Exhibition Research Lab: As Real As You Want by Tatjana Macic

As Real As You Want is a group exhibition on the edge of the physical and virtual world. We focus on navigating the virtual and real spaces, experiences and conversations. The Exhibition Research Lab (ERL) is part of the Art Research Programme of the Lectorate Art Theory & Practice, at the Royal Academy of Art, the Hague. ERL is tutored by Tatjana Macic, a visual artist, writer, and researcher. This interdisciplinary course offers students practical and theoretical knowledge and understanding of exhibition-making in general, and of the potentialities of exhibition-making in relation to their own artistic practice in particular. Is an exhibition a mere platform for presenting an artwork? Or is it an intrinsic part of the creative process? Where lies the difference and what are the implications of these different positions for the artist’s research process and artistic practice? Why do artists make exhibitions anyway? During the Covid-19 pandemic, students decided to make the exhibition online. Working from Singapore, South Korea, Greece, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands, they engaged in an experimental collaborative process, that resulted in the online version of As Real As You Want. When circumstances permit, the second part of the exhibition will unfold into the physical gallery spaces at KABK. Students created new work, critically reflected upon this process, as well as investigated the possibilities of an exhibition as a framework for research, experiment and (re-)presentation. Special attention was given to the possibilities of artistic innovation based on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the rhizome. Participating artists are students from the Bachelor Fine Arts and the Master Photography & Society: Juwon Lee, Bo Wielders, Marta Iwanek, Iver Uhre Dahl, Natsumi Sakai, Ryan Lim Zi Yi, Robin Pieterse, Yannis Androulakis, Todor Rabadzhiyski, Nurul Ain Binti Nor Halim, Lui MacRae Wolstencroft and Alexander Peter Lorenzo Koch. Tatjana Macić is a visual artist, writer, and researcher. In her artistic practice, she is mostly exploring the intersection between visual arts, theory, exhibition-making, education, and language. She is teaching Artistic Research at the Bachelor Fine Arts, and tutoring the Exhibition Research Lab (part of the Art Research Programme). Together with Maarten Cornel, she leads Research and Discourse at the Royal Academy.

Here, at the window, Ryan and Bo had a digital dialog for a month. Researching the platform and the possibilities of having a personal and valuable interaction through sharing thoughts and references in the online realm. The conversation is over and we took the content with us. What is left are two texts written in reaction to our dialog, the platform, the exhibition; the time we spend near the window.

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