How do institutions choregraph us?
20th Jun 2023 1:00pm-5:30pm
Techne students register here. (Non-Techne attendees can register here.)
Venue: ICA
Welcome to an afternoon of thinking through practice on the way visitors move in institutions, and how institutions move.
In an art institutional space, how do signs, maps, labels, panels, the architecture, the objects on display determine our thinking? How do our bodies relate to these ‘choreographic instructions’, and to the people visiting around us?
In art galleries and museums, the presence of our bodies in space is always political. As visitors, our identities are in constant negotiation with the implicit or explicit narratives (gendered, racial, class, colonial) of the space. As Sara Ahmed notes, to be ‘welcomed’ means that you are a guest, while the institution is the host and, therefore, you are not at home.
As professionals working in art institutions, what are our choreographies of working in the office, the box office, the meeting room? What are these ‘practices’, and how do they shape and direct our thinking and our decision-making?
The event will feature movement-focused artistic practice, collective discussions, and presentations from industry professionals on audience monitoring, evaluation and public engagement projects.
With contributions from:
CHA X5
Tara Fatehi Irani
Harun Morrison
Jemima Yong and Anahi Saravia Herrera
Alisa Oleva
Sara Ruddock
Richard Martin, Siobhan Forshaw, Luke Gregory-Jones (Whitechapel Gallery)
Melissa Bentley and Marie Hobson (Victoria and Albert Museum)