PhotoHastings Festival: the headache of curating

As anyone knows who has lived in Hastings for any amount of time, the town pretty much runs on volunteers – with quite a heavy bias on the creatives. So it is no surprise to find exhibitions are created, and run, in a similar vein. HOT’s Lauris Morgan-Griffiths wondered how the experience was for a few of this year’s curators of the PhotoHastings Festival exhibitions; Gary Willis and Derek Cottrell as well as veteran curator Andrew Moran, co-founder of the group. 

The dictionary definition of curation is “the action or process of selecting, organising, and looking after the items in a collection or exhibition.”

With respect to Willis and Cottrell, they have curated in the proper sense of the word, either bringing together a known band of photographers who produce good quality work and/or acting as mentors to individuals who have not completely understood the brief or helping with editing their work. Willis did a call-out for participants for the Take 5 show – a story told with five images. And then when he didn’t have a great take-up he approached individual photographers who he knew created work to a high standard. 

Gary Willis, a veritable terrier ball of energy, has co-curated several PhotoHastings exhibitions in the past; this year he is flying solo and curating two shows: (T)Here and Take 5. He was an art director in a previous time, so understands the idea of directing projects – even so, it must be different in a small town where you don’t want to offend people. 

Cottrell has taken the ambitious path of curating a two-group show from two locations, with PhotoHastings and London Independent Photography (LIP). He also took the decision to create a WhatsApp group that would have tried the patience of the devil. For transparency I am part of this group and I watched the blizzard of messages coming in, the same topics repeated time after time; people don’t seem to read the messages, or take responsibility for themselves, or perhaps they expect to be chaperoned by the curator.

The fact is that you are dealing with creatives’ egos, which is not always straightforward and can be a nightmare. Anticipating the ego is manageable, but it is more difficult to manage an exhibition if there is a basic misunderstanding of the theme of the show or complete ignorance of deadlines. Cottrell’s tips to help the participants as well as the curator: “exhibitors should follow the instructions, engage with the brief and keep to the key dates”. There was one participant who less than a week before wasn’t sure he was part of the show so “thought he had better get his work printed.” Who knows how some creatives think, but they certainly have given Cottrell a headache. 

A good show is when there is a cohesive and intelligent response to the subject. What surprised me most was that some people evidently either did not read or understand the brief. Apparently some did not comprehend  the idea of stories, they thought it was either an Artist’s statement or how they conducted their practice. For the Wabi-sabi exhibition, although Cottrell had explained the concept of the Japanese aesthetic, some people evidently thought that any photograph would fit the bill. In which case Willis and Cottrell had to don their mentoring hats and help in editing their work.

But the main bugbear for both curators is the fact that artists are happy to have their work selected but are not fast in coming forward to volunteer to invigilate, which is an important part of the whole process. Cottrell says, “If the exhibition has a collective requirement to invigilate a show, as often it does, then that commitment to that obligation needs to realised when you sign up for the exhibition.” Anyone invigilating does so on behalf of all the contributors and it is a good opportunity to engage with visitors and get their feedback.

Andrew Moran, veteran curator and co-founder with Grace Lau of PhotoHastings, says: “You cannot be timid, embrace the challenge with that all important overview of what the end product will be.” The key is to have an organisational overview of the needs of the show. To have a title and a presentation method that will be understandable to the viewing public as a concept. “The whole package needs to be unified, whether the show is descriptive or academically difficult to grasp for the viewer; they must go away understanding what they just experienced as a completeness.”

Moran adds, “The setting can be an ‘official’ gallery site or a clandestine takeover or pop-up. The curator must overcome the shortfalls of the space and use its benefits to the advantage of the show.” He has created shows on Hastings pier of Simon Roberts’ large shots of English piers, Pierson, and Nigel Green’s I am a Norman shown in Hastings station and town-centre bus shelters.

Willis is very aware of the staging of shows: he likes to build an installation around his exhibits – like the one he did about his poignant photograph of the homeless with a sleeping bag in the middle of the room  for people to trip over, with a bowl beside it, for contributions. For this year’s (T)Here he has taken affecting pictures of a breast cancer suffering friend with information of her treatment time line around the walls. 

Take 5, I think, will prove an interesting exhibition. Willis explains: “It is like a journey, the photographs are to be displayed in the upstairs corridor in the Electro Studios, laid out in a line without any explanation until the end, so viewers need to look at the photographs and come up with their own stories. The artist’s story is only revealed at the end.

A final great tip comes from Andrew Moran: “Ensure that the white wine is cooled for the opening!”

These are only three of the shows in the PhotoHastings Festival; there are many more that can be found on their website. All of them, I am sure, will be worth going to, and when you do visit, spare a thought for the curator, who may well have sprouted a few grey hairs over the process.

Wabit-sabi is at Electro Studios, Seaside Road, St Leonards, TN38 0AL. Friday 3-Sunday 5 October and Friday 11-Sunday 13, 12am-5pm.

(T)HERE is at St Andrews Mews, Waldegrave Street (Queens Road junction entrance), Hastings TN34 1SP.  Friday 3–Sunday 5 October and Friday 11–Sunday 13, 12am-5pm.

Take 5 is at Electro Studios, Seaside Road, St Leonards, TN38 0AL Friday 24-Sunday 26, 12am-5pm.

 

Also in: Photography

Jeff Pitcher interviewed »