Welcome to the resource, here we detail the process behind a three year pioneering project in curating Turner Contemporary's exhibition Journeys with 'The Waste Land'.
This was a major exhibition exploring the significance of T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land through the visual arts. The exhibition was the culmination of a three year project designed to develop a pioneering approach to curating.
project.
The approach underpinning this resource was devised and developed by Trish Scott (Research Curator) and Michele Gregson (External Evaluator) in conversation with Mike Tooby and the Waste Land Research Group. The resource is designed by Lydia Laitung and funded by the John Ellerman Foundation.
I'm interested in:
the Facilitating
Curators
the Gallery Team
the Participants in Research Group
the Audience
the Evaluator
The Research Group identified emotional themes that evolved over the three years that they worked together. They are woven through the story of the group and their individual journeys through the project. On this timeline, we have tried to show where different emotions were felt most strongly at particular times, and were part of a shared group experience.
introduction
Journeys with ‘The Waste Land’ has been an innovative three year project, bringing members of the community and Turner Contemporary together to develop the gallery’s major spring 2018 exhibition. The starting point was T. S. Eliot’s famous poem, 'The Waste Land' (1922), parts of which were written whilst Eliot was convalescing in Margate.
Learning is at the heart of Turner Contemporary, evident in this unique project, where participation and engagement comes to the fore. This work tests a new curatorial method which incorporates the knowledge and insight of members of the local community at all stages of co-curating an exhibition.
The exhibition was developed by Turner Contemporary, facilitated by external curator Professor Michael Tooby, and Research Curator, Trish Scott, in collaboration with local research participants.
This resource identifies the key events leading up to ‘Journeys with The Waste Land’, as defined by local participants coming together as ‘The Waste Land Research Group’. It hosts direct vocal testimonies, by a cross section of people with a stake in the process. It presents multiple versions of the exhibition’s genesis, without a single voice assuming ultimate authority (as can sometimes be the case with more traditional evaluative reports).
This format was intentionally devised to mirror the multi-voiced methodology underpinning the development of the exhibition itself, and to enable the ongoing story of the project to be held and mediated by all those involved, (i.e. not just those in professional gatekeeper roles).
Audio clips from 16 hours of recorded conversations were selected by Michele Gregson, with all contributors having the opportunity to comment, clarify and react to source material as it was generated and presented, through a number of iterative steps.
This resource should be understood and read as a reflection on ‘moments’ in the exhibition process, as constructed through the memory of participants, rather than as a comprehensive report into every detail of the exhibition process.
concept & inception
Before the beginning: Concept Development
Journeys with 'The Waste Land’ began many years ago, with conversations between Mike Tooby and Victoria Pomery long before Turner Contemporary opened. Mike wrote a proposal for the exhibition in October 2012, working with the Head of Learning Karen Eslea. The methodology of Journeys with The Waste Land was developed during his Senior Research Fellowship with the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. A funding application was made in the Autumn of 2014.
