Mother Tongue (Tiffany Boyle & Jessica Carden) in collaboration with CuratorLab/Konstfack presents:
Wednesday 25th of April at 4—6pm
CURATORS IN CONVERSATION #6
Investigating a Curatorial Position within the Paradoxes of Multiculturalism:
Parallels between the UK and Sweden.
Speakers: Carol Tulloch & Sezgin Boynik. Local Respondent: Jeuno JE Kim
Carol Tulloch will discuss her essay Picture This: The Black Curator, referencing
her role as curator of the Archives and Museum of Black Heritage project in the early 2000’s.
Sezgin Boynik will present a re-reading of Homi Bhabha’s text on the Black Audio Film Collective’s 1986
debut Handsworth Songs, which focused on the race riots in the early 80s in the UK.
The presentations will be followed by an open discussion, moderated by the artist
Jeuno JE Kim who will contextualise the discussion within the Swedish situation.
Language: English.
Welcome!
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Konsthall C, Cigarrvägen 14, Hökarängen
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CURATORS IN CONVERSATION
Curators in Conversation #6 will serve as the second installment to the conversation surrounding ethnicity initiated at the previous event held in January, titled Exhibiting Ethnicities: the Complexities Inherent in Race as Subject Matter. This discussion will thematically focus on the paradoxes inherent in multiculturalism, its failure and the implications of current policy making in this area with regards to curatorial practice.
The presentations and discussion will centre on the British scenario and the specificity of the term’s meaning in this geographical and historical context, as an access point to what is admittedly extensive subject-matter.
Beginning chronologically with the rejection by both migrants and the British population of the expectation of (eventual) assimilation in the 1970s, the discussion will chart the accession of multi-culturalism. Such an ascent however – perhaps in contrast to other nations – was not a conscious decision, but rather a pragmatic, prescribed approach to a situation into which Britain had ‘drifted,’ as described by Stuart Hall.
If, as Barnor Hesse asserts that ‘it is rare for serious critical thought to be given to the challenges multiculturalism represents to the (wider) social sciences or humanities in Britain,’ [Un/settled Multiculturalisms: Diasporas, Entanglements and Transruptions,2000] then this is even more so with regards to the effects of policy-making, target areas and funding in the arts. Such an emphasis on cultural diversity is consistently regarded as of positive value, without consideration of the negative consequences that are there, namely perpetuating difference, if not racism. Who are we celebrating such ‘difference’ for, on whose terms and do we genuinely reflect on the portmanteau nature of such terminology?
Mother Tongue, in collaboration with Konsthall C and CuratorLab/Konstfack, have invited Carol Tulloch, Sezgin Boynik and Jeuno JE Kim to contribute to the sixth installment of theCurators in Conversation series.
Mother Tongue will begin with an introduction that briefly discusses the history of multiculturalism as a concept and its implementation politically in the UK, commenting upon Robin Cohen’s notion of the ‘fuzzy frontiers’ contained within British identities.
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Carol Tulloch is a curator, writer and reader at the CCW Graduate School (London) and is a member of TrAIN: Transnational Arts, Identity and Nation Research Centre at the University of the Arts, London. She is also the TrAIN / V&A Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum London and is the principal investigator of the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project, Dress and African Diaspora Network [2006/7]. As curator of the Archives and Museum of Black Heritage project, she organised a series of exhibitions which placed material culture as the catalyst of enquiry into black British history, cultural heritage and issues of place. She recently curated the British Council’s contribution to London’s inaugural International Fashion Showcase featuring Botswana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone (2012).
Sezgin Boynik is a sociologist and writer based in Helsinki. He completed his sociology studies at Mimar Sinan University of Istanbul with his thesis Aesthetical Political Strategies of Situationist International in 2003. As an author for, and editor of, journals for art and cultural studies, he has written extensively on issues such as the subversive resistance movements in Yugoslavia in the 1960’s and 1970’s, radical political ideas and Neue Slowenishche Kunst. He co-edited the critical reader Nationalism and Contemporary Art with Minna Henriksson; History of Punk and Underground Resources in Turkey 1978-1999 with Tolga Güldalli in 2007; Ters Takla : Punk and Underground in Turkey 1980’s and 90’s and Public Turn in Contemporary Art.
Jeuno JE Kim is an artist currently based in Malmö. In in 2001 an MA in Theology from Harvard University, followed by an MFA from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 2003. Her work is influenced by the ongoing modernization and westernization in Korea and the Pacific East region, and the urgency of the political, sociological and cultural issues that permeate this reality such as nationalism, identity construction, and historical narration. Kim’s projects are continuous inquiries into artistic responsibility and the use of art as a space for research and a public arena for a communal and meaningful exchange. Born in South Korea, she has studied and worked in UK, France, Korea, and the US.
Mother Tongue is a research-led curatorial project, initiated by Tiffany Boyle and Jessica Carden as a collaborative response to individual periods of research conducted in Northern Scandinavia and West Africa. The projects’ output exists across multiple platforms – exhibitions, events and texts – and endeavours to be in dialogue with artists, curators, writers, researchers and theorists, amongst others. www.mothertongue.se / info@mothertongue.se
More info: www.konsthallc.se
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Curators in Conversation is a collaboration between Konsthall Cand curator Johan Lundh. Curators, artists and others involved in curatorial practice are invited to participate. The central idea is that public conversations with many different practitioners can lead to different perspectives on curating.
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Konsthall C
Cigarrvägen 14
123 57 Farsta
T-bana: Hökarängen (green line 18 towards Farsta Strand)
info@konsthallc.se
www.konsthallc.se
Google Maps
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Mother Tongue | Tiffany Boyle & Jessica Carden
www.mothertongue.se
