Tosh's Journal - November 30 (Tosh's Museum)

Tosh's Journal: November 30.  This is my reading (with lots of more images) of my need to have a museum collection devoted to yours truly.  - Tosh Berman​

"Ways of Curating" by Hans Ulrich Obrist (Faber & Faber)

"Ways of Curating"  by Hans Ulrich Obrist (Faber & Faber)

The skill of curating is really putting two or more ideas together and placing it in a space.  Beyond that it can mean anything.  Generally speaking when we hear the word "curate" that means someone with a point-of-view, or subjective thoughts puts something together so we can explore that curator's thinking or world.  Well, at least, in theory.  Without a doubt one of the more interesting curators in contemporary art is Hans Ulrich Obrist.   I have never seen any of his exhibitions, but I do know him through his books and essays.  His best skill is that he has a basic curiosity in how an artist works and thinks.   He is also interested in places, cities, and locations where one can exhibit ideas or more likely art.  The curator is often just as creative as the artist.   Which is sometimes a good thing, and often not that good of a thing. 

Basically an artist makes a work, and if they are lucky it goes out to the world.  In a lot of cases, there is usually someone who takes that work and places it in a room with another work of art.   It can be a random act, but more likely the person (the curator) who does that is looking for themes or a feeling between the artworks.  At times, I find this misleading to the artist's intent, and on occurrences, it brings up new light or a way of looking at that art.  Especially if you know the artist and their work.   So, in a sense, the curator is sort of like a film editor working with a filmmaker.  

The great thing about Obrist is his interest in contemporary art and its past.  He also knows that literature, architecture and personality is also part of the big picture - in other words, everything has a place or importance, and therefore so does art.   The tricky aspect is how and when one place that work in a bigger picture or landscape.  "Ways of Curating" is very much Obrist's thinking in these matters as well as the history of curating, which is fascinating.  Modern curating (at least to Obrist) started in the 19th century in Paris.  At one time, paintings were hung salon style which is a lot of work on one wall. Monet and others started a practice where a painting stands by itself on a large wall, and therefore one concentrates on that one piece.   Salon style exhibition is fascinating, but for me, it's hard for me to focus on individual works, yet people in the 19th century used to see art in this fashion.  

"Ways of Curating" reads not like a book, but more of a collection of essays on the subject matter of curating.  For me, it would have been more fascinating if he just focused on its history, like he did in the first part of the book.  The second part is basically his career and what he has done, which is perfectly fine, but the writing gets kind of 'been there and done that' type of feeling.

Nevertheless, this is a very accessible book to someone who is curious about that world, but really doesn't know too much about the nature of art exhibitions, and how they are planned out..  Orbits has many books out, and the best one's are his interview books with various contemporary artists and composers.  He is an interesting guy, and "Ways of Curating" is both good and so-so, but still important of a subject matter to read. 

- Tosh Berman

November 30, 2014

November 30, 2014

One thinks that being a writer one would want to have the largest audience or readers possible.  This, of course, is totally understandable.  But to be honest I actually prefer a smaller readership.  I like to get paid of course, but so far that hasn’t happened.  Nevertheless, I don’t know why I write.  I suspect it is to leave something on this planet when I’m gone and buried, or my ashes dropped off in the Shibuya street crossing in front of the station.  Also, as much as possible, I would like to make my residence into a museum devoted to… me.  I have a lot of good friends, but I think my record and book collection speak more of me, than any human being I know.   I have met fascinating people, but I spent more time choosing the right book or album for my library.  Also I’m quite aware that all my writings are on computer, and not on actual paper.  So I plan to write first on the computer, print it out, and make a lot of markings on the manuscript, so people out there can see my work in progress.  Technology makes everything neat and precise, but the ‘real’ world is quite messy.   People don’t go to museums to see neatness; they go to see the drama and tears of the making of that art.

So I wrote a will to express my desires to have my collection intact after I pass away.  “I give and bequeath all the remaining works of art executed by me in my collection to an American city that will agree to build or assign and maintain permanent quarters exclusively for these works of art and assure their physical survival with the explicit requirement that none of these works of art will be sold, given, or exchanged but are to be retained in the place described above exclusively assigned to them in perpetuity for exhibition and study.” I thought it was best to have the museum in America, because the text will all be in English. I’m paranoid that my work will be mis-translated.  I have approached various universities around the country, and so far, most of them have told me “we never heard of you.” Which is accurate at the moment, but I think that’s such a so short-sighted thing to say to a writer, no?

Acting in accordance with my count, I have 2,752 books and 1,434 albums.   I imagine that at the very least if I can have a room that is 1,000 feet by 1,000 feet, and have a couple of display cases for my manuscripts and correspondence (which to be honest will have to be print-outs of my e-mail), I think it will make a very nice and permanent exhibition.  Also perhaps over the years, from the collection of fees collected at the door, as well as the hopeful (future) home of my collection, they will be able to collect funds from the non-profit world.  With the funds, I’m hoping that they can invite scholars to come and give talks about my writing as well as my collection.   Perhaps even a panel discussion or two.

I think, looking back now, the most fascinating aspect of my writing career is actually the lack of such a career.  I’m sure scholars will be scratching their heads over this one for years to come.  Basically I stopped participating in the literary world due that it wasn’t of my making.   Some claim that I couldn’t get my books published, but that’s not the point here. The specific point I want to make is that I live here and this is my world.  Therefore there must a representation of my world.

"A Brief History of Curating" by Hans Ulrich Obrist

One time in my life I thought it was only the artist that matters.  But alas, it is very much like the music world.  There is the singer/artist, then there are the arrangers/producers.   If you map it out there is the artist,  the curator, and then the audience for that art.   Or perhaps the curator is a translator?   Nevertheless this is a fascinating collection of interviews done by curator/writer Hans Ulrich Obrist on really cutting edge curators from the 60's, 70's era and upwards.

It is good he started with Walter Hopps, because I think he's the curator with the most strongest identity of sorts, in that he's a legend (rightfully so) and in many ways an artist himself.  The way he looks at exhibitions is more of an aesthetic thing than a business decision.  So with that as the foundation, Obrist goes on with numerous interesting individuals regarding the art of the exhibition and the politics of museums.  But mostly this is a very up-beat look at the inner-world of a curator and what they do.  Obrist asks very pointed and clear questions to his subjects, and they themselves come up with an answer that exposes not only their thoughts but also there love for the artist and their medium.   But beyond that it is also a book about 'Taste' and what that means to the world, especially when you use taste to promote a specific vision to the world.  A very specific world I might add.

By nature i think a curator is very much a show-and-tell type of character.  It is someone who is totally turned on by an idea or a work and needs to expose it.  That is it.  Also the skill of the curator is also social skills, because you need to communicate that idea to others who may not be in your particular world.   Not that far from the book editor or publisher in that sense. Nevertheless there is not that many books on the subject of curating, so this makes it important, as well as an enjoyable read.   In the book he interviews Lucy Lippard, Hopps (as mentioned), Pontus Hultén, and Anne d'Harnoncourt among others.   Dip into this book, because you are going to pay a lot of money for it once it goes out of print.