a project around the art institution
with artist Sarah Pierce
October-November, 2005

In 1976, Brian O’Doherty published his book “Inside the White Cube,” a collection of essays describing the social and ideological constructs implicit in the white cube. Since then, as before, artists, curators, and critics have looked closely at the paradigm of the white cube, as institutionalised through the gallery, the museum, the artist-run space, the alternative organization.

To understand the art institution is to acknowledge a larger cultural apparatus that shapes the meaning of works of art, influences how artists make work, and determines how artistic output is circulated and received.

This project examined notions of the archive that occur with and through the institution, with a focus on the archive as a speculative tool used by artists and curators to address issues of location, identity, inclusion, storytelling, etc. How do moments of archiving risk the relationships that constitute current representations of the artist, who is a viable audience, what constitutes artistic output, and where or in what social spaces does participation and reflection take place?

The project involved three concentrated workshops in Rotterdam and Belfast.

The first workshop focused on the archive as practice. The seminar involved an introduction to the “white cube” and the notion of the archive as it manifests as an alternative in contemporary art and curatorial practices. Discussions evaluated current claims made around the archive as both a metaphor and practice. Examples of archival practices addressed included The Metropolitan Complex, Bik van der Pol, Jeremy Deller’s Folk Archive, Curating Degree Zero, and The Speculative Museum.

The second workshop, held in Belfast, focused on the archive as location. Where do we find archives? How do archives articulate place? Who are archives about and who are they for? How do archives locate and “remember”? Organisations presenting themselves included Interface, Belfast Exposed, Catalyst, and Factotum. Guests for this workshop were artists Julie Bacon (Catalyist) and Aisling O’Beirn (Flax Art Studios), theorist Susan Kelly, and curators Hugh Mullholland and Sally Timmons.

Sarah Pierce (USA) is an artist based in Dublin and New York. She organizes The Metropolitan Complex, a social practice that incorporates a range of activities such as talks, publications, exhibitions and events. Recent projects include: Archivo Paralelo, sala rekalde, Bilbao (2004-2005); You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, PS1/MoMA, New York (2004); The Paraeducation Department (with Annie Fletcher), Witte de Witte/TENT., Rotterdam (2004); the red archive, Project, Dublin (2004). The Metropolitan Complex Papers, an ongoing series of transcribed conversations, can be found on her website.