Back to Black Mountain: The Only Way To Do It

The brief for the inaugural year of the MLitt Curatorial Practice at GSA was simple enough: American Abstract Expressionism. Yet, with the wit and guile expected of a contemporary art curator, they’ve managed to shoe their own interests into what might have been an otherwise straightforward exhibition of prints at the Hunterian Art Gallery.

It’s little known that the Hunterian have an extensive collection of works on paper, with prints from the likes of De Kooning, Rauschenberg, Albers and Warhol. While impressive, the postgraduate students felt it necessary as students of contemporary art curation specifically to bring something new to the discussion. It was the experimental practices of the Black Mountain College and its relationship with Abstract Expressionism that provided the all-important convincing link to bring in contemporary artists: in their words, “Black Mountain College was not only a mythology on its own, but we started to see real echoes with Glasgow, both in working practices and the sense of community.”

It was with reference to avant-garde choreographer Merce Cunningham, that the curatorial group found their title, The Only Way To Do It Is To Do It. Though a bit longer than the average title, it manages to neatly sum up the working ethos that carries through the pieces on exhibition, both historically and contemporarily.

Selecting three artists, the emphasis was on a non-prescriptive reflection on the legacy of the Black Mountain College and associated art historical figures. From nine artists, the group decided to choose Ciara Phillips, Raydale Dower and Glasgow Open Dance School (G.O.D.S.). Together, they’re loosely grouped across print, dance and sound. It was important that something a bit motley was put together: “We didn’t just want to be saying, 'Here’s Josef Albers and here’s a contemporary artist who is doing a similar thing.' It was about doing something much more fluid. If there’s any kind of ethos of Black Mountain College, it’s 'don’t look back, look forward and do stuff'.”

Across the objects of the show, there are examples of the impressive collection of the Hunterian, combined with Phillips, Dower and G.O.D.S.. Cross-pollinating works both old and new, Phillips’ large screen print diptych New Things to Discuss intersects the space with De Kooning and Robert Motherwell. G.O.D.S. exhibit alongside John Cage’s loose collection of recipes and scores for work, Roly Holy Mountain. In turn, G.O.D.S. present a kind of cumulative dance score where the audiences of their dance workshops are asked to add actions for future iterations. Dialogue continues, this time with John Cage, as Dower transmits the noise from outside the gallery into the space via a network of microphones and amplifiers.

It was with reference to the Albers quotation, “don’t become an adding machine for dates and facts, produce actual facts,” that the curation students assembled a programme of 'activations'. Open for a very healthy six months (until 4 October), it was important that the space and show were both kept alive somehow. They coined the term 'activation' to distinguish the events from workshops, as "they’re not necessarily participatory."

With Dower having delivered his workshop last month, in which he recreated some of the works of Steve Reich and John Cage, next month G.O.D.S. and Ciara Phillips respectively will deliver the second and third 'activations'. For Phillips, this means reuniting with recently graduated students from 5-8 August and printmaking together with them, in an open and experimental way. One week later on Sunday 16 August, G.O.D.S. will deliver the second of their workshops (the first was in March), bookending the exhibition with a free workshop, open to all.