MA proposal #3

Here is my third research into proposing my MA. I guess the topic is really not that different, than the first one.

Also, in front of you is my raw curatorial proposal for next year’s Fringe Arts Bath festival. Why shouldn’t I combine it?

“We, as a part of the western hemisphere, live in a world that is regarded as very developed, both physically (industry) and mentally (the mind-set of society). People nowadays are considering themselves as open-minded and of a non-insular rational thinking. They help one another and encourage themselves to create a better world. They do not judge other human beings on their skin colour, gender, sexual orientation or personal appearance. They are broad-minded and unbiased when it comes to external presence. They do not pay much attention to the person in front of them, if he/she is not in the frame of set regulations and leave him/her be their own individual. But is this present reality as we think it is?

This world is full of people, who channel their own identity and do not conform to artificial rules that we as a society created. They are the so-called rebels who do not obey the moral standards of our culture, let it be the outside appearance, sexual preferences or just plain thinking-outside-of-the-box. Moreover, they are doomed to always be dragged through the mud, just because they are not “normal”.

I do not think there is anyone, who did not hear the phrase “Why can’t you be normal?” at least once in his/her life. However, what is “normal”? How is the abstract concept of normality perceived? Why do we need to follow societies’ fictitious laws, so we can be a part of it? Why cannot people act on their own individuality without someone judging them? And why is still something that is different, so controversial?

For my curatorial proposal, I would like to invite artists from all the different fields of the visual arts, may it be painting, sculpture, performance art, video art, photography, graphics or anything else. Artists who are investigating the themes of otherness and exclusion in their artistic practice. I would like to find out, if contemporary artists see this as an issue and how are they dealing with normality, abnormality and otherness of personality and appearance.

Furthermore, the exhibition would expose the audience to the artistic topics they are not used to see or that they are hiding from, because their senses and emotions would not necessarily be positive. It is a good thing to “shock” people and with that unmask their fears, so they can start thinking about what they saw and how it applies to their daily lives. I want to make people see, that not everything out of the ordinary is bad and “defective”. Additionally I want to show them that we can co-exist even if we are unalike and that there is nothing wrong with being different.

With this exhibition, I want to bring to light the questions no one is really asking and should. Where are the boundaries of “normality” and how does the public form them when they are confronted with the otherness?”

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS:

1. featured image: Sherman, C. ⌈photograph⌋ Available from: https://waldina.com/2016/01/19/happy-62nd-birthday-cindy-sherman/ ⌈Accessed 1 November 2016⌋.