Introduction

Exhibitions

Publications

Release dates

Project types

Commissioners

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A Revised Inventory

  • ISBN 978-89-957810-5-0 97600
  • Text in English
  • Edition: 200
  • 30,000 won

The present volume is published in conjunction with the project Curating Degree Zero Archive at Insa Art Space of the Arts Council Korea, Seoul, from 20 December 2006 through 4 February 2007.

Curating Degree Zero Archive is “an archive, touring exhibition and web-resource exploring critical and experimental approaches to curating contemporary art.” Initiated in 1998 as a symposium and an accompanying book by Barnaby Drabble and ­Dorothee Richter in Zurich, it has grown into a form of archive since 2003 and toured around the world to exhibit the materials. Currently, about a hundred independent curators, artist groups, new media curators and institutional curators are participating in the project – and the number is still growing as the tour continues.

Each time in a different place, Curating Degree Zero Archive is presented in a new way by inviting institutions and artists, along with various events, workshops and debates. In Seoul, it was organized by Insa Art Space and reinterpreted by Sasa [44] and Park MeeNa. The artists’ contribution to the project lies not only in their unique, visible presentation of the Archive, but in the behind-the-scenes efforts to re-organize the materials in a meaningful way: including completely updating the Archive’s inventory.

This book is a document of this endeavour: an attempt to turn what is usually left invisible unmistakably tangible; to capture an aspect of the urge to collect, organize, and archive. The format is based on Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (London: Penguin, 1998), which contains “[b]‌rief notes on the art and manner of arranging one’s books” – an inspiration for this publication. (Yes, the original version of the essay was published in Penser/Classer [Paris: Hachette, 1985], and it would have been even better to use it as a model. But no one involved in this project had enough knowledge of the French language to claim any intimacy with the edition.) The text is set in Walbaum, the same typeface as used in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces.

Whilst every effort has been made to establish the accuracy of the contents of this publication, anyone involved in this project cannot be held responsible for accidental omissions or errors, which may be quite a few after all. Like any products of human endeavor, an archive is prone to err – and this one should not be an exception.

(Introduction to A Revised Inventory of Curating Degree Zero Archive)

A Revised InventoryA Revised Inventory

A Revised Inventory