IT IS PROBABLY BETTER TO START FROM ZERO #2.2 Juan Crespo

About

IT IS PROBABLY BETTER TO START FROM ZERO is a long term curatorial and artistic project taking place in the Window Space, at the Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University from December 2015 to July 2016.

IT IS PROBABLY BETTER TO START FROM ZERO intends to highlight the unfixed position of both artistic and curatorial practices and to assume them as research-based activities, potential nexus for discussion, critique and production. Through working with artists whose body of work functions as an ongoing process, the project aims to stress the growth, complexity and diversification of collaborative practices. The unpredictable state of flux inherent in artistic practice will shape the curatorial activity as a constant ”state of becoming”, as stated by the artist and curator Paul O’Neill. Inspired by the particular properties of the Window Space, the project will also look at the window as a frame of process, exploring the constraints and possibilities of displaying a body of work within these spatial and conceptual boundaries.

After marking its mid-point with #0.2 Workshop, IT IS PROBABLY BETTER TO START FROM ZERO  presents a second intervention by each of the four artists exhibited previously, over the next four months. By coming back into the Window Space, the artists present the progress of their ongoing research and practice, taking into account the effects of their relation with the curators, the other artists and the space itself. For the second manifestation of Diaspora of the Line, a poliedric archive accesible on-line at http://diasporaoftheline.tumblr.com, Juan focuses on architecture as a colonial tool to neutralise local imaginary in Africa. This presentation is concerned about how the historical fact is represented and transmitted, rather than the history in itself. Construction materials or building ornaments are some of the elements used to rethink the decolonial process of British Institutions and Museums. Humor and anecdote introduce a disruptive grammar used to analyse the content provided by official video databases, such as Imperial War Museum or British Film Institute.

IT IS PROBABLY BETTER TO START FROM ZERO is curated by Matilde Biagi, Ines Costa and Antonio Terzini