This is a case study looking at the production of site-oriented works in 'Outlook', a large international exhibition that took place in Athens in 2003 as part of the Cultural Olympiad (2001-2004). The study examines the processes that led to the production of site-oriented works, reflecting the range of the artists' conceptualisations regarding the city of Athens at a particular moment. The aim is to explore the co-operation of the curator with the artists, from the initial proposals for the works to the final products. Theoretically this undertaking draws upon the discourse on large international exhibitions and on curatorial and artistic innovations as they have developed since the 1960s. In the case examined in this study, the site-oriented works were approached from a critical position emanating from dated curatorial views and authoritative practices, and on the artists' side from a relative absence of critical reflection on the curator's specifications for such works. The findings of this research challenge the argument that the international character of contemporary large exhibitions can be realised through the new roles of the global curator and the itinerant artist in the context of post-Fordist capitalism. Contrary to this argument, 'Outlook' has brought into focus the quasi-ethnographic practices of itinerant artists, who often replaced knowledge of the place with pre-existing artistic patterns capable of application to a variety of settings. Furthermore, the findings question the claimed 'osmosis' between the global curator's and artists' practices, in the light of a strong curatorial figure who set specifications and to some extent shaped not only the list of participants but their final works, too. 'Outlook' generated works that either conformed to the spirit of the exhibition or were in the process of preparation distorted and misinterpreted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:573018 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Koukou, Eleni |
| Publisher | University of Essex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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