[curatorial.net] Participation - an exhibition of contemporary art in open media, Falmouth, Poly, 25 - 30 October

[Tyzlik-Carver, Magda]

Participation 
an exhibition of contemporary art in open media

26 - 30 October 2007,
10.00 - 16.30.
Poly, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK
Private View: 25 October, 18.00 - 20.00

Artists: Jane Bailey, Chantal Brooks, Brendan Byrne, Ana Carvalho, Jason Cleverly, Susan Corke, Robin Hawes & Associate Professor Tim Hodgson, Pedro Lima, Jem Mackay, Sarah Matthews, Tim Shear

Curator: Magda Tyżlik-Carver
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This exhibition invites you to explore the place where the process of participation begins - yourself.

With participation and inclusion high on the political and social agenda, the question is: why do we decide to participate? Why do we engage intellectually and/or physically in situations, events, communities or networks? What do we take from it? What is produced through our act of participation?

Participation, interaction and collaboration have all been important concepts in the art of the 20th century. Artist Marcel Duchamp was among those who expressed the idea that the work is made complete by the audience's interaction and their decision to participate. Connections between the artwork, the artist and the audience have also been explored in the work of groups like Fluxus and the art 'happenings' of the late '50s and early '60s. More recently, relational artists such as Rikrit Tirivanija have attempted to explore social relations based on everyday activities such as cooking and eating within a gallery context.

Participation and collaboration are now increasingly part of our behaviour on the internet, with websites such as 'YouTube' and 'MySpace' giving millions of users the opportunity to publish their own videos, music and photos online. Similarly, user driven content is an integral part of sites such as 'Wikipedia' and the now ubiquitous phenomena of on-line diaries or 'blogs'. In this exhibition, the use of new media (computer/ internet) as well as video and installation art, gives the public an opportunity to compare differences in participation between on-line and off-line set-ups or explore different degrees of active engagement in the works.

We invite you to explore your personal decision to participate. Feel free to experiment with your own process of engagement or disengagement; explore the rules of participation proposed by the artists within each of the works and investigate the protocols involved.

This exhibition is a result of collaboration between iRes and the artists. 

For more information about the artists and programme of workshops please visit: http://www.ires.org.uk/participation 
The poster for the exhibition can be downloaded following this link: http://www.ires.org.uk/participation/Partici_poster.pdf 


Kind regards, Magda
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Magdalena Tyżlik-Carver
Research Assistant
 
iRes Research in Interactive Art & Design 
University College Falmouth 
Woodlane
Falmouth, Cornwall
TR11 4RH
UK
 
e:magda at falmouth.ac.uk
t:44 (0)1326 370738
url: http://www.ires.org.uk