The members show at Two Queens was a very valuable experience, seeing different layouts for such a variety of work within a space was really interesting. It was also good to be able to experience a more intermingled curation and way of displaying work, this is not like the clearly divided by artist nature I am used to from college and university; it is similar to things like the LOVE Art open call I was part of as well as an upcoming group exhibition in February.
It was also a valuable experience in terms of meeting others who are
artists, involved in or interested in the arts. I made a couple of new
acquaintances and was able to interact with people since the environment was
very welcoming and open, not like the large galleries I have been inside
before. I did also trade information and social media details with a few local
artists and people I met at the show.
I I was also able to speak to many lecturers and technicians from DMU outside the course, this was invaluable as I felt much more able to make a human connection and relate to them as peers rather than staff etc. In this way I feel the experience was very valuable as a networking opportunity and as a way for me to re-evaluate how I see art outside education, it was also good to talk to other people in and around the arts scene about opportunities or advice. This has inspired me to seek some sort of voluntary or residency opportunity, in order to run a community project maybe and interface with the public more through my work.
The construction of the show was also a good demonstration of curation and the use of space, the square room was transformed by constructing a wall to divide the space into 3 or 4 distinct areas. This allows the viewer to travel around the space moving from one interesting piece to another in their own way if desired, instead of being read as a circular or linear display it is an amalgam.
I also found it interesting to see how people negotiated this space themselves, often investigating alone and then returning to find friends and show them the point of interest they had found. Observing this in a members show with the public was a useful experience and this aspect of investigation of the space could easily become part of my work, which itself is about distorted space and visitor experience.