Curating.info

Curating.info Fellowship at CCA Glasgow
Fellow: Emma Brasó

5 months in Glasgow



A bouncy Stonehenge, a Ping-Pong tournament in the gallery space, an artist's party at a cricket club, The State pub, Glasgow School of Arts MFA Degree Show, another Glaswegian Turner Prize nomination, a few bacon rolls, some difficulties with the local accent, and a lot of rain.



These few highlights from my residency experience in Glasgow, as the first Curating.info Fellow at CCA Glasgow, partially encapsulate what I could also describe as a fun and enriching experience. The city's dimension and solid artistic community make it an ideal place for this type of temporary placement, and CCA is a lively hub where apart from having a healthy vegan lunch (which I did on a good number of occasions), one can engage in conversations and activities about the future of the Gaelic language, ever-changing policies in arts funding, archives and contemporary art, or the obscure relation between the film Bagdad Café and Sarnath Banerjee's graphic novels.



As with any residence, it's up to oneself to make the most out of it. Frequent meetings with CCA's Director, Francis McKee, helped me to gradually understand the city's art stories, the myth of "The Glasgow Miracle", and the reality of an enclave that has the highest concentration of artists in the country after London. I also value very positively the degree of freedom given to me during these months. That type of time and space are extremely precious when you are trying to evolve as a thinker and curator.



The coincidence of the Glasgow International Festival with the beginning of the Fellowship was very beneficial as a starting milestone for the journey. Other great stages included taking part in a series of critical conversations with this year's graduating MFA students, performing as mentor for a group of young curators as part of the Somewhere_to initiative, and specially finding generous artists such as Jamie Fitzpatrick, Rachal Bradley, Alasdair Wallace, Scott Rogers, Christine Jones, Marilou Lemmens, Richard Ibghy or Henry Coombes who welcomed me into their studios. The finishing line is still ahead though, as my research during the fellowship will materialize in an exhibition at CCA in which I will try to contribute my ideas to the understanding of how art relates to a particular space and time.

Emma Brasó
October, 2012







Photos:
1) Sacrilege, Jeremy Deller, Glasgow International. Photo by Michelle Kasprzak
2) Ping pong tournament at CCA Glasgow, photo by Emma Brasó
3) MFA Degree show, photo by Emma Brasó
4) MFA Degree show, photo by Emma Brasó