Curatorial Reflections on Un-boxing at Sainte-Croix-de-Mareuil by Jane Linden.

The single square box stands as a provocation in the middle of the gallery floor; its address/impors labels revealing nothing of its contents. What to do with it? Who is best placed to split open the box and let its contents spill out, who indeed should take responsibility to un-wrap, un-tie, un-ravel - to un-do – each parcel; and how far should that ‘revealing’ be taken? What end do we seek here? What elements of this process of disclosure might we select as the kernel – the ‘end’ product to be ‘exhibited’ for others to confront and enjoy? And how much licence might we have to place one object against another…to create further resonance or narrative, to communicate with and to embellish……

One of the most significant aspects, of this project, conceived by Gudrun Filipska et al, shares the grounding values of the aTE initiative which seeks to engender dialogue between artists and their locations – to identify stark contrasts and shared ground, and to generate new material through collaboration and participation. The ensuing material serves as a dynamic multidisciplinary archive inviting further contemplation and interaction both directly and online. 

The Un-Boxing project further explores these notions of the democratic in art production and consumption through its fluxus-like invitation to interact with and add-to, thus blurring all those boundaries between artist, curator and consumer. Moreover, further challenges are evoked on ideas about what actually constitutes an artwork, and in what contexts it could be acknowledged as such. To be invited to ‘un-box’ such evidence of engagement, then, affords, and indeed encourages, further participatory agency such that the pleasures of revealing by whomsoever and wheresoever serve not just as part of a shared curatorial process but also as a deeply creative and reflective one. So it is then, that these ephemeral documents drawn from solid locations each with their own physical, geo-political and cultural characteristics, resonate in a number of different ways leading us to further trains of thought- lines of enquiry – flights of fancy.

As we excavate, absorb, and reflect here, on some the issues that may be made explicit or lie buried amidst the layering of these materials, as active participants, we are compelled to consider our own experiences, localities and environments. Our sharing of these may come in different ways – through the telling of stories, reminiscences and a plethora of physical, found and factured responses and interventions. Oh, the sheer joy of it!

…..the absorbed and careful unwrapping of delicate handmade paper generates a story of art student days with abortive attempts at papermaking from cow dung. There is also talk of natural pigments, antipodean red earth, plant juices and memories of hand dying wool and cloth with onion skins and lichen. Synthetic dyes and water pollution…..

…..someone moves deliberately across the gallery space to place a miniature wooden chair in a fleeting shaft of sunlight….

…..Is this a letter to someone…..should I be reading it?

…..a film shows abandoned slate quarries in Snowdonia, the soundtrack reminiscent of the curious noise the tile-cutting machine at the chateau makes when switched off after a day of preparing locally quarried limestone travertine slabs for the new kitchen…..

…..There are many maps here, and documents and accounts of journeys describing a coming together, a meeting, an exchange of territory…..re-worked boundaries…..transgressions, inclusions and intrusions… “If I see you on my land again I’ll shoot your horse”…..

…..objects are taken out in to the open- set against trees and piles of leaves, against the sky, a hole in a wall…..sometimes juxtaposed - life against death, dark against light, blue black slate against ivory white limestone, the ‘real’ against the documented, your location against mine…..Othertimes blended and integrated in shared existence. Despite our differences, things can be the same the world over…..

…..And now we hear the distinctive sound of the migrating cranes returning to their breeding grounds and wonder at the spectacle of their formations - seemingly endless strings of dots coming wave after wave, the lead arrowhead occasionally dispersing and forming others as energy ebbs and flows– up to a kilometre high. They come from southern Spain, flying over France (sometimes in just a day) to settle and breed in northern Europe. Can you hear them? Can you see them….?

…..We drink coffee and eat cake made from locally grown walnuts whilst fabricating origami cranes from discarded wrappings and newspaper - our final contribution. It is time to pack up…..to retrieve, to sort-through, re-order, re-wrap, re-fold and re-box…..Curious to think that such a small insignificant brown cardboard box can contain so much…..

Jane Linden is a curator who runs La Vieille Closerie, Aquitaine. See more on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/lavieillecloserie/

Special thanks to Robert and Marion Hadaway – proprietors of the Chateau Gallery.

Post card from Kim V Goldsmith and Andrew Howe, La Vieille Closerie 2021.