Thoughts from Kassel...

Dear TAC,

Sorry for my lack of communication and input for the last while – I feel particularly bad since what I have been doing lately is quite related to CAMRU - but I am now in a better position to contribute again. (In case you’re not sure where I disappeared to, I am currently in Kassel, Germany working as part of the art mediation team of documenta 12. With the particular focus on Education for documenta and the efforts of the team coordinators to encourage innovative formats for guiding tours and special projects, I’ve been learning and involved with attempts to provide more dialogical educative models within the exhibition.)

So, yes Andie I would love to share my experiences but I'm not sure what is relevant - do you have any specific questions?? Actually, the 3rd documenta magazine themed on Education is now available and perhaps you could find this in Melbourne but the articles are also all available online...

I feel like I can’t really evaluate how the programme is working yet and whether this has been successful, but when I first arrived we heard from some interesting art education theorists and one project in particular was very similar to that of us with CAMRU- it was by Anna Zosik entitled ‘Hannah Arendt Denkraum’ as part of an exhibition held in Berlin (October to November 2006). She basically set up a room in the middle of this group show where people were encouraged to respond in ways similar to CAMRU – she edited responses a little more but really had the same difficulties and results as us… the guards got really into it, people took active ownership of the space, and it took on a life of its own.

The art mediation team is actually part of a research project by Carmen Moersch who is writing her PhD on art mediation and trying to progress this in Germany in relation to UK based models.

Okay, perhaps I can write more on this soon, but love to you all,
M xx

Two-fold: the low down...

Hey guys
Welcome back! ☺
Tom thanks for volunteering to be the treasurer- you be a treasure! And congrats also on your show at HSP it looks really good
So in terms of this two-fold show, I’m sorry for sounding a bit vague last time, basically the focus is on curatorship students who are also practicing artists. Originally the exhibition was going to be a showcase for curatorship students to share what they’ve been up to. However I thought that might turn into a bit of a mixed bag and since Angela and I decided to co-curate the show together we've developed the concept for the show towards challenging curatorial frameworks through artistic practice. Some other artist/curators for example are examining documentation or the support materials that accompany exhibitions, one artist is working in collaboration with a sculptor to make an interactive object- whereby the viewer constructs the work, there are some amazing cabinets that are dying to be used as a wunderkammer but I’m not sure if that will be realised. I’m hoping to create a TAC reading area- so really I’m not proposing a new project as such for TAC, but rather I thought of using documentation of past examples (such as our Prospect room sheets) as a starting point for discussion about some of the issues that haven’t been addressed in our course (such as self-organised projects, working collaboratively and the perception/positioning of art that aims to be socially engaging).
Alternatively I could just create a reading corner without any TAC related material if you’d prefer, but, what are your thoughts?
Andie
p.s. guess what guess what? I got a job working as ‘Project Officer’ for the South Project!!

Banking Scenario

Liz and Paula
new post
subject: Banking
(this post is a parody based on well-established patterns)

Hi every one how’s it going?
We’ve got a couple of cheque payments made out to TAC for the pencils; one from the Govett Brewster for $149.62, and one from City Gallery for $134.00. We also need to send in another invoice to City Gallery for the last 27 pencils that were sold and pay Alex and the rest of us back for outstanding trolley resource purchases.
So we need an account to deposit these cheques into. What shall we do? Shall we set up a joint account with all 6 of us as signatories. who want to do that? or should one of us set up an account under TAC name and deal with all transactions in a transparent manner?

2 DAYS LATER…
Andie writes
I support that, sounds like a great idea!

3 DAYS AFTER THAT…
Sian writes
its awesome that were going to have money in hte bank! Rolling init!!
Htet joint account sounds good if u want somoene to come to that bank I can, as one of hte remaining wellington cru

2 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
No further replies

4 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
Liz writes
Ok, well we seem to be a little slow responding on this one, do i need to do another text around? Maybe you need personal email correspondence?
We do need consensus to move forward!!!

8 WEEKS AFTER ORIGINAL POST...
Paula writes
I want to get this money in the bank so that we can pay our bills etc.
I am happy to set up an account and have all the statements mailed to tac offices.
I am with kiwibank so the accounts are free and statments are online (emailable)
So it doesn’t matter if the money just sits there, as there is no cost. Transparent.
So anyway.....
The lack of communication with Tac is really frustrating.
This kind follows on from my last post, entitled ‘where is the association at?’
To which there was only one reply. (thanks andie!)
Who is in this collaboration anyway?