So, just so I understand, the curator is born in 1987 and is curating a show that is describing working class Britain from 1989 to 2024? You tell us that you have to understand the curator to understand the show... We appear to have crossed over to a place where the curator's name appears in bigger letters than the names of the photographers that are supposed to be the stars of the show? The captions next to each image appear not to be titles and names of photographers, but minor essays explaining why the photograph is there.... am I getting this right?
In my mind, a good curator is invisible. Their name appears in tiny letters at the bottom of the poster, if at all. The names of the artists appear in larger and a more prominent position above, preferably in bold!
If an extensive knowledge of, supplemented by an in person narrative by the curator is necessary to glue a show together, then the curator has failed in getting the job done, or am I wrong?
I think anonymity is what a lot of curators aspire towards, but personally I think they should be honest and become personalities ij their own right. They have huge power. With Jonny Pitts, he is also a photographer and writer, so it is his way of reflecting back his interests. Apparently his favourite place in the world is Marseille so it is unsurprising that his show resembles that more than the UK.
I agree. If this is the Johny Pitts show, which it certainly appears to be, then don't fool the guests by suggesting it is "British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024", which sounds like a survey. Give Johny the credit and see what that does to attendance.... “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore, maybe Marsaille?"
A good read which made me think hard. Would the UK have a stronger sense of identity if we’d been invaded by a hostile power in the last century or so? I’m not sure that having a national identity or dominant narrative is desirable. The Jeremy Deller video is fascinating. I hope the exhibition is a bit more nuanced than you make it sound.
Thanks Jon. That invasion example is interesting. My guess is that we would need to return to regional kingdoms- Mercia, anyone? Very difficult to come up with a solution to this without automatically fascistic. Although Singapore style diversity is also rather authoritarian.
In terms of the exhibition, it went from a huge show at the Hayward to this much smaller show so there are many different artists but less work from each.
I'm a big fan of Rene Matić. Her last show at South London Gallery was fantastic and I love the way she explores the nuances and complexities of British identity. BTW I am definitely not advocating strengthening British identity - quite the opposite. I'm all for undermining and complicating nationalist sentiment in all its forms.
my comment relates to the surprised reaction of teenagers at the rave dancing. i don't know if you watch the mini-series "adolescence" which happens in britain. one of the most authentic scene regarding society is when a teenager explains to his father what teenagers see on an instagram post. fascinating!
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So, just so I understand, the curator is born in 1987 and is curating a show that is describing working class Britain from 1989 to 2024? You tell us that you have to understand the curator to understand the show... We appear to have crossed over to a place where the curator's name appears in bigger letters than the names of the photographers that are supposed to be the stars of the show? The captions next to each image appear not to be titles and names of photographers, but minor essays explaining why the photograph is there.... am I getting this right?
In my mind, a good curator is invisible. Their name appears in tiny letters at the bottom of the poster, if at all. The names of the artists appear in larger and a more prominent position above, preferably in bold!
If an extensive knowledge of, supplemented by an in person narrative by the curator is necessary to glue a show together, then the curator has failed in getting the job done, or am I wrong?
I think anonymity is what a lot of curators aspire towards, but personally I think they should be honest and become personalities ij their own right. They have huge power. With Jonny Pitts, he is also a photographer and writer, so it is his way of reflecting back his interests. Apparently his favourite place in the world is Marseille so it is unsurprising that his show resembles that more than the UK.
I agree. If this is the Johny Pitts show, which it certainly appears to be, then don't fool the guests by suggesting it is "British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024", which sounds like a survey. Give Johny the credit and see what that does to attendance.... “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore, maybe Marsaille?"
A good read which made me think hard. Would the UK have a stronger sense of identity if we’d been invaded by a hostile power in the last century or so? I’m not sure that having a national identity or dominant narrative is desirable. The Jeremy Deller video is fascinating. I hope the exhibition is a bit more nuanced than you make it sound.
Thanks Jon. That invasion example is interesting. My guess is that we would need to return to regional kingdoms- Mercia, anyone? Very difficult to come up with a solution to this without automatically fascistic. Although Singapore style diversity is also rather authoritarian.
In terms of the exhibition, it went from a huge show at the Hayward to this much smaller show so there are many different artists but less work from each.
Looking forward to comparing to this one https://twotempleplace.org/exhibitions/lives-less-ordinary/
I'm a big fan of Rene Matić. Her last show at South London Gallery was fantastic and I love the way she explores the nuances and complexities of British identity. BTW I am definitely not advocating strengthening British identity - quite the opposite. I'm all for undermining and complicating nationalist sentiment in all its forms.
They were beautiful but seemingly uncharacteristic images of fabric (see in the footnotes)
Great article Neil - this looks like a really interesting exhibition - hopefully it will tour down south sometime.
Thanks Lin! It has been on tour from the Hayward Gallery for a while now and fear this might be the last stop.
Ahh...I missed that one!
A thought provoking read, Neil
my comment relates to the surprised reaction of teenagers at the rave dancing. i don't know if you watch the mini-series "adolescence" which happens in britain. one of the most authentic scene regarding society is when a teenager explains to his father what teenagers see on an instagram post. fascinating!
I need to watch that. Everyone seems to be talking about it now and I really like the main actor.
So interesting. These are such vexed questions, about culture and 'integration'.....
Yes, vexed is the word. I need to think more about this, but I enjoyed this potted history of debates about integration: https://unherd.com/2024/08/how-britain-ignored-its-ethnic-conflict
Excellent article, gave me a clearer way of seeing this whole situation and a lot to think about.