Curating the Viral
The central concerns of my research have evolved from a dialogue with the analogical to an interest in the Viral and its possibilites within curation. The Viral defines objects and formations that are able to self-replicate or even convert other objects into copies of themselves when they come into ‘contact’ with one another. The Viral phenomena in marketing, the mass media, and specifically the Internet, have informed my research to date, which aims to explore how these systems of information are able to perpetuate ideas and affect actual and virtual environments. The word meme, which was first cited in Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene (1976), is one such form of the viral which has been able to multiply and spread into mainstream language. Dawkins formed the word through an abbreviation of the Greek term ‘mimeme’ and so the concept has etymological roots with the concept of mimesis and what it is to ‘mimic’. The Viral and the memetic are most frequently applied to the passing of information on the Internet in the form of videos and Web 2.0 interfaces, and I am interested in how these objects and ideas can be conceived, created, and then curated on these platforms. The spaces that memes occupy become ‘Memeplexes’ when they are constructed from mutually supportive memes that work together in symbiotic relationships, and how it is that these spaces are translated physically or psychologically into actual places presents itself as a fertile area for developing curatorial projects.
As a curator I run a distinctive space deliberately outside of the traditional white cube aesthetic, and it is in the imperfect plastering, grimy crevices, and curiously fluctuating ceiling heights that I place an importance and identity. For some time after I opened the space I maintained a DIY ethos that ensured that everything that was attached to the gallery in any way (flyers, posters, press releases) was handmade, well-handled, and rubber stamped manually as an act of authentification and self-replication. Although this activity became untenable in certain areas as the gallery expanded, the philosophy continues to reemerge in different guises and scenarios, such as the recent conversion of a digital jpeg still of the gallery logo back to an analogue object in the form of a bespoke rubber stamp that an artist requested be made. The Viral nature of the logo not only replicated itself, but reconverted back to its original form in an activity initiated by another outside of the gallery framework, re-entering the gallery by coming back into contact with myself. The relationship between digital and analogue formations and their mutation will inform my research into how the Viral and memetic can interact with actual spaces and to what degree site-specificity and consent is obtained. As any Viral form requires a ‘host’, the nature of the Viral’s impact upon a space or framework (e.g. a gallery, Second Life, blogosphere, etc) is fundamental. Virals that replicate the most effectively spread the most comprehensively and the possibility that their success may well be detrimental to their hosts adds a further layer of interest when put into the context of an exhibition and its hosting within a gallery or public/private space.
Grey Area has maintained the feel of a ‘squatted’ space since its conception, not only in its imperfections and aesthetic approach, but also in its avoidance of certain legal requirements and its relation to the rest of the commercial building of which it is a part as a basement, out of site and with very different concerns to the pawnbrokers under which it resides. I am specifically interested in how the Viral relates to the concept of ‘squatting’ and the nature of permission, authorisation, or contingency within hosting. My practice as an artist is informed by Situationist ideas such as ‘Derive’ and ‘Detournement’ and I intend to contextualise these concepts with the Viral by researching into the ‘Psychogeographic’ nature of how the Viral can be perceived, traced and hosted temporarily within a squat. The minor acts of curated squatting that I performed in my recent visit to Berlin for the Transmediale festival put some of these ideas in concrete form and the ‘jacked’ nature of the curation presented exciting possibilities for documenting residual evidences and considering ‘Trojans’ of intention/meaning.
The central concerns of my research have evolved from a dialogue with the analogical to an interest in the Viral and its possibilites within curation. The Viral defines objects and formations that are able to self-replicate or even convert other objects into copies of themselves when they come into ‘contact’ with one another. The Viral phenomena in marketing, the mass media, and specifically the Internet, have informed my research to date, which aims to explore how these systems of information are able to perpetuate ideas and affect actual and virtual environments. The word meme, which was first cited in Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene (1976), is one such form of the viral which has been able to multiply and spread into mainstream language. Dawkins formed the word through an abbreviation of the Greek term ‘mimeme’ and so the concept has etymological roots with the concept of mimesis and what it is to ‘mimic’. The Viral and the memetic are most frequently applied to the passing of information on the Internet in the form of videos and Web 2.0 interfaces, and I am interested in how these objects and ideas can be conceived, created, and then curated on these platforms. The spaces that memes occupy become ‘Memeplexes’ when they are constructed from mutually supportive memes that work together in symbiotic relationships, and how it is that these spaces are translated physically or psychologically into actual places presents itself as a fertile area for developing curatorial projects.
As a curator I run a distinctive space deliberately outside of the traditional white cube aesthetic, and it is in the imperfect plastering, grimy crevices, and curiously fluctuating ceiling heights that I place an importance and identity. For some time after I opened the space I maintained a DIY ethos that ensured that everything that was attached to the gallery in any way (flyers, posters, press releases) was handmade, well-handled, and rubber stamped manually as an act of authentification and self-replication. Although this activity became untenable in certain areas as the gallery expanded, the philosophy continues to reemerge in different guises and scenarios, such as the recent conversion of a digital jpeg still of the gallery logo back to an analogue object in the form of a bespoke rubber stamp that an artist requested be made. The Viral nature of the logo not only replicated itself, but reconverted back to its original form in an activity initiated by another outside of the gallery framework, re-entering the gallery by coming back into contact with myself. The relationship between digital and analogue formations and their mutation will inform my research into how the Viral and memetic can interact with actual spaces and to what degree site-specificity and consent is obtained. As any Viral form requires a ‘host’, the nature of the Viral’s impact upon a space or framework (e.g. a gallery, Second Life, blogosphere, etc) is fundamental. Virals that replicate the most effectively spread the most comprehensively and the possibility that their success may well be detrimental to their hosts adds a further layer of interest when put into the context of an exhibition and its hosting within a gallery or public/private space.
Grey Area has maintained the feel of a ‘squatted’ space since its conception, not only in its imperfections and aesthetic approach, but also in its avoidance of certain legal requirements and its relation to the rest of the commercial building of which it is a part as a basement, out of site and with very different concerns to the pawnbrokers under which it resides. I am specifically interested in how the Viral relates to the concept of ‘squatting’ and the nature of permission, authorisation, or contingency within hosting. My practice as an artist is informed by Situationist ideas such as ‘Derive’ and ‘Detournement’ and I intend to contextualise these concepts with the Viral by researching into the ‘Psychogeographic’ nature of how the Viral can be perceived, traced and hosted temporarily within a squat. The minor acts of curated squatting that I performed in my recent visit to Berlin for the Transmediale festival put some of these ideas in concrete form and the ‘jacked’ nature of the curation presented exciting possibilities for documenting residual evidences and considering ‘Trojans’ of intention/meaning.
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