DEBORAH CARRUTHERS
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        • The Past Sealed Away... Article
      • What's in a Song ? Between the Song and the Silence: Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2017
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        • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Installation
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      • safe passage: Graphic Score for Canoe Installation
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      • slippages - Press
      • slippages - Instructions for play and score
      • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
        • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
        • slippages Immense Immensities
        • slippages Notebook
        • slippages Athabasca Painting
      • slippages - Performance Videos
    • Between the Song and the Silence: Berlin 2017 - 2021 >
      • Between the Song and the Silence: Graphic Score- Studies for Hobrechtsfelde Iteration
      • Between the Song and the Silence: Graphic Score- Banff Iteration
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Smuggling as Curatorial Practice after the ethnographic turn – Nippe and Lagos Preller

Picture
Opasatika: Old Indian Burial Site, 2016, 24" x 35", Giclée on moab300
Irit Rogoff. ‘Smuggling’ – An Embodied Criticality’. [08_2006]  pdf

Hal Foster. “The Artist as Ethnographer?”  pdf    

Gerardo Mosquera. “Some Problems in Transcultural Curating.   pdf
 
The idea of embodied criticality as a move from critique towards criticality is one which is important and arguably necessary in contemporary artistic practice. The idea of doing away with conjunctives that suggest artificial dualities rather than an embodied whole allows for more meaningful discourse, particularly as regards artistic interpretations of the ethnographic.
 
When ideas are examined by binding them to context, we often fail to take into account that ideas and meaning do not exist in isolation, but are formed from complex networks.
 
Elucidating the difference between “curating” and “curatorial”, and proposing that practice of the “curatorial” permits us to consider the unpredictable possibilities inherent in exhibition is a key consideration.  It liberates art from limitations, “smuggling” it past arbitrary boundaries, and allowing it to stand for itself in the absence of preconceived notions. Particularly compelling is Irit Rogoff’s contention that the “smuggling” paradigm considers the relationships “between that which is in plain sight, that which is in partial sight and that which is invisible”.  When considered alongside Hal Foster’s questioning of “artist as ethnographer”, it lends itself well to the untangling of the web of assumptions underlying quasi-anthropological models.
 
Foster’s example of an artist being contacted by a curator with regard to a site-specific work has a particularly strong resonance for me, as it is a position I am oft-now finding myself in. There are myriad considerations underlying these situations which demand careful discussion and self-awareness, not the least of which is the issue of “collaborative investigation” vs “ethnographic self-fashioning”.
 
Gerardo Mosquera furthers discussion of these concerns by questioning the role of transcultural curating. An awareness of notions of site, value, and multiculturalism and their attendant impact upon what is curated globally are necessary in evaluating the influence of such exhibitions. As Mosquera states, “the world is practically divided between curating cultures and curated cultures”.
 
Taken together, the ideas of “smuggling” and the untangling of ideologies from their confines are not only compelling but critical to the creation of meaningful works on a global stage.
 
I am reminded of a quote by Magdalena Abakanowicz: “Art does not solve problems but makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine”.
 
 
 

​

​ We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des Arts du Canada de son soutien.
Picture
  • Home
    • Artist Statement
    • Bio
  • Exhibitions / Residencies/Performances
    • Exhibitions ... Now You See Me... >
      • What Remains Unexplained 2.0: The Endpoint Collective
      • Beyond the Stone Angel: artists reflect on the death of their parents, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, October 2021- February 2022 >
        • More About ​Safe Passage
        • More About the Paintings ...
      • Announcing the Coming of the Sun, Adjacent to Life Gallery, New York, New York, USA , 2021
      • The Aura of the Already Said - Zygote Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio - 2019
      • Souvenir / Souvenir - Montréal, Québec 2017 >
        • Souvenir / Souvenir - Press
        • Souvenir / Souvenir - Essay ​Culte du Souvenir
        • Souvenir / Souvenir: About the Exhibition ...
        • Souvenir / Souvenir : Invitation card
    • Performances ... Once Upon a Time ... >
      • Ecstacies of Influence - Le Gesù, Amphithéâtre -Montréal - December 2018
      • slippages - The UBC Symphony Orchestra - Chan Centre - Vancouver - October 2018 >
        • slippages - Press
        • slippages - Instructions for play and score
        • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
          • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
          • slippages Immense Immensities
          • slippages Notebook
          • slippages Athabasca Painting
        • slippages - Performance Videos
    • Residencies ... Home Away From Home ... >
      • Ecstasies of Influence : matralab, Concordia University - Montréal 2018 >
        • Ecstacies of Influence - December 16, 2018 - Le Gesù, Amphithéâtre - Montréal
      • The Past Sealed Away - Peter Wall Institute Artist in Residence - Vancouver, BC 2017 - 2018 >
        • The Past Sealed Away... Article
      • What's in a Song ? Between the Song and the Silence: Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2017
      • In The Hole - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 2017
      • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2016 >
        • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Installation
  • Graphic Scores
    • reading between the lines - 2022
    • safe passage - 2021 >
      • safe passage: Graphic Score for Canoe Installation
    • slippages - 2018 >
      • slippages - Press
      • slippages - Instructions for play and score
      • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
        • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
        • slippages Immense Immensities
        • slippages Notebook
        • slippages Athabasca Painting
      • slippages - Performance Videos
    • Between the Song and the Silence: Berlin 2017 - 2021 >
      • Between the Song and the Silence: Graphic Score- Studies for Hobrechtsfelde Iteration
      • Between the Song and the Silence: Graphic Score- Banff Iteration
      • My Muses
      • What's in a Name?
      • Taking Flight ... The Process
      • Swan Song... A summary of my process for my MFA research
  • Portfolio
    • Mortsaf for My Father : the Series ... >
      • Mortsaf for My Father : the Paintings ...
      • Mortsaf for My Father: ​Safe Passage
    • Allegory for a New Ice Age ... Photographs
    • The Past Sealed Away ... Painting
    • The Past Sealed Away... Prints
    • The Past sealed Away: Athabasca - Photographs
    • Immense Immensities Miniature Watercolours
    • In The Hole
    • Souvenir sacré
    • Souvenir sacré - Opasatika
    • Fleurs sacrées
    • Mortsaf
    • Genetics for Cowboys
    • Beautiful Ghosts
    • Niagara Tondos
    • Twinned
  • C V
  • Contact