Two students from the MA Film Programming and Curating recently had an opportunity to test their ideas on curating moving image works at the Zabludowicz Collection. The recently closed show In the Shadow of Forward Motion (Jan. 17 – Feb. 24, 2019) at the private gallery and exhibition space in London featured contributions by the FMACS MA students Nicole Atkinson and Dmitry Frolov, who collaborated with peers from Central St. Martins and the Chelsea College of Art as part of the Testing Ground for Art and Education platform.

Featuring works by artists such as Barbara Hammer, David Wojnarowicz, and Jake and Dinos Chapman, In the Shadow of Forward Motion examined the concept of vulnerability in an age of social and political unrest from the point of view of the collection, which has been displaying its work in the Chalk Farm site since 2007. Atkinson and Frolov worked alongside Yingying Chen, Marco Galvan, Lucija Šutej, and Shalini Anne Rajasegaran in putting together the exhibition and a programme of film screenings, guided tours, artists’ talks and other events.

We speak to Nicole and Dmitry about their experience in the project. (This is a condensed and edited version of the interview.)

Could you explain how your participation in the Testing Ground project came about?

Dmitry: I became interested in this project right after Janet [McCabe, director of the MA FIlm Programming and Curating] told us about it. The fact is that I had known the Zabludowicz Collection before, and my interest in contemporary art and the moving image has largely coincided with what they do. So I applied and was lucky enough to be chosen.

Nicole: Starting the course, I had just recently graduated from my undergraduate degree and had little programming and curating experience, so I was really eager to get on board working with the Zabludowicz Collection. It came as a huge surprise when I was chosen to represent Birkbeck in this amazing opportunity and I’m so grateful for the experience.

What role(s) did you play in the organisation of the exhibition?

Nicole: Myself and the 5 other curators were all involved in the initial brainstorming around the curatorial concept and the list of works we wanted to include in the show. We were then separated into subgroups, with Dmitry and I being responsible for the writing the proposal, press release and overall curatorial concept that would be used in the show and on press material. I spent a good three or four weeks slaving over that, and I think the final product is maybe the 6th or 7th draft, but I’m really pleased with how it turned out and I think it really sums up our aims with the show.

What is the role of film curating in a contemporary art collection such as Zabludowicz?

Dmitry: One of the fields of contemporary art the Zabludowicz Collection is particularly focused on is new media art. The fact that they have the first permanent virtual reality viewing room in London speaks for itself. They also have a significant number of moving image works (from the 1960s onwards) in the collection. Therefore, I believe that the role of film curating is crucial there. Tellingly, we managed to accompany our exhibition with a screening programme, which was held in the gallery space.

Nicole: I think in terms of our show specifically, the moving image work we chose really brings a personal element to the curatorial concept. The David Wojnarowicz piece is my personal favourite. The 4-channel video is about an hour long and essayistic in form, but added a really beautiful, personal exploration of vulnerability to the show. Showing the Barbara Hammer video, Snow Job: Media Hysteria of AIDS, in the adjacent alcove created a really interesting dialogue about the exploration of AIDS and broader LGBT+ issues, and I think only moving image would have been able to achieve this. The Harold Offeh series of video we showed on the mezzanine also brought about an interesting discussion on the exhibition of moving image in the gallery as well. Unlike the Hammer and Wojnarowicz, we decided to show them on three separate ‘old school’ TV monitors, instead of in a ‘black box’ alcove space. I think not only does this speak to the materiality of the medium (playing on the whole pre-2001 aspect of the show), but also for me it was interesting, as I love exploring the different ways moving image is exhibited in the contemporary art space.

Do you think what you have learned in the course helped you face the challenge of organising this kind of exhibition?

Dmitry: Definitely! Ranging from the basic skills of formulating and writing an argument to the ability of conducting research, which is essential for the curatorial practice and organising the exhibition. I think that the major part of knowledge we were given during our course can be applied in the field of contemporary art as well. Another useful skill I am trying to learn in the course is critical thinking, i.e. an ability to look through the image and reveal ideologies that always stand behind it. This is exactly what our screening programme was about. It was focused on our susceptibility to media machines of the global capital, and I believe that one of many productive ways to make it visible is through the audiovisual critiques critics given by Harun Farocki and Christian von Borries [part of the screening programme].

Nicole: I think so! The Artists’ Film module we did last term with Helen De Witt really helped me explore different ways film is shown outside the cinema. I guess before looking at it in depth I maybe took film in the gallery for granted, and didn’t really consider the different possibilities of showing film. So, working with film in the Zabludowicz was an amazing experience for me.

Do you believe that this experience will be important for your professional development?

Nicole: I hope so! It’s given me an amazing experience that I didn’t have, and personally has opened up my interest to work in curation in the contemporary art space.

Dmitry: Yes, and it has already proved to be very important, because I’m still receiving positive feedback from different people. This experience encouraged me to continue my growth within the field of contemporary art.

Tell us about the exhibition itself, its curatorial concept, and the kind of work exhibited.

Nicole: We weren’t given free rein to (include) the whole Zabludowicz collection, as this would have been thousands and thousands pieces and probably impossible to sieve through in the time we had to curate the show. We were given a selection of maybe 150 pieces (ranging from photography, sculpture, painting, moving image) predating 2001. We found this ‘pre-2001’ factor key. So used it as the basis of our concept. Obviously, the year 2001 is highly significant and probably most infamous for the 9/11 terrorist attack and the effect it had worldwide. Aside from this, we were exploring the Zabludowicz building itself, and how it used to be a place of worship [the collection is housed in and old church].

This sparked conversations of vulnerability, and how people generally come to places of worship when feeling vulnerable. To combine the two concepts, I was kind of borrowing from Generational Theory and this notion of 4 turnings and crisis period, and how 2001 sparked a moment of crisis, which left pretty much most people (who weren’t already vulnerable/marginalised) in a state of vulnerability. For me, it was key in showing through the work that a notion of vulnerability existed already before this 2001 moment, so we included pieces that explored vulnerability in marginalised communities (LGBT+), vulnerability between the artist and the subject (as is the case with the Offeh and Collishaw projection), and a sense of vulnerability between artwork and spectator (as is the case with the two Chapman brothers pieces).

The name In The Shadow of Forward Motion comes from the title of the Wojnarowicz piece. I also think it speaks closely to the curatorial concept and is very telling on the lack of progress I guess society has made in terms of eradicating this vulnerability fringe and marginal communities experienced pre 2001. I mean, the leader of the ‘free world’ is outwardly misogynistic and homophobic, there are still ‘anti-gay’ purges in parts of the ‘Western’ world, and its 18 degrees in February. I guess it’s probably not the most lighthearted of shows.