Episode 27: Paul O’Neill (Part 1)
We are hosting the curator, artist, writer and educator Paul O’Neill. Paul is someone who is very attentive and elaborate in figuring out and shaping thought around the curatorial and artistic work. Together, we delve into his take on what publics mean and discuss the importance of opening up spaces of contact and sites for ‘working together’.
“To talk about curating as a space of care is ludicrous, especially when we look at what’s happened to physical, mental, psychological bodies over the last two or three years.”
We also scrutinize the state of art institutions today and their future, along with hearing his take on the convergence of exhibition-making and programming. Along with insights on establishing and running an institution or an art space today. We will be releasing this conversation in two parts, something we’ve never done before. But there was so much valuable insight in the q&a session that I thought this time deserves its own space.
Episode Notes & Links
Paul O’Neill is a curator, artist, writer, and educator. He is the artistic director of Publics. O’Neill has held numerous curatorial and research positions over the years and he has taught in many curatorial and visual arts programs in Europe, the UK, and the USA. He was the Director of the Curatorial Studies program and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Hessel Museum at the Bard College, NY. He has co-curated more than sixty projects across the world including We are the (Epi)center, P! Gallery, New York (2016), and the multi-faceted We are the Center for Curatorial Studies for the Hessel Museum, Bard College (2016-17). He has co-edited the books Kathrin Böhm; Art on the Scale of Life, MIT Press (forthcoming), Curating After the Global; Roadmaps to the Present, MIT Press, CCS Bard and LUMA Foundation, Arles 2019, How Institutions Think; Between Contemporary Art and Curatorial Discourse, MIT Press, 2017, and many more.http://www.pauloneill.org.uk
PUBLICS is a curatorial agency with a dedicated library, event space, and reading room in Helsinki. PUBLICS follows and expands on O’Neill’s critical social thinking, contemporary art, and publicness, with a much more open and participatory stance. https://www.publics.fi
Center for Curatorial Studies is an experimentation base at Bard College dedicated to curatorial studies and exhibition making. The Hessel Museum of Art in Bard College is an extension of Center for Curatorial Studies. https://ccs.bard.edu/
Checkpoint Helsinki, was a contemporary art organization that operates as a critical platform to support local cultural activities and public engagement while contributing to the international visibility of artistic production in the city of Helsinki. https://www.checkpointhelsinki.org
Julia Studio is a design practice that brings together graphic and spatial design runs between London, Paris and Rome. https://julia.studio
Liam Gillick is an artist based in New York. https://liamgillick.info/
Kathrin Böhm is an artist. Listen to Episode 13 to get to know her better. https://www.ahali.space/episodes/episode-13-kathrinbohm
Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons is a non-profit public art institution based in Utrecht. https://casco.art
Bétonsalon is a centre for contemporary art and research based in Paris. https://www.betonsalon.net
SAVVY, the laboratory of form and ideas is a public cultural institution based in Berlin. Find more about SAVVY in Episode 15, featuring Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung:https://savvy-contemporary.com/
https://www.ahali.space/episodes/episode-15-bonaventure
Walter Benjamin criticizes the monistic approach of historical materialism and considers history as a concept made out of self-standing memory layers and relations.
Chris Kraus is an American writer and filmmaker. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kraus
Cynthia Cruz is a contemporary American poet. http://cynthiacruzblog.blogspot.com/
Eliisa Suvanto is the Program Manager at PUBLICS.
Shimmer is a curatorial studio based in Rotterdam. https://shimmershimmer.org/
Latitudes is a curatorial office based in Barcelona that works internationally across contemporary art practices. https://www.lttds.org/
Laia Estruch is an artist based in Barcelona. https://laiaestruch.com/
Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement and a growing quest for racial justice, began in 2013, as a reaction to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter
MeToo is a phrase coined by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke. Following its initial use in 2006, to establish an empowering ground among survivors, it became a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeToo_movement
Mary Douglas (1921 – 2007) was a British anthropologist. In her book “How Institutions Think”, Douglas discusses the recurring effects of individuals and institutions on each other, regarding the processes of thinking. https://www.routledge.com/How-Institutions-Think-Routledge-Revivals/Douglas/p/book/9780415684781
SHAPE map is a website resource for Helsinki’s contemporary art landscape, a mapping of art spaces and public events across the city. https://www.shape-helsinki.fi/
Multiples X was an organization that commissioned and supported curated exhibitions of artist's editions.
Keller Easterling is an architect, writer and professor of architecture.Listen to Episode 25 to get to know her better. https://www.ahali.space/episodes/25kellereasterling
This season of Ahali Conversations is supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. The Graham provides project-based grants to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society.
This episode was also supported by a Moon & Stars Project Grant from the American Turkish Society.
This episode was recorded on Zoom on May 17th, 2022.
Interview by Can Altay. Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.