T o g e t h e r / Apart
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 | 4:30pm
Woodward’s Complex courtyard
A curatorial project by the students of SFU’s SCA 412/887 class.
Together and Apart. Together or Apart. Together a fraction of Apart. Together along with being Apart.
The slash (/) is a written symbol with many functions. As a form of punctuation, it is not formal yet capable of speaking many ideas. A slash is ambiguous — it can allude to many stories. Things are together / apart, together and apart, together or apart, together and a fraction apart, together along with being apart. A slash marks the difference between two entities, it shows one thing’s relationship to its opposite. The notion of slash in the title of this project alludes to a dichotomy but in this series of images, the slash exists to allow the viewer to create relational narratives as opposed to definitive binaries. It’s no longer together versus apart; it is together in relation to apart.
A collaborative effort between the students of SFU SCA 412/887 Curatorial Studies, Together / Apart is the product of an experimental curatorial process. Through many discussions, activities and disseminations, the students of this class have worked alongside one another to practically face the complexities of curatorial practice. Working in teams to develop visuals, narratives, communications, documentation, and events surrounding Together / Apart, the students have actively participated to understand the institutional processes and challenges of developing a curatorial identity and output.
Many of the questions we have been asking ourselves, we are now asking you: how can an image of a telephone sit in relation to an image of a lock? What kind of narratives do the connection between these two images make? What if an image of a yellow telephone sits beside an image of rumpled bed sheets – what are the stories that can be told in relation to what these images visualize? What is the slash between these images of various objects such as a yellow rotary phone, a white cloth, a rock, a ceremonial feast, and a set of journals? How can things come together to form new meanings, new purposes and new tales?