Halfway There

Five international artists were commissioned by Claire Nichols, in collaboration with Neil Taylor and Harriet Murray, to define an idea for a piece of work to exist within the gallery space, on the premise that authorship of these ideas be handed over to the commissioners who then created the work.

The exhibition blurred traditional boundaries between gallery, curator and artist. Modernist relics of ‘authorship’ and ‘the idea’ were reassessed within the context of the contemporary gallery space. The loss of artistic control inherent in this project served to echo the way in which art is handed over to its audience when it is exhibited and how its perceived ‘success’ is dictated by public and critical opinion.

Of the ideas provided by the other artists, some were very specific and others more open. The artists provided the curator and gallery with the concept and outline, from which interpretations and responses were formed. Essentially, I am examining the politics of the process of negotiation with regards to authorship.

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