17th April – 16th May 2010
Kulturbunker Dora, Trondheim – Norway
Tracing the borders: A collective reaction from emerging European artists to their contemporary cultural environments was conceived for the Trondheim bi-annual, Manufacturing Today, in 2009. Manufacturing Today, curated by Cristina Ricupero, is a five-year research project with student participation, working within the context of art and education. The bi-annual seeks to question what art education is for, how art education functions alongside the art market, and ultimately, what it means to be an “artist”. Manufacturing Today will take the form of workshop sessions, a publication, an exhibition and several commissions.
Tracing the borders explores similar ground to Manufacturing Today, but whereas Manufacturing Today is not a self-organised project, generated from “below”, “Tracing the borders” is entirely so.
From the 7th December to the 16th December 2009, thirty-five emerging artists from six European countries came together, via the Internet, to produce Tracing the borders, a collaborative text.
Created through a number of email conversations Tracing the borders began with a single question. Artists were asked to answer the initial question and to then ask another participant of their choosing a new question. This structure was followed throughout; eliciting over one hundred and fifty questions and answers among the group of artists.
The resulting text raises a variety of topics that preoccupy the minds of contemporary emerging artists practicing today. Those currently based in England, Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland and Denmark discuss their experiences of the differing conditions in the art scenes that they have been part of. From London to Jerusalem to Lapland, the discussion raises questions about art education systems, governments’ roles in the art environment and the prevailing attitudes towards emerging artists in each location.
Personally and politically this collaborative text provides participants and readers with numerous mini essays which are both informative and inspiring. Tracing the borders is a vital example of how, and why, emerging artists have the desire to shape the future of their profession. Not only is the dialogue of importance, but the act of exchange is also crucial. Through exchange we are able to identify the specificity of our situation and progress through shared experience. Tracing the borders provides an essential forum for these conversations; these words that come directly from “below”.
Project Coordinator: Sarah Walters
