Last week I had a chat with Andrew Hunt, the new curator of Southend on Sea's Focal Point Gallery to see what he thought were the new challenges facing marginal /rural galleries such as Focal Point. He is a very nice chap and had some interesting things to say - here's the, er, edited version!
Andrew Hunt’s career to date (artist, curator, organiser, publisher, critic, collaborator, facilitator) is gleaming with vision and energy. He regularly contributes to frieze magazine, Art Monthly and has contributed to the Tate publication Tate Etc., as well as taking part in the ‘Nought to Sixty’ exhibition at the ICA last July, further gaining a reputation as a well-respected contemporary curator.He has also recently taken over as Director of Southend’s Focal Point Gallery, where I lured him from his post to the Southend library café to discuss his vision in this new role.
I: Among a wealth of projects, you have previously curated for International Project Space (IPS) in Bournville, South Birmingham and Norwich Gallery. Are you drawn to locations that show signs of cultural and artistic potential and do you envisage new possibilities for improving Southend’s cultural status?
AH: I like Southend for a number of reasons. Norwich Gallery and the IPS in Bournville were very interesting places to work because they were very regional, marginal galleries and it was interesting to see how art functions in these places. For example, the Bournville/George Cadbury, Quaker context was a very interesting subject matter. And similarly Southend has very idiosyncratic cultural aspects.
Southend interests me in that it’s near to London, yet far enough to have its own identity. Also, if you look at the map of the Thames Gateway you’ll see that it’s roughly the same size as London, overlapping it to the east. I’m interested in that de-centred idea and creating a new centre as an alternative to London. There’s too much going on in London, so things get missed, but in smaller places things will get recognised. Also, London doesn’t have to look outside itself, whereas through necessity, places like Southend will have to look beyond themselves to keep going. In Southend, we’re very local but also international, with a few international artists coming in, and because we’ll be inviting interesting and influential people in the art world to openings and events, this also help promote local artists to London visitors and tourists.
I: Your wide-ranging experience within the art world to date is punctuated by an inventive and strategic approach to curating, demonstrating how cross-discipline collaborations can galvanise practices and strengthen communities.In particular, your publishing project Slimvolume Poster Publication has earned you a national and perhaps international reputation as an innovative contemporary curator.Do you find that a more collaborative and strategic approach helps focus your energies and strengthen the impact of the works therein, and do you envisage any similar collaboration with local artists or groups?
AH: Southend is going through a very exciting time. There are a number of emerging organisations, and we intend to partner as many of these as possible and to be as creative as possible within these partnerships.I’m interested in facilitating ideas rather than prescribing ideas. If there is any art in curating it’s in choosing the best artists possible and working with them. We’ll be working with artists who are at stage in their career where they are about to take off or have taken off already.You mention Slimvolume Poster Publication. This continues to be a success, and a similar distribution process will happen for this programme, with limited edition prints and books available free, or to purchase at a very low price, so it’s also a really affordable way for people to get involved in collecting art.
I: In your article for frieze magazine on the Arts Sheffield 08 exhibition you show an enthusiasm for curator Jan Verwoert’s attempt to fuse the international and the local.Do you think that as ‘city’ and ‘digital’ culture merge deeper into the fabric of local life, this social issue is becoming increasingly important for curators of traditional and local galleries in areas that could perhaps benefit from a widened perspective of their public spaces in a local and international sense?
AH: Jan’s focus on the notion of over-production in Sheffield reflects the interesting mixture of ambition and modesty there. And again, I think there’s a similarity in Southend.The idea of the local and the international is interesting because most international artists don’t come from capital cities; so they understand the context of a marginal place. Some local artists, such as Tris Vonna-Michell – who was born in Roachford and brought up in Leigh-on-Sea - already have an international reputation, though I don’t mind the idea of approaching artists that only have a theoretical relationship with Southend, just to show Southend from a fresh perspective. Digital culture is one of our identities at Focal Point and within this context we’re trying to extend perceptions of lens based media. Before, the gallery was very traditional but I see the gallery as an office where we can show documentation of events that happen externally. And with our partners, we’re going to be facilitating local performances and, for example, researching issues such as communication and networks concerning the local community. We’ll also be communicating projects by post, by our website by email, with the intention of testing things –we like publications that people don’t know exactly what they are. Is it a print, is it a piece of art, is it a book, is it an institutional publication, is it a gift? That can work in a positive engagement with the community, so it is an exchange with people. The good thing about art is that it is confusing and doesn’t necessarily have any specific purpose - even though governments and funders are trying to show that it has. Its purposelessness is its beauty. Sometimes that’s the only way newness can be constructed, if things don’t make sense.
I: Considering your previous experiences, what is your vision for the direction of the Focal Point Gallery?
AH: The direction is to make the Focal Point programme one of the best regional arts programmes in the UK. We have some restrictions but in a positive sense we intend to branch out and work as creatively as we can with other partners. The success of our programmes will depend on the artists that we work with and our list of artists planned is very exciting. Also, through our marketing and publications we will hopefully make it very successful. And it will be interesting for local people to see cutting edge contemporary art in Southend.
I: Are there any up and coming exhibitions you can tell us about?
AH: In March/April we’ve got Alastair MacKinven showing some of his famous painting/performances. After that is Clunie Reid, who works in collage and photography, and who’s just received an award at the Zoo Art Fair and was part of the ICA ‘Nought to Sixty’ exhibition.In July/August is Milly Thompson’s first regional solo show, which will hopefully be very beautiful. Then there’s Erik Blinderman, an up and coming American artist. Interestingly, all of these artists will be exhibiting a solo regional show for the first time in the UK.After that we begin our artists in residence programme. We have funding from the Esmée Fairbaim Foundation to subsidise three artists to live and work in Southend for three months each from July 2009 to March 2010, with three resulting exhibitions back to back between January and July 2010.
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