WHO WANTS TO BE A CURATOR?
When the Surrey Sculpture Society asked me to design the show at the Landmark Art Centre last year my heart skipped a beat! This was the chance I was waiting for: the only occasion I had to prove to them and myself that I was good enough.
The Exhibition was scheduled to run from 22 to 25 November. I had plenty of time to make a plan! The first thing I learned about this role is that I wasn’t alone. The wonderful woman who was the Exhibition Manager for the show, Diana Pattenden, and our Chair, Henriette van de Does, were by my side from the very beginning.
The most important day for a designer is when the Selection Committee meeting takes place: that is where you get to see the artworks that might feature in the show for the very first time.
designing the exhibition
The Landmark Art Centre
Text supplied by Laura Caratto
6
Incubation Chamber by Jo Holt
Half Moon by Carl Gamester
The panel included Henriette, Diana and myself. It took a few hours to go through all the applications and carefully select those that are most in line with the general quality and message that the SSS aims to transmit.
There were a great number of things to keep in mind whilst looking over the plethora of pieces. We had to try to be fair with the artists and avoid favouritism; we had to be aware of the capacity of the venue in order to give each artwork the right space to look its best; we had to make sure there was no repetition of the artworks; and there were also so many other things that would take too long to list. We had to do all of this whilst following the golden rule - no personal taste allowed!
At this stage I didn’t have any idea of how the Exhibition would look. My only objective was for this Exhibition to look fresh, different from the years before. I wanted people to experience something new and enjoy it thoroughly. It took me three visits to the venue to finally realise where to start.
It all became clear when, during a chat, I told Jo Holt (runner-up of the Surrey Sculpture Society Emerging Artist prize) that I thought it would be a nice idea to sit her ‘Cocoons’ installation on the historic wooden pulpit of the Landmark Art Centre.