Today, the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College, Chicago (MoCP) introduces Chicagoans to the work of the artists nominated for The Grange Prize 2010 with an exhibition celebrating this year’s shortlist. To acknowledge the opening, we spoke with MoCP curator Karen Irvine, also a member of this year’s nominating jury for The Grange Prize, about what to expect from the exhibition and the process of selecting the shortlist.
The Grange Prize: What was your criteria when you were thinking about who you wanted to be part of the shortlist?
Karen Irvine: I was really trying to find artists who are working in interesting conceptual ways and could use the sort of support that the prize can provide, and who would also potentially challenge the general public’s perception of what photography is, to push people out of their comfort zones, in a way, and ask them to consider what contemporary photography can be.
How important was it to you that all of the artists’ work play off each other’s in some way? Was the shortlist chosen as a group?
It was. The shortlist is a very deliberately curated group. Because we really needed to make sure that the artists could compete fairly. There’s so much diversity in photography, and a documentary photographer is so radically different from somebody who’s working in an abstract or conceptual way, like our photographers are. We really felt that we wanted people to be compelled to learn about each photographer. Its important that all of the artists work similarly enough that people can’t simply vote for the type of photography they prefer, rather they have to become familiar with and then vote for the artist they prefer based on the content and ideas behind the artwork.
Do you think that people’s expectations, when they seek out a photography show or consider viewing a photography gallery in a museum, are typically for work that engages artful documentation?
I think, to a large extent, yes. We confront that a lot at the MoCP because our collection spans back to the 1930s, and people come in and really do want to come see a Walker Evans or a Garry Winogrand image, for example. Photography is so ubiquitous, and we see it every day, and that is primarily what it is used for, to report on the world. But it also does more than that, and for some artists, and for all of the artists on the shortlist, photography is used as a tool after or in tandem with experimentation with different mediums, approaches and strategies.
Can you talk a bit about what you’re planning for the exhibition at the MoCP? What it’ll look like, and what you’re planning for the space?
We have all four artists in the same gallery space, and each artist is represented by one body of work. They’ll be a couple of Kristan Horton’s large Orbit pieces, and three of Leslie Hewitt’s Riffs on Real Time, a small cluster of Josh Brand’s abstract works, and then a selection of Moyra Davey’s Copperheads.
What do you think is in store for the viewer?
Well, in some ways the artists’ practices are really diverse and it’s hard to draw parallels, but I would say that generally what each artist is up to isn’t totally obvious at first glance. For the average viewer, their work will likely raise more questions than provide answers. If you look at Moyra Davey’s Copperheads you might be surprised by her choice of subject matter – why would somebody shoot pennies in this style, and what does this mean? I think that all of the artists are very interested in the photograph-as-object, and are raising questions that complicate our reading of their work. Even though each artist is working with two-dimensional imagery, I think that they’re all very interested in creating a tension between photographic space and real space, and by abstracting and layering visual information, they make us aware of our own act of looking, as well as our process of perception.
So are you going to vote?
Yes, of course!
Have you decided who you’re going to vote for?
No!
The MoCP’s exhibition of works by the four photographic artists nominated for The Grange Prize 2010 will be on view through December 22. For more information, visit http://www.mocp.org/exhibitions/2010/10/the_grange_priz.php.
