-CALL FOR ENTRIES-
‘Matters of Translation’
In August-September 2012 there will be an opportunity for undergraduate students (who are graduating this summer), to have their work exhibited at a significant London gallery. The curators for this exhibition have as their concern notions of translation.
In an increasingly globalised world where connections are made with apparent ease, what is the role or the failings of translation in our current society? Indeed, is art particularly well suited to the role of translation?
How does one begin to translate the minds and lights of the city –the history of knowledge- to one who has never migrated, both in mentality and geography, from their birthplace? How does the artist translate the horrors of war-past to generations twice removed from the realities and causalities of the conflict? It is the role of the historian to inform us on the event, but it is a predicate of the artist to translate.
The moment of translation is found in all things that do not connect immediately or appear to have conflicting dualities. This moment can be observed across history or across oceans. It is the attempt to bring together that which is distinct.
Art then, emerges as a machine for translation, and consequently can never itself be translated. It occupies a space that escapes or is beyond language. In translation, in art, we are retrieving something that has been stolen by history; religion; geography; culture. We are, with great effort, trying to once again unite things that were once our right as a cohesive genus.
However, in translation lies a paradox. In attempting to translate and bridge a gap of difference, we are also, in our desire to unify, affirming that very void which we are trying to belittle. The paradox of translation interests the curators as much as the particular success or failures of a translations’ specific agenda.
The curators are interested in work that encompasses, but is not limited to, the following:
- The paradox of translation.
- Sites of translation –both, local-translations (familial, communal, etc) and macro-translations (historical, geographical, cultural etc)
- The place of art as translation.
- Translation as loss and retrieval, both separately and together.
- Explorations into sites and moments of translation
Details for interested artists:
We are accepting proposals of work that are:
· Currently being produced
· Existing fully realised works
· Site-specific works.
Further details on enquiry. Please send an email with your name, the university and course you attend, and your question, interest or proposal (with subsequent imagery if required) to:
Alex Culshaw: mattersoftranslation@gmail.com
Please note all work submitted must not have been exhibited previously (in a degree show or private exhibition, for example).
