British artist Clare Kenny is in Beijing for a research residency at IFP linking her own artistic practice with curation and exhibition-making. Working as a both an artist and a curator in Basel where she is based, Kenny is interested in the way creating art both overlaps and differs from the process of making exhibitions. Invited by curator Xia Yanguo with an ambitious exhibition and event programme at IFP, she will be working in-situ with various media.
Drawing from her life experience, Kenny funnels both personal and collective memories into lighthearted yet ambiguous new objects. Utilising techniques aquired through her various jobs and studies such as that of as a specialised painter, she employs both decoration techniques from 19th century interiors and latest photographic technology. Combining photos and casts of everyday objects and creating scenes scrumbled or rolled up into architectural elements to suggest new readings and relationships between the works, the space of the gallery, and the dynamic of the city and its social structures.
After setting up her own initial 'blueprint' show in Black Sesame Space, the project will continue exploring the possibilities inherent in curatorial practice by inviting two Beijing-based curators to reinterpret her work from their own respective interests. In this way she draws attention to the role of the curator as a narrator whose reading of the works on display can be radically different from that of their original creator. In this relay of exhibitions, the same works will find new positions and histories, highlighting various perspectives into a complex art world.
Schedule of events at IFP:
Saturday July 18 4 pm: Opening of first show installed by Clare Kenny. Open until July 22th.
The show consists of sculptural works made from photographs, plaster, bronze and glass created in both Basel and on-site in Beijing. Plaster casts of objects found at the institute of Provocation are installed together with casts brought from Basel of cake moulds and plastic packaging. The casts are marbleised using the artists’ version of the traditional Italian Scagliola technique. The photographic sculptures are formed using images the artist has taken in various museums and galleries since arriving in Beijing.
Saturday July 25, 2pm : Seminar and Opening of second exhibition
2 pm: Artist talk Clare Kenny /seminar: 'Everyone Is A Curator’
For this artist talk and seminar, Clare Kenny will present her work as an artist and curator, followed by a panel discussion with the selected curators of the three shows as well as others who work with curation in various ways. The theme will be on the phenomenon of the 'ubiquitously curated’, and the increasing interest from media and popular culture to work with artists and curators. The ambition is to open up a discussion around the two practices; how they overlap and what challenges today’s curators face when anyone (even Kanye West) can call themselves a curator for selecting a number of artworks and put them on display.
Speaker: Clare Kenny
Curators and critics: Xia Yanguo, Tianji Zhao, more tba
Saturday July 25, 5 pm: Opening second show curated by Xia Yanguo. Open until July 29th.
Saturday August 1st , 4-8 pm: Opening of third show curated by Tianji Zhao.
The third interpretation of Clare Kenny's work will bring the works into the public space outside of IFP. Working mainly outside of the 'white cube', artist and curator Tianji Zhao has realized projects such as Sayizheng, a group exhibition format with performances and installations taking place in a selected public space, creating dialogues and interventions into a daily life setting. This way of creating unstable relationships between artwork and setting will further question the standard etiquette exhibition-making.
Clare Kenny's residency at IFP is supported by ProHelvetia.