I was particularly interested in the Ruangrupa collective in Indonesia, which has recently celebrated 15 years in existence. One of the projects that the collective encompasses is RURU Gallery, described as ” a contemporary art gallery opened by ruangrupa since 2008 to make room for the work of visual artists, writers, and young curators through six exhibitions a year.” I saw many similarities between RURU and the Carrack in Durham, after meeting and visiting with Laura last week. The principle difference is the timeline of exhibitions – RURU puts on 6 exhibitions per year, while the Carrack changes exhibitions every two weeks. Both contain a group exhibition that unites the work of many artists, and Ruangrupa emphasize the importance of providing a space where young artists and curators are able to meet and support one another, a goal that is also at the core of the Carrack. Laura spoke of the space frequently being used for performances, discussions or other events that may not strictly be related to an exhibition during its time on show, fostering innovative non-traditional types of collaboration. both RURU and the Carrack exemplify alternative structures that exist successfully outside the mould of typical galleries in their organization and running. These two grass roots efforts offer opportunity for great collaboration and fresh innovation that results from the exchange of creative ideas. To me, both galleries show that the creation of space for social practice can be an act of social practice art in itself.
The open collaboration between artists and curators further subverts the art institution’s apparent divergence of the two. In “Curator as Producer” in Manifesta Journal, John Roberts draws upon Benjamin’s and Hegel’s consideration of the artist-curator. Benjamin, in particular, encourages a merging of roles as implied in his 1934 text, “The Author as Producer.” Roberts translates this to ask for the curator to take on a more active role beyond just arranging for the reception of art. The curator’s role goes beyond engaging with the physical objects, to engaging with whole communities. Within Ruangrupa, the artist and the curator maintain a certain degree of autonomy, yet the consistent dialogue between the two helps construct a meaningful end product. In other words, the two work together with a mutual audience. In this case (unlike that of larger art institutions), the separation between a curator and the artist is mitigated, so they both work at the same level. This horizontal, rather than vertical, relationship allows for the merging of the curator and artist in a way that presents meaningful art that addresses a local community.
Ruangrupa website: http://ruangrupa.org/15/