TO ALL FORRIGEN GUESTS AND ProKK MEMBERS

ProKK PRSENTS

TRANSFORM

AN EXPERMENTAL VISUAL ART EXHIBITION - WHICH EXPLORES THE TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A STAGED AND INTENDED TRANGRESSIVE COLABORATION BETWEEN PRACTICES RELATED

PERIODE: Saturday d. 29.10-06.11 2011
CURATOR: Trine Rytter Andersen

MOTIVATION

Trough a transparent workshop structure the participants wish to:

Explore the transgressive potentials of an intended and directed professional and interdisciplinary collaboration between related practices

Create specific frameworks and spaces which can catalyze change and the finding of new grounds both in a personal and artistic cense.

Open up to the possibility of transformation and to give it an artistic and aesthetic expression.

Permit the public access to an intimate view on the character and development of these collaborative meetings throughout the time of exhibition.

Elaborate the theme through tours and Artist Talks free to the public during the time of exhibition.

Sell Multiples: little art works, which are produced by the artist and copied in small numbered series. All Multiples must relate to the theme TRANSFORMATION / CHANGE / TRANSGRESSIVENESS

PROJECT CONCEPT

On an annual basis the association of professional visual artists and craftsmen ProKK, in Aarhus, invites its members to participate in the making of a common artistic manifestation open to the public. Last year this effort resulted in the successfully delivered exhibition INTERFERENS situated in the old main office building of the Ceres Breweries in the centre of Aarhus. ProKK represents approximately 180 members.

WITH A STARTINGPOINT WITHIN DIFFERENT PRACISES IN VISUAL ART TRANSFORM WILL ADRESS THE THINGS WE DO TO COLABORATE AND WHAT WE BECOME BY THE GIVING US SELF OVER TO THE COLABORATION.

TRNANSFORM is the title of this year's manifestation and it expresses the wish amongst the ProKK-members to explore the possibilities of collaboration within their own personal network. It is essential that, the kind of relationships, which are at stake, must be grounded in an urge reciprocal to all parts involved. It can be love, admiration, grace, anger, lust, fear, hope, abomination, addiction etc.
The individual efforts must aim towards a deeper understanding of and commitment to the transformative potential of the collaborative situation. The product of the collaboration is pieces of art which peeresses the essence of the interdisciplinary process and expresses the transformation of the individuals and the relation that has taken place.
The art must not just be an illustration of how important a network is - it must on the contrary show something that can reveal the emotions and the relations as they unfold under such artistically directed circumstances and such reciprocal wish to invest oneself. The framing within the field of visual art helps the participants to meet in a manner more intimate and tactilely more challenging.
This way the possibility, that this collaborative meeting eventually becoming futile in the sense of transformation, is optimised.

WORKSHOP FORMAT

The possibility of TRANSFORMATION and how to describe and express it is the core issue of the exhibition.
Therefore the exhibition will take place as a workshop during 10 days.
First the participants will work intensively together for 5 days. Next the public is invited to closely observe the character of the different collaborative relations while they are still under development and the transformations manifest themselves as more and more art works applied to the entire volume of the TRANSFORM exhibition.

We believe that this format is appealing to the viewers, because it is always interesting to see and to discover how people meet with one another in a relationship where both parts are prepared to challenge one another and ready to invite transgression and to welcome transformation - by doing that in a 10 days workshop the possibility of transformation is intensified every day the exhibition lingers on.

THE CURATOR

In connection with TRANSFORM and the exhibition 'EGO' in the Aarhus Art Building next year undersigned, Trine Rytter Andersen, is employed as curator. My role is to direct the overall artistic framework around the two exhibitions; to help develop individual ideas and competences within each cooperative relationship towards a qualitative fulfilment of the artistic and aesthetic goals of the exhibition.
I have coached individual artists on their practices over the last 10 years and I will unfold this competence in the dialogue with the artists participating in TRANSFORM and EGO as well.
My opinion is that different people and different circumstances ask for different challenges and options. As curator I will challenge the artists along the way and my 'tripping' must be a natural extension to the kind of contact and exchange which I have with each of the participants in connection with their processes and finally their pieces of art.

In order to prepare one self for the TRANSFORM-task I have suggested the participants to do as follows:

1. To step out of your comfort zone = don't do as you usually do - try to surprise your self!
2. To expect what seems impossible to you = be open and alert
3. To integrate what seems difficult = accept and exploit the possibility of change and transformation

As a structural frame of the TRANSFORM-exhibition the artists must submit to the following rules:

1. Each group can produce 1 piece of art. The piece can consist of more parts but they must be connected and recognised as one entity. Installations are also welcome as are films and other media.
2. The piece must be created in close collaboration with a person in your own network. It can be an artist as it can be someone from a different background than art.
3. The curator invites to an ongoing dialogue with each individual group in order to help clarifying and upgrading the projects
4. The groups are incurraged to keep a kind of a dairy and to create mind maps, which describes the phases and the development of the collaborative processes. This material will be at use for a publication on TRANSFORM, which we wish to publish during fall 2011. (Cf. DOKKUMENTATION / REFLEKSION below)
5. Each group must create a little text about their collaboration/product (about 10 lines) for the exhibitions catalogue on ProKK's website. (Cf. PR & COMMUNICATION below) The text must communicate the idea behind the work and describe the background and the character of the collaboration as well. (Fascination point)
6. There are no limits to how big a piece can be - BUT everybody must strive to present their work at its best within the given physical frame, and at the same time be ready to meet with needs and demands from other participants. The total impression and appearance of the exhibition is most important and must be a concern to everybody involved. The collaboration in this phase will increase and as the exhibition lingers on and the volume to be displayed grows, everybody's collaborative skills will be put to the test.
7. Curator can decide in quarrels between participants over how to display their work.
8. The artists must acknowledge that the clashes between their works are also an important part of the transformative character of the exhibition.

MULTIBLES - THE SHOP
In connection with TRANSFORM there will be established a shop for display and sale of handmade MULTIPLES. (little numbered series of original artworks sold at a low price) All ProKK-menbers and TRANSFORM-guests are invited to create and sell MULTIPLES, which are made specially for this location and are observant to and investigating the theme of transformation/change and transgressiveness.
As originally intended by the idea behind MULTIPLES they are at sale at a low price in order to democratise the sale of art Therefore MULTIPLES at TRANFORM must not cost more than 1000,00 DK.KR . Each artist must sell maximum 5 series of MULTIPLES in limited editions at a max of: 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 or 13 uniform items in each collection.
The intention behind the shop has different aims:
To extend the thematical exploration of TRANSFORM into an individual arts sphere.
To enlarge the interactivity of TRANSFORM - due to the fact that the exhibition won't physically be at its climax until the day it ends. Inside the shop the visitors will be able to involve with all the little art pieces, which are also addressing the overall theme but in a more clear and finished fashion. This way it is the intention that the collaborative processes, which can be observed in the workshops, will be even more interesting and mind opening to the public. Finally the MULTIPLES at sale, serves as a thematical fix point and souvenirs for our guests to purchase and bring home.

GUIDED TOURS AND ARTIST TALKS
Twice a day during the open hours of TRANSFORM there will be tours around the workshop area conducted by the curator. Artists and other workshop participants must be ready to involve with the guests and to communicate their practise and works of art.
Tree nights will be reserved for Artist Talks, which are moderated by the curator, who can also invite guests from outside to elaborate on certain subjects in accordance to the topics, which are at stake

DOKKUMENTATION / REFLEKTION

In order to describe and reflect the dynamics and evolutions of the collaborative meetings we have decided to make a publication on TRANSFORM after the workshops have taken place. We try to finance the publication via national founding from the Danish Arts Council. The publication will be lounged fall/winter 2011, if sufficient founding is successfully found.

PR & COMUNICATION

Curator and a PR-group are in charge of PR and communication of TRANSFORM. A low Tec web catalogue will be produced on ProKKs Website and flyers and ads in different media will refer to that. TRANSFORM will also be communicated via Face book and other social digital media.
ProKKs 180 members and their network provide a large group of interest and guests at the exhibition. Most of the participants are teachers and therefore we expect to see a lot of students at the exhibition too.

VENUE

TRANSFORM will take place in two huge film studies in Aarhus Filmby (1000 square meters)
Like in the movie 'Dog Ville' by Lars Von Trier, we will create a transparent 'City' where each group will 'inhabit' a space with their own furniture, lamps and other devices suitable for their work over the 10 days the workshop takes place. The total of the scenery will create a unique scenography and ad both wideness and intimacy too the appearance of the entire exhibition. Light will lead the viewer to the action and darkness will blur, what is not yet to be seen and discovered. TRANSFORM is unfolding inside a black box, which is also adequate to the nature of a workshop which is open to the public. This demands another kind of appearance and performance by the participants different from what they normally do inside the white cube.
The Film City is situated in the centre of Aarhus next to parking spaces and public transportation this is an absolute advantage to the successfulness of TRANSFORM.

PROKK

By the closing of The Aarhus Artists House the majority of ProKK-members lost a rare exhibiting venue. Since it has become still more difficult to access the cultural institutions for locally based visual artists and craftsmen without a highly recognized international profile. Also the old artists groups, which many of ProKKs members are connected to, are challenged far over their means in order to stay visible on the scene of art.
Thus since 2006 ProKK has arranged an annual manifestation in which members are invited to participate. These exhibitions are curated and they follow a concept and are conducted as experimental exhibiting formats, as well as they serve as an upgrading forum for the participants. Also visibility of ProKK is important as well as is the increasing network and contacts.
Over the last years the exhibitions have become even more 'atavistic' an thereby still more challenging to the ProKK-members who join the projects

The strategy is to make exhibitions of increasing quality - exhibitions which show the participants at their very best in a setting, which is both interesting and challenging to the artists and to the public. Trough the content of the exhibitions and by staging them still more experimentally, ProKK wishes to become an active part of the ongoing debate on art quality and art making. ProKK also wishes to enlarge its numbers of viewers and to meet with the expectations of a multicultural public. ProKK has learned so far, that its manifestations can attract many young visitors searching for new contents and meaning. ProKK interpret this as a evidential opportunity to recognise the artists as a role model in society. This is why ProKK also wishes to become still more involved with the debate of cultural politics in Aarhus too.

Regards and welcome

Trine Rytter Andersen
Curator

Prokk2011@gmail.com
+4524859719