Exploring ante-performance to realise a queer curatorial
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Abstract
Through this writing I will be exploring one aspect of what could become of a queer curatorial practice. Focusing on the intersection of queer theory and performativity, referencing and building upon recent theorisations from Legacy Russell’s ‘Glitch Feminism’ that explore notions of ‘non-performance’. I will be thinking from Fred Moten’s positioning on ‘ante-normative’ predating the normative to begin to build a case for non-performance to have the potentiality to allow artists, artworks and the curatorial to no longer perform their prescriptive roles. Becoming abject within an arguably performative institution, in turn manifesting a queer curatorial.
Exploring how curating with a queer politic could have the potentiality and ability to challenge the inherent hegemony upheld within the institution and its aesthetics, specifically white cube exhibition spaces. Eve Sedgwick explores the nature of queer as an ‘open mesh of possibilities’,adopting this characteristic, what can the curatorial aid or become when embodying queer?
In order to explore this contradiction of performance and non-performance within a queer curatorial I will be drawing upon Honey Suckle Company’s retrospective at the ICA in London, ‘Omnibus’, 2 October 2019 – 12 January 2020, which saw the first survey of the groups’ twenty five year history. I have chosen this example due to their beginnings within a queer scene and formidable ability to shape shift through media, collaborations, new-technologies, and socio-political climates. Within the exhibition text it is explicitly stated that the company explore performativity. Therefore, I shall tease out the elements of performance and non-performance that this exhibition holds. In turn rallying for a queer curatorial’s ability to challenge the fetishised queer body of performance. This could potentially create more inclusive exhibition spaces for artist and audience, whilst also challenging single artist genius narratives by fostering the audience’s value and a collective consciousness.