From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
Misbehaviour Exhibition Cornwall: Katja Rosenberg
This blog post serves as a record of my horrendous experience of dealing with so-called curator Katja Rosenberg (aka Art Catcher) in the lead up to the Misbehaviour exhibition at CMR Gallery in Cornwall.
Whilst I acknowledge that this is ‘my side of the story’ I will ensure that I present the information below as objectively and concisely as possible.
I was put in touch with Katja through my contacts in the summer of 2014 with a view to me exhibiting as a part of the Misbehaviour exhibition at CMR Gallery, Cornwall. With an interest in the theme of the show I initiated a phone call with Katja in June to find out more about the project which was followed up via email (19 Jun).
I worked on a new piece of artwork for the Misbehaviour exhibition throughout the summer months and my correspondence with Katja continued via email.
However, on the 23 September 2014, just two weeks before the exhibition was to be installed, Katja Rosenberg emailed me to inform me that she was ejecting me from the show because ‘she didn’t feel that it sat right with her own style of work and that it wouldn’t go down well with the gallery collective’.
I was angered and frustrated that after more than three months since our initial correspondence had began she had ejected me from the Misbehavior exhibition, not due to the content or the quality of my work, but due to her dislike of my ‘style’. Stylistically the work sits comfortably alongside the rest of my practice. Any real curator worth their salt would have taken five minutes to have a look at my website (which incidentally was on the bottom of many of the emails I exchanged with Katja) to ascertain whether or not they liked my style before agreeing to any participation in an exhibition.
In her message of ejection she also contradicted her previous email (17 Sep) in which she confirmed to me that she had spoken to members of the gallery collective about my work and that they were happy with my proposal to present a video installation. Her suggestion that “it won’t go down well with the gallery collaborative” (23 Sep) appears to be a vain attempt at justifying her last minute decision to drop me from the Misbehaviour exhibition.
Following her email ejecting me from the exhibition Katja Rosenberg sent me another message to suggest that “We could have a very open correspondence about what made me make the decision. Who knows whether the piece can be modified in a way that works for all“.
This was a ll a bit too late in the day and the suggestion that I might modify the artwork to work for all audiences was laughable. I consider myself to be an intellectually rigorous artist who acts with with serious integrity. I don’t have a problem with my work not working for all audiences and quite frankly I would worry that my work was too vacuous if it did!
So I responded and asked that since Katja Rosenberg was offering to be frank and open about matters would she do me the courtesy of giving me a clear rationale for the decision she made to eject me from the Misbehavior exhibition at the eleventh hour. Her response was to tell me that she “relates to some pieces of work more than others and that the stills from the video that I had sent her didn’t seem to add anything new” (30 Sep). Quite frankly it was such non-response that I can only conclude that her decision was wholly subjective and based on her apparent dislike of the ‘style’ of my work as she had previously suggested.
What’s more I should make it clear that the two stills from the video that I provided for the catalogue are all that Katja has seen of the work. At no point, as apparent curator of the Misbehavior exhibition, has Katja Rosenberg ever asked to view the video either in part or it’s entirety. Whilst a still image will give you a snapshot of a moving image installation it is by no means conclusive.
That she she made the decision to drop me from the exhibition at the last minute without viewing the work seriously brings into question her integrity as a curator.
Her lack of professionalism caused me a huge amount of stress and anxiety. Her actions led to me questioning my own faith in my practice but having had time to reflect on matters and discuss these issues with my peers my confidence has been restored and it is clear to me that Katja was at fault here.
Making decisions to drop artists from exhibitions after months of work, and only two weeks before the show opening is totally unacceptable. That Katja’s decisions were made without have viewed the work in full, nor asking to, and were apprently based upon the “style” of my work shows the lack of integrity that she has as a curator.
Whilst her actions in this matter have been truly awful, they also reflect badly on the gallery and others that she works with. I hope that those artists who took part in the Misbehavior exhibition were treated with the respect that they deserved throughout the remainder of the run up to, and the duration of, the show.
Update: the work that I had created for the Misbehavior exhibition has since been exhibited at family-friendly community arts festival Made in Roath at which it was selected as a winner of the Open Exhibition by Chris Brown (G39) and Ben Borthwick (formerly of Tate & Artes Mundi).
The post Misbehaviour Exhibition Cornwall: Curator Katja Rosenberg appeared first on Spikeworld.