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Nous essayons d’amorcer un dialogue entre nous pour voir
où cela peut nous mener. J’ai aussi monté un projet intitulé
Proximities
centré sur des œuvres vidéo latino-américaines
réalisées par des artistes dont les racines se trouvent au
Mexique, à Porto Rico, et bien sûr au Venezuela. Ce projet fait
écho à des préoccupations partagées par des artistes plus
jeunes et habitant à Trinidad mais auxquelles ils sont rare-
ment directement confrontés.
SL
|
À propos d’Alice Yard, pourquoi était-il important de créer
un espace alternatif ?
CC
|
Paradoxalement, Alice Yard est un lieu ancré dans la tradi-
tion, presque un archétype pour les Caribéens puisque comme
son nom l’indique, il s’agit une cour – l’arrière-cour d’une
maison modeste des années 1930 située à Port-d’Espagne,
un endroit où des générations entières de la famille de l’archi-
tecte Sean Leonard ont joué, enfants, et d’où ils sont partis,
vêtus de costumes conçus là pour l’occasion, pour rejoindre
le carnaval. Ce genre de décor est familier des débuts de la
littérature locale et du théâtre aussi bien que de l’histoire du
carnaval et de la musique Steel Band (ensemble musical dont
les instruments sont des bidons, etc.) jouée dans ces espaces.
curatorial enterprises may still be engaged in a kind of archaic,
Salon-like processing of objects or licensing of individuals or
actions. For me it begins with the artwork and the ideas in the
artwork. I begin from there, following the dialogues and the
debates and then trying to make them visible within a given
moment. I have no set idea; ideas come to me simply be looking
at the work or talking to the artists and then I want to convey,
share or make visible those ideas to see what they unravel. In
some ways I have struggled to get away from cultural pitfalls
and national aesthetic habits and look at what the artist are
doing as individuals. In that way, I can abandon the burden of
being representative and engage the ideas of the artist. I become
an individual talking to other individuals about the Caribbean.
Anyone can join in and contribute to the debate; it is not a per-
sonal narrative with territorial boundary lines.
SL
|
What about the funding for an exhibition such as “Wrestling
with the Images”?
CC
|
“Wrestling with the Images” evolved out a World Bank Art
Program initiative called “About Change”. It was part of a survey
of work in the Americas and was hosted by the Art Museum of
the Americas, sponsored by the Organization of American States,
which involves signatory states exclusively. Tatiana Flores and
I were part of the debate and developed the Caribbean chapter,
which eventually became as a show in itself. The larger survey
has occured from January 21 to March 10, 2011. Because many
countries were not members of the organization, we looked at
the ideas and the methodology of the work in order to create
a conversation with artists who were not included. There were
also some interesting points due to the artists’ mobility: an
artist born in Tobago, living in St. Croix, does a work about living
rooms in Havana, and so on.
SL
|
How would you describe this experience as a curator? Do
you have any future projects in the pipeline?
CC
|
Working with large institutions with set rules and ways of
working, not to mention political diplomacy, is always challeng-
ing. I prefer smaller situations. I learned a lot and was glad that
they were willing to take me seriously. As long as people are
making things, I have ideas and projects. This takes me back
to your first question. I see my work as part of a dialogue. At
Alice Yard, we are having our Anniversary event. This is our fifth
year in existence. We want to look at performance work or work
that records or stages performance art. Last year we presented
“Shot in Kingston”, a survey of contemporary digital work, much
of which turned up in “Wrestling with the images”. Many artist
from the region visited and participated in these dialogues: Blue
Curry, Heino Schmidt, John Cox, Sheena Rose, Marcel Pinas
and O’Neil Lawrence. We are trying to set up dialogues among
ourselves to see where that takes us. I also did a project called
“Proximities”, which looked at Latin American video work by
artist with roots in Mexico, Puerto Rico and of course Venezuela.
The work took up concerns that younger artist in Trinidad share
but rarely get to experience directly.
SL
|
Concerning Alice Yard, why was it important to create an
alternate space?
CC
|
Ironically, Alice Yard is a very traditional space. It is almost
archetypal in Caribbean terms, as it is literally a yard - the
backyard of a modest 1930’s Port of Spain home – a place
Christopher Cozier.
Little gestures
, série
Tropical night.
2006-2011, encre, tampons sur papier, 23 x 18 cm chaque dessin.