weird and strange and unexpected.
00:05:55
Speaker
It can also seem on the other side of the coin, cryptic, elitist, out of reach, and we may feel out of depth. But at the end of the day, art is novelty and therefore we're not always equipped to understand it. It gets under our skin ever so slowly. And personally, I have to say, I love that feeling. I love the feeling and I'm drawn to things that I don't completely understand, but that have given me something that have provided that first connection. And that's what keeps me going.
00:06:32
Speaker
That said, all of us exhibitionistas and you exhibitionistas out there, because at this point, if you're here, you're either a full blown exhibitionista or you are exhibitionista curious, but all of us have had our exhibition whoopsies, which is to say our breaches of exhibition etiquette. So that's it. I will dig into it and we'll share some of my exhibition whoopsies with you.
00:07:07
Speaker
So commercial galleries. These are tricky because they exist solely with the goal of selling artwork. But they organize exhibitions so that journalists, influencers, art critics, scholars and art lovers in general can attend the show. even if they have no intention of buying anything. But as I keep telling you, they're wonderful places to visit smaller exhibitions, always with a nice text about them and a much more intimate environment.
00:07:42
Speaker
I personally love going to galleries as an art writer and curator with my notebook, with gathering all the information I can get, but I also like to go as a spectator just visiting. But nothing makes you feel more unwelcome than a private reception out of hours like the one I witnessed when visiting a blue chip gallery in Mayfair. when I was earnestly trying to visit an exhibition only to find myself in the middle of a champagne extravaganza at the gallery that the employees knew quite well wasn't meant for me. It was a very obviously a high-profile collector event taking place in the opening hours of the gallery.
00:08:27
Speaker
which, you know, let's be honest, kind of disrupted the exhibition experience. I was reminded what a gallery is, what it does, even though I personally worked in three different galleries, commercial galleries. I know what they do, but usually you don't have receptions at 4 p.m. in the afternoon, so you're pretty safe when you go into galleries. You know you're just going to see an exhibition. Well, not this time. So, On the topic of being interrupted, snatched away from our experience of the exhibition, so on the topic of overzealous security guards, I think you may remember, so this is the first episode
00:09:09
Speaker
of the podcast dedicated to Marina Abramovich's exhibition at the Royal Academy, that Emily was scolded by a guard because she was taking pictures of the nude performers. And the guards warned her that it was forbidden, she hadn't seen the sign, and they went over her photographs, they made her delete the photo she had taken of the performers, and they even made her delete the photos in the deleted archive of the phone that she didn't know she had. So it was a whole thing. And in the same exhibition, so Marina Abramovich's exhibition at the Royal Academy, I went there with a bunch of friends and with my daughter. And as we were coming out of the room where you were supposed to lie down, press your forehead,
00:10:04
Speaker
and your crotch against these marble and crystal sculptures, a visitor presumed that everything was up for grabs after that. So in the other room, there was a bathtub filled with dried chamomile. Very strong smell, very kind of luscious feeling of purification. And one visitor next to us just put their hand in the bathtub. We all kind of gasped internally, obviously. You don't make comments about other people's behaviours and exhibitions, and if you do, please don't. ah But the God, obviously, sternly,
00:10:45
Speaker
told the person to take their hand out of the bathtub. So this is a conundrum. At a time when art and exhibitions are becoming progressively more interactive, how can you know when to touch and when not to? And this is a real question. I at times am confused. I don't know if I'm supposed to. Everything tells me I'm supposed to go into a space, walk on something, but I'm not sure. So my golden rule is, If there's a sign encouraging you to touch, do it, or to interact with it in any form. Otherwise, you really must ask the guard. You really must ask. I mean, the worst thing that can happen is someone telling you no.
00:11:32
Speaker
And that's okay. It's not the end of the world. When you ask and when you make your desires and wishes ah be known, you feel more empowered in the situation. You feel that you won the space and you own your experience. Because when you feel uncomfortable in exhibition spaces, you don't own the experience of the artwork. And that's a shame. And that's why we're doing this episode. We need to own our experiences while being respectful. So this sacred status of the artwork is also what is making climate activists throw paint and glue at them. That's why this is happening because it kind of ah makes us ponder, it makes us think, it shocks us because there is
00:12:17
Speaker
a sort of aura of the artwork. There is a sort of status that you can't quite define. And we may talk about this at the end of this episode. And this is not new.
Art, Protests, and Sacredness
00:12:29
Speaker
um You may know this, but Mary Richardson slashed a painting by Velazquez called Venus with a Mirror in a protest against the imprisonment of one of her fellow suffragettes, Emmeline Bankhurst. So this was not throwing paint at a painting covered by glass as climate activists are doing now. This was really slashing, cutting into the painting that still
00:13:00
Speaker
bears the marks of that protest. Anyway, the Serpentine Gallery. So this is again maybe the theme of being talked to or being asked something that is a bit unexpected in exhibition spaces. I went to see the Judic Chicago show at the Serpentine. And the Serpentine is a free museum. So in London, contrary to a lot of ah big cities, there's a lot of museums that are free. The National Gallery, for example, is free. And it is such a great feeling. Can you imagine you're in Trafalgar Square
00:13:44
Speaker
you go up the stairs and then half a second later you're in front of a van Gogh. It's such a feeling of accessibility that kind of breaks these this feeling of elitism that sometimes art can inspire in people. So the serpentine is the same thing. The entrance is absolutely spectacular. It's a small door, it's a very interesting building in the middle of a Hyde Park, or the the edge of Hyde Park. There's a small door and there's a wall beyond the door and the colours they chose and the sort of cursive font they chose to just write to the Chicago is so beautiful and exhilarating. I was really happy to go into the exhibition but I was met
00:14:33
Speaker
As I was going in to the right side right hand side of the of the of the door, I was met by someone holding an iPad asking if I had booked a ticket. I was a bit confused and I presumed that the person in front of me should have understood that I was confused because I've been many, many times to the Serpentine and you go in, you just go in, you visit the exhibition, usually people don't ask you anything. So I said no, looking a bit confused and my no was met with a faint smile and that's okay, as if they were kind of allowing me to go in anyway.
00:15:10
Speaker
So there were no explanations. So I felt strange for a good five minutes because, you know, good student me and also being a curator, I kept thinking about it and thinking, would it help them if we booked? Is it for statistics? A survey of some kind? Should I do it? But why would it be relevant? What are they trying to do? Does this come from the pandemic where you had to book your slots so as not to go beyond the number of people accepted in a space? Personally, there's always a part of me who feels guilty of some vague criminal thing when seeing a policewoman or a policeman. You know, that's just how it is. And there's always a part of us who feels strange in a place of quote unquote high art because
00:15:56
Speaker
At times it feels like a place of shoulds. Should I like it? Should I feel something? Should I stay longer? I don't know why visual arts provoke such strong feelings, but maybe that's why we do the podcast. Let's talk about art. the way we talk about films or Billie Eilish's new album and be nice, be nice in museum galleries, you know, just be welcoming. Maybe it's the Iberian in me, but just say welcome to the Serpentine when you ask a question. I'm pretty sure it was necessary to ask me that, but at least explain it or make me feel comfortable afterwards. That's it.
00:16:32
Speaker
so Another major exhibition whoopsie for me was when I visited a much anticipated exhibition, at least ah for yours truly, Rachel White Read's show at The Tate Britain a few years back. So Rachel White Read's works are often negatives of spaces. okay So the most famous one that you may have heard about, or that you may know it very well, is House of 1993. So this was in the public space, it was in the street. And she filled the empty spaces of a real house with concrete. That is, she filled the living areas such as the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen with this material that dried up.
00:17:21
Speaker
And so what you you had was a sort of a sculpture the size of a house. So this was a real negative of real spaces in a sort of area where there were no houses around anymore because the neighborhood was being torn down. This was on Grove Road in the borough of Tower Hamlets. And it was a commission for a public space production company called Artangel. I love the name and I love Artangel. They do incredible projects.
00:17:52
Speaker
and it caused an uproar. So the local council called it a monstrosity, and the art critics loved it. So it certainly made an involuntary statement about the gap between regular folks and the art world, if you will. But perhaps it made an even stronger point through the graffiti that someone drew on it, asking the question, what for? you know, spelled W-O-T, to which someone else replied, why not? You know, so, you know, maybe that's what this is all about, accepting the challenge of being challenged. This might be the secret of visual arts and any arts in general, you know, beyond social gaps.
00:18:34
Speaker
So Rachel White reads work. Here's a work that you should see from all angles. She does have pieces that go into museums, so in interior spaces, with beautiful details of the material she uses, the plaster, tainted resin. ah They're really interesting, very kind of opaque, almost mute objects. However, but when I went into the exhibition space, really excited after having ah looked at some vitrines they had at the entrance with experiments, with drawings, with smaller little sculptures.
00:19:09
Speaker
that were quite quite interesting, very exciting. I go and walk towards the first sculpture that I could see, and as I walk towards it and try to examine it, the alarm goes off. every Everyone looks at me, so I felt really self-conscious, and I probably said out loud, whoops, and I felt really awful. But then as I stayed in the exhibition, I realized that everyone was triggering the alarms. They were overzealous with the placement of the senses. And so you couldn't get close to the to the to the sculptures. You couldn't really examine them.
00:19:47
Speaker
And in some sculptures, particularly this big library, you should be able to go in. And again, I was not sure whether I should go in or not. I wanted to ask the security guards. But by that point, the electronic symphony was so befuddling, so discombobulating, that I didn't want to ask anything. It was an experience that was completely undermined by those damn alarms. and Actually, I spoke with a few friends about the experience and they told me, yes, I know, what is going on? It was an exhibition, whoopsie. There's the question, you know, to what point do you sacrifice the experience of the artwork in the name
00:20:32
Speaker
of protecting it? That is a real question. And in this country, health and safety is a huge thing. And it is talked about, you know, in the curating world. we We know it is difficult to do a certain kind of performance here. And there's a lot of rules and there's a lot of challenges. So that was my very strange experience at Rachel Wertrud's
Art Fair Mishaps and Reflections
00:20:55
Speaker
exhibition. And I'm pretty sure for those of you who live in London or who came to London at that time, I'm sure you remember this. So, the next one is just a question. I mean, let's be honest, how many times have I looked at wires, signs, appliances of all kinds, thinking it was an artwork? More than I can count.
00:21:19
Speaker
I mean the beauty of a fire extinguisher you know has been brought to my attention in exhibition spaces let me tell you and that's okay and then it's kind of awesome that suddenly when you leave a museum everything becomes over-defined there's something about being stimulated to look at things that is brought about in the best of situations when you visit exhibitions. So why not? You know, just look at a lamp. They're beautiful. They're incredible pieces of engineering. So this is the last one. And this happened when I was working at a commercial gallery. So we did lots of art fairs.
00:22:05
Speaker
And in these situations, this is a professional happening where curators, collectors, some people from the general public attend art fairs where we have a booth. I mean, each commercial gallery has a booth that they pay for, and they expose um lots of artists that they try to sell. So it's a place to sell work, but also to promote the artists that you're working with, your roster of artists, let's say. So it is an annual gathering of people from the art world. So you see your colleagues, you see the people you want to promote your artists to, that you want to sell them to. So you end up going out, how going for dinners, and sleeping very little, let's face it, and having to look your best the following day for clients. We had a sculpture of mirrors.
00:22:56
Speaker
And on the day of the opening, I had terrible suspicion that my lipstick was all wrong, probably on my teeth. I could not, I can tell you this, I could not venture a smile. I was i was in a panic for some reason. You know, you get a bit nervous in these events. So I turned to the sculpture to a quote unquote, check my makeup, which is what it looked from the outside. But I was just in a panic. and I wanted it to look good and to not be self-conscious while trying to sell an artwork. So once I had finished, I turned around and the gallerist was waiting for me to tell me that an artwork was not a bathroom mirror and how there I diminished the aura of the piece by checking my makeup on it.
00:23:39
Speaker
I can tell you that to this day I make a point in checking my reflection on every reflective surface I can find on an artwork, but part of me also understands a little bit what the gallerist said. Stockholm Syndrome? Maybe, but I think that this little incident illustrates very well that artworks are things. They're stuff. And whether you sacralize the stuff or not depends a lot on the context, on the behavior around them, and on how you cherish and you present the objects themselves.
00:24:17
Speaker
I just read two very interesting texts that touch upon this subject. um So this is around the issue that ah the Dana Schutz painting of depicting Emmett Till raised a few years ago at the Whitney Biennial. Dana Schutz is a painter and Emmett Till that she decided to paint was the 14-year-old black boy who was tortured and killed for allegedly flirting with a white woman, who by the way, late said that she kind of made up the whole story. So you may remember us referring to this in the Ariadene episode. This was a painting of Emmett Till in his coffin, his open coffin, ah with his face completely disfigured by the attack.
00:25:04
Speaker
a number of black artists demanded that the painting be retrieved and even destroyed because they felt dispossessed of their own story, of their own history. At least that's what Aria Deen explained. So this quarrel highlights, well first and foremost, and we need to say this over and over again, the deep pain of black communities in the Western world, first and foremost. But it also kind of highlights the spectrum of relationships with the artwork itself as an object. You know, how powerful is it, especially compared to real pain in real life, which is what Maggie Nelson asks in her book on freedom. On the other hand, what is the painting saying and who paints it?
00:25:53
Speaker
might also be important. So to what extent is the painter holding some form of reparative truth in it? asks Lauren Elkin in the great book Art Monsters. What is this object and what power or lack thereof is there? An object where you can check your makeup or at the other end of the spectrum with which you can have the deepest, most so wrenching experience within an exhibition space. Such is the weirdness of visual arts. And to me, it has nothing to do with status. It has nothing to do with the elite, with being how highbrow,
00:26:35
Speaker
or fighting the high brow or the low brow or the middle brow, it really is an experience that is available to you there. And it's an experience that can be very, very meaningful. And it can be an experience that is very, very undermining. There is no obligation to like or dislike. Actually, I think we have argued a lot in the past episodes against this idea of liking or disliking, of adhering because it's part of your aesthetic. education. It's much more than that and actually even negative experiences of exhibitions can be incredibly important to you. They can awaken you to something that's important to you and that that particular negative or a less interesting or disconnected experience might clarify for you.
00:27:29
Speaker
So there it is. Here I am talking about exhibitions again. That's what we love doing and that's what we will keep on doing in the next season.
Season Wrap-up and Farewell
00:27:38
Speaker
This is the end of the episode. It's a wrap up for this season. I'm a bit emotional. I'm very happy that I get to spend this time with you. And I hope you enjoyed spending this time with me and with us throughout this new season of this new podcast that we're enjoying so much doing and that we'll come back. So stay tuned. Have a wonderful, wonderful summer. And don't forget, visit exhibitions.
00:28:06
Speaker
loads of them. Support your local galleries or go to big museums or do both. Take care, have a wonderful time.
00:28:34
Speaker
Bye!