021 AC/CA first talk (part 1)

Together with Jan Christensen, Ragnhild Aamås, Hanan Benammar, Paul Paiement, Carl Berg, Max Presneill, Rike Frank and Merete Mortensen we had a conversation in preparation for a panel talk we held the 20th of October 2016. This accompanied an exhibition Merete and me organized at the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo where we were exploring the role of the artist as curator or the curator as artist. We were interested in the different positions and strategies of each participant related to their locale (Oslo vs LA)
This talk was meant to get to know each other and present ourselves so we wouldn't have to dive in cold on the public talk the day after.
Enjoy!

AC / CA
(Artist Curator / Curator Artist)
Jan Christensen, Ragnhild Aamås, Hanan Benammar
Paul Paiement, Carl Berg, Max Presneill
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Exhibition opening and panel talk 20thof October 2016 at 18:00
Galleri 1, KHiO - National Academy of the Arts
Curated by the artists in collaboration with Merete Mortensen.
Organized by Frido Evers. Panel talk moderator: Rike Frank.
_____________________Exhibition open 21st-23rd of October 12:00-16:00______________________
'The other of the artist as curator is not the curator as artist, nor is the other of the curator as artist, the artist as
curator, in fact the other of the artist as curator is the curator […] adversely the other of the curator as artist is, the
artist.' Ruth Noack, 2012
'A history of the artist as curator remains to be fully written.' Elena Filipovic, 2016
Welcome to the opening of the exhibition AC/CA, which is accompanied by a panel talk where we'll be exploring
the role of the artist-curator and the variety within the contemporary curatorial field. We have invited six artistcurators
- three of them from USA with a focus on Los Angeles and three of them from Norway with a focus on
Oslo - to curate a two-parts exhibition, and share some thoughts with us on the subject and their own practices,
set in two very different art scenes.
THE EXHIBITION has an experimental approach and will show two separately curated parts: one from the Norwegian
based artist-curators and one from the US based artist-curators. By placing them in two groups and challenging them
to curate each exhibition together, whether they choose to show their own work or not, the project plays on the
unclear roles within the curatorial field. This will be a chance to experience how different kinds of artist-curators
from the respective locale choose to curate together: what kind of dynamic will emerge when all the artists in the
exhibition are functioning as curators as well? How will the two exhibitions differ and can that be traced back to their
respective art scenes?
THE PANEL TALK takes a look at whether the role of the artist-curator differs in the art scene of Oslo compared to the
one in Los Angeles. We'll be focussing on topics regarding the still developing roles of the artist as curator, and also
the curator as artist, such as: how and why the artist takes on the role of the curator, how curators and artists
increasingly are overlapping and imitating each other's positions, how the artist as curator historically has opened up
for the exhibition to become a medium of its own, and different strategies and practices within this field. Our aim is
to find new questions as much as answers, and coming closer to mapping out the current positions of the artist as
curator and the curator as artist.