In August 2012, a small team of our ex-Creative Stars were invited to get involved in curating their second show at Cornerhouse. Between them they were challenged to write a brief inviting artists to apply for £1000 to realise a new art commission. Within 6 weeks the team had received over 600 applications and had the task of shortlisting to just 4 finalists. Liz Gibson writes of her experience as one of the young curators:
We’ve been working on the Young Curators project for a couple of months now, but it feels like so much longer. We’ve achieved so much in such a short space of time: we’ve selected the four works to be commissioned for our exhibition, we’ve discussed links between the work and themes that could connect them and we’ve chosen a name for the exhibition: Four.
We’ve started to create an identity for the show; how it will look and feel; the atmosphere we want to create inside the gallery and the effect we want the show to have on our audience. I feel like we’ve come a long way since the early days of writing the brief. Things move fast in the world of curation!
It’s been great to have had the chance to get to know Neetu and Alex better – we knew each other and were friends from Creative Stars but with the Young Curators project; there being just the three of us, we are really learning more about each other, and learning how best to work as a team to achieve what each of us wants to achieve.
For example, of the four pieces we have selected for the exhibition, there is one that each of us felt particularly strongly about and fought to have in the exhibition, and a fourth piece that we all felt fitted well with the others to create a show of similarities, but also contrasts.
It’s also been great working with the staff at Cornerhouse to create our exhibition; they are brilliant and they see us as adults and curators, not as kids, which I think is very important. I wouldn’t like it if I felt patronised, but that never happens at Cornerhouse.
It’s been amazing seeing what goes on behind the scenes at a venue like Cornerhouse; how everyone works together to create amazing exhibitions and events; the amount of work that goes into making something appear effortless.
I am so glad I decided to take part in this project; I feel I have learnt a great deal already and it is an amazing feeling organising an exhibition at such a renowned venue as Cornerhouse. I know I am very lucky to have this opportunity, and I am very grateful. Bring on Four!
My blog: http://lglyrics.blogspot.co.uk
By Young Curator, Liz Gibson (Oct ’12)