Interview with Lauren Wright

1. Could you tell me about the background of the exhibition and how the process came about?
I saw rosa work the first time at an art fair and she also had a show at the Tate. Liverpool Bienial. I saw the work, was intersted in it. Asking her to create the downstairs gallery. Relationship between inside and outside. We decided that it wasn’t quite the right thing. She responded strongly to the space and excited about the gallery and location. She was excited about the Turner because we don’t necesarilly show photography. It wasn’t something she originally thought of.

The work developed around that. She was approached by the corner house in Manchester. they commission artists to created films and therefore we decided to collaborate with them on this project. We wanted work that hadn’t been shown in the Uk before. Work upstairs was created in the last year. some of them (central commission) subconscious society. Rest of the work was shown in galleries in Europe or was in the process of being created. Discussion about creating a project between turner and corner house which would offer a detailed overview of her practice. Both shows reflect everything she’s interested in. Enhanced by both expos.
Thinking about the space: originally we were going to show moving pieces (the film) and then I thought it would be interesting to do something to elevate the work. Most of it is on the floor so I wanted to use the height of the space. Rosa was in the space first but then we decided to do the Carl Andre show and so was thinking about the relationship between work. text pieces became more interesting. we were conscious about the relationship between them.

2.Could you describe the selection and display process (regarding framing, lighting, display, mount)?

 Rosa always thinks about her expo as a conversation between the work. she imagines each of the work having a personality in the space. it's very intuitive and she had an idea of the flow she wanted to create. we kind of started from the position of certain ideas and then things went in the direction we more or less thought they would. it was about thinking about the impression you get when you enter the space, about what you can see from outside, which things you see first. we wanted the first space (west gallery) to provide an introduction to a way of thinking about film which then gets explored in the bigger installation which is the heart of the show.
introduction and then the bigger pieces unfolds.

3. What were the aims and objectives of the exhibition and how well have you achieved them?

 we wanted to do something that was going to be quite different to what we tried before. conscious that Rosa is the first artist we've shown of her own. solo show, and is not a highly established artist. she's had a lot of shows but she's younger than Tracy Emins. she's less of a house hold name. work that would be very engaging. broad audience: not necessarily art dedicated. accessible to audience but also attract people interested in contemporary art. work across historical and contemporary art. Turner, Carl Andre, her. historical continuation, interesting way of thinking about time and traveling through space.

4 .Was there anything you wish you had done differently?

I would have probably anticipated more about the physical reality of the work. we've never shown film.
We've shown moving image but not movies on projectors. Guess work involved, speak to people who have worked with film before. Challenging to manage. wouldn't have shied away from that. better prepared and made more of an effort to get a wider projector.
working with the artist? lovely person to work with. we developed a good relationship quickly. i needed to write a summary of her work for a funding application and she liked the way I described the work and she trusted that I would do a good job with the show. it's different with each artist but there has to be a moment when they trust you and it's much easier if that happens sooner. some artist are control freaks but then they feel they know where you're coming from and how you'll handle the work. she knows what she wants but she's very quiet about it and that's a bit of a challenge because you kind of find out afterwards that something isn't quite right but in general it was really easy. collaboration with corner was great. 2 curators from corner and myself plus rosa. 4 women working on the subject.

5. Could you please describe the curatorial process in 1 sentence/phrase?

A process of framing an experience of an artwork. that happens in lots of different ways. staging an encounter. creating a field for interaction between viewer artist and artwork. the institution is another frame because our job is to provide an interfacing mechanism between all of these different parties and think about what will create the most interesting response. it is not necessarily the happiest or the best but it creates interesting engagements.

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Advice for aspiring curators: start by just starting. organize little exhibitions, practice like an art practice. see a lot of shows, that's the easiest thing to do first. to be really conscious when seeing a show. what the curatorial role is and to imagine what would have been involved in the curatorial process in each case. the decisions made by curators to present work in a certain way or create certain relationships. stage a space in a certain way, create an environment. be very aware of all these things. try things out. make little shows with friends. get to know other like minded people who are interested in being curators and artists. try and do stuff because even for entry jobs you'll be up against people who have experience of some sort. you can also do internships. the more than you can do to expose yourself to the process the better. whether by seeing things or doing things.

What are the key aspects you look at when attending an exhibition? 

Depends on the show. I'm interested in curating as a practice. Conscious about the visual relationships. I'm skeptical about it but still interested in an expo trying to make an argument. I'm also aware of the voyables and how the curators address this. The best shows are the ones in which the curator is the least visible. There's the art. the work feels like it's doing it's best job. the work should be able to do all the work. it takes good curating to help make that process. it should make than whilst being invisible.