Curator Freya Chou developed this proposal during the Summer 2011 Curatorial Intensive in New York.
The SpareTime Project is an on-line project exploring how the notion of “ Time” interferes with the production of art creation and an opportunity to discuss the ambiguous definition of one’s occupational identity and labor exchange.
For most people working in the arts the multifaceted nature of a job description reveals how complicated it can be to fulfill the basic requirements of making art. A curator is sometimes a writer, a professor, and an editor; an artist can also be a curator, a lecturer or a director of artist-run space. A single occupation no longer encompasses the breadth of duties we have to accomplish, and the whining of NOT ENOUGH of TIME is often the same complaint in many minds.
The SpareTime Project is inspired by such a complex situation. The project is designed to create a platform that will reverse what we have been adapted to by creating an ideal scenario with seemly no boundaries and restrictions in order to experiment how to improve the working condition. The whole project structure will follow the model of a traditional exhibition, however it will be transparent about the process of exhibition making. The SpareTime Project will consist of a website, utilizing a blog to document the happenings of each work, as well as include all the comments, texts and discussions among artists and curator, thus allowing the audience to observe the process of art making and the curatorial discussion.
At this preliminary stage four participants have been invited under three main rules:
- All the participants must be engaged in the project during their spare time.
- Each work/project is not commissioned by The SpareTime Project, yet participants are compensated by labor exchange.
- There will be no specific deadline.
The four participating works/projects range from photographic workshops, web design, community empowerment and curatorial practice.
Participants
Yeh Wei-Li is an artist based in Taipei. Yeh and a collective group, Honor Roll, will take a special skill course and apply what they have learned to a piece of land in the outskirts of Taipei city.
Lee Wei-Chen works in a charity organization as her daytime job. She generated a pioneer workshop for halfway children every weekend, teaching them how to read and take photographs. Wei-Chen hopes that through images, these children will be able to search for self-identity.
Tzeng Ching Yue is a professor of new media at a local university and is the website designer of The SpareTime Project. Tzeng wishes to use this platform to create dialogue with users and explore alternative usages of visual materials.
Freya Chou is a writer, editor and independent curator. She will be engaging in this project during her spare time.
Learn More
For more information about this proposal please email Freya Chou at freya.chou@gmail.com. For more information about the Curatorial Intensive please email info@curatorsintl.org.
