2012GRADUATE EXHIBITION - School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Studio Visits
In-Between Spaces of Experience
by Elçin Marasli
A dialogue on the artist’s studio, first and
foremost, demands an unconventional
definition of the word “space.” While
ideas tend to plant seeds inside the
artist’s mind, the work itself needs physical
recognition inside a space—be it an
art object, a digital projection, or a performative
event. The studio is where the
artist delivers the art, and where the art,
manifests its existence. The resulting
definition of the studio space, therefore,
constructs an aesthetic/theoretical entity;
it is a space in-between.
The studio visits we scheduled on the
second weekend of February consisted of
highly energized exchanges between
curatorial voices and artistic needs. Under
the insightful guidance of our guest curator
Tumelo Mosaka, our well-organized
team visited each of our thirty artists and
turned a sunny weekend into three full
days of constructive exchange inside their
studio spaces. While we were walking in
and out of each studio, with notebooks in
our hands and expectations on our minds,
our artists also carried with them snippets
Julietta Cheung
sketch of proposed installation for An Index of Material Moments, 2012
of curious anxiety. Some were hesitant to
talk to us in detail about their works,
while some were more courageous in
directing their questions at us, challenging
us with definitions of curatorial
practice. It did not take too long, however,
for the first few minutes of each visit
to transition from formal introductions
into friendly dialogue. Throughout the
curatorial process each of the fellows
followed up with their artist-subgroups,
making studio visits to keep communications
open. By entering the artists’
spaces, we were able to bridge connections
between their personalities, their
artistic philosophies and techniques, and
their expectations and needs. It was
only this idea of the studio as a space
in-between that allowed the curatorial
perspective to merge into the artistic
experience, and vice versa.
Having studio visits as the primary
building block of our process of putting
together the MFA exhibition, allowed
us to match our curatorial tasks to
the innovative methodologies of studio
Spreadsheet showing schedule of the curatorial
team’s studio visits
Image: Ross Jordan