Mapping out memories: evoking the memory of the site (a catalogue)
Proposal by James Luigi Tana / independent curator
I. Concept Brief
French academician Pierre Nora, in his study about the link between history and memory, states that “memory is invested in and stimulated by site.” This premise serves as the curatorial philosophy of this proposed art catalogue— a compilation of site-specific artworks that evoke memories of the “actual material site”. Nora then differentiates memory and history from each other: “Memory is a perpetually actual phenomenon, a bond tying us to the eternal present; history is a representation of the past… Memory takes root in the concrete, in spaces, gestures, images, and objects; history binds itself strictly to temporal continuities, to progressions and to relations between things. Memory is absolute, while history can only conceive the relative.” (1989)
In visual arts, our concept of site-specificity involves physical interventions in the space. The site usually adds another layer of meaning to the work. Such conceptual and installation works are built structurally to adapt to the space. The practice of site-specific artworks can be traced in the history of Western art during the late 1960s, most specifically in the works of post-minimalist artist Richard Serra: “Art was also something that could not be bought and sold, something so temporary that it could be seen only for a brief time, making it difficult for scholars and critics to study, analyze, and write about it. Artists were now making a temporary sculpture out of crumpled paper, bread placed on the mouth of a volcano, or patterns made in the snow.” (Davies, 2011) Although this concept of site-specificity stems out from the discipline of site-specific performances, exemplified in the artistic practice of the theater group Birth Gof for their experimental performance Goddodin. The site-specific performance in an abandoned Rover car factory in Cardiff, evoke memories of economic and industrial decline that heavily impacted the national consciousness of the Welsh people.
II. Curatorial Philosophy
This proposal explores the possibility of applying the same principle of performance site-specificity in installation and public artworks. By gathering artworks with such thematics, the catalogue aims to historicize our way of memorializing significant events through visual arts. Douglas Smith, in his journal, discusses the Pierre Nora’s notion of site of memory and topography: “According to Nora, sites of memory are ambiguous in the first place because they exist at the intersection between history and memory, between institutional commemoration and private or communal understanding of the past.” (2009) The catalogue locates this intersection between history and memory through site-specific artworks. The curator also attempts to discuss the cultural, economic, and social resonances within the site or space; investigating how the works serve as mnemonic trigger that empower memories of certain communities and embody our national narrative. The art catalogue is a personal attempt to revisit and historicize our collective memories as part of a community and, in a wider scope, as individuals belonging to a nation. Furthermore, the process of cataloguing prompts the curator to address the following questions: What collective memories do these site-specific works evoke? How do these artworks become tools for remembering (or forgetting)? How are the works, mostly ephemeral, being documented and archived? Is there a way to explore site-specificity beyond the physical space or its existing principle in the visual arts? The proposed catalogue seeks to make the viewers remember and “memorialize memories”, perhaps as solution to rampant revisionism and our tendency of forgetting as a nation. Here, the curator will navigate through the archives to gather the artworks from 1960s to 1990s. The curator will then conduct interviews with identified artists to survey his or her body of works and their site specificity potentials. The survey will cover artworks from the early 2000s up to present time. In one way or another, the catalogue is an exploration of the power of memory, whereas memorializing produces narratives and identities that could help define and link the past and the present and their implications in the future. It is through this catalogue that the curator envisions to empower the act of recollection as a device to seek truth. Examining how the artists translate these recollections into various interpretations through their artistic interpretations, somewhat becoming tangible reflections of their own histories. The catalogue establishes the link between the past and the present that could be key in the formulation of a better future. By mapping out the spatial history of the site, the curator takes into account the geography of the site and its narratives. The process of curating, particularly for this catalogue, involves selecting artworks based on the nature of the art and the articulation of site specificity.
III. Cataloguing as Memorializing
The curator, particularly for this project, uses cataloguing as an act of memorializing. He will attempt at mapping out the memories evoke by these artworks and categorizing them into three parts: [i] memories of the nation, [ii] collective memories, [iii] and individual memories. The first category recognizes the role of art in contributing to our cultural memory as a nation while referencing to the complexities of our history. On the other hand, the collective or communal memories represent the micro-narratives shared among communities or groups. Lastly, the individual memory pertains to the artist’s personal histories and myths inclusive to him or her. However, the curator is open to other categories that may arise once the cataloguing is complete, allowing the works to unravel and reveal the nature of art by their own course. The only apprehensions for this project, from a curatorial point of view, are the following: first, the process of selecting the artworks rely heavily on the site-specificity of the art hence they are not open to other forms other than public and installation artworks. Second, some artworks may overlap in the categorization. The expected curatorial output is an art catalogue with the intent of pitching it to art institutions for funding and publishing. The catalogue aims to contribute to the body of literature about site-specific artworks.
References:
Davies, et al. (2011). Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition (8th ed.). Pearson.
Kwon, M. (2002). One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nora, P. (1989)
Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory. Representations, 26, pp. 7-24, 10.2307/2928520 Rugg, J. (2010) Exploring Site-Specific Art: Issues of Space and Internationalism. I.B.
Tauris Smith, D. (2009) Debating Cultural Topography: Sites of Memory and Non-Places in the Work of Pierre Nora and Marc Augé. Irish Journal of French Studies, 9, pp. 31-48, 10.7173/16491335.2009.09.01.031
James Luigi T. Tana is a writer, cultural worker, and an independent curator from the Philippines. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas and is currently finishing his master’s degree in Art Studies-Curatorial Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He is a faculty at the Philippine Women's University School of Fine Arts and Design and the College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts. Tana has been involved in different exhibition-making in both museum and gallery settings in the country. He served as a Project Manager for the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila for "MCAD Watch and Chill" (2021), "MCAD Commons: Artists' Film International: Care" (2021), "do it" (Manila) (2021), "Haegue Yang: The Cone of Concern" (2020) and “Constructions of Truths” (2019). He is a commissioned writer for Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF). He won the Ateneo Art Gallery-Kalaw Ledesma Foundation Inc. Essay Writing Prize for the non-student category (2020). His artistic critique titled "On All-Too-Familiar Disruptions: A Critique on the “Normal Scheduling Will Resume Shortly” Exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines" was published in Philippine Women's University Bidlisiw: A Multidisciplinary Scholarly Journal. His curatorial framework is greatly influenced by contemporary perspectives in the arts, whereas space-making becomes a tool for engagement, negotiations and exchanges between the institution and its audience.