hoi pollio at FPG: scientia potentia est

I couldn't even see the work!!! How often do we have the pleasure of making that complaint - the last time for me was at tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gauguin, post-mortem in extremis - a boundlessly comprehensive biography, but I had paid a hefty entrance fee for entry, as had everyone else... and in that instance, the complaint was slightly less pleasurable. At FPG, it's free, and the provenance and quality of the work is no less.

On South Essex (Southend On Sea)'s doorstep www.focalpoint.org.uk presented 'Anti-Photography', curated by Duncan Wooldridge, 17 January to 2 April 2011. It's a huge show, for that gallery as we knew it - the bells and smells of gallery iconography, white walls and dearth of artworks: FPG has just expanded - exploded, and so has the programme, now more clearly reflecting the vision of the gallery: "South Essex’s gallery for contemporary visual art, promoting and commissioning major solo exhibitions, group and thematic shows, a programme of events including performances, film screenings and talks, as well as offsite projects and temporary public artworks." 

It was great - Southend's Critical Mass had it's audience in raptures about Focal Point showing photography - it was originally a photography gallery; those for whom photography is maybe less important, and are more engaged in 'contemporary', and for those who want to have something to fire up the intellectual taste-buds, it's there. I found some of it a little inaccessible, and I'm one of those who will do their research before going out the door. Nevertheless, the ways in which FPG is making itself more publicly accessible has been met with alacrity, judging from the comments flying around yesterday.

I admit I really enjoyed the irony. There are those who will get on their bandwagon about FPG showing anything contemporary that is vaguely lens related, and possibly wonders how change has happened. A gallery committed to one discipline is a debate in and of itself, but to come from the legacy of being a photography gallery, present an 'Anti-Photography' exhibition comprised of a meticulously-curated proposition for the dematerialisation of the photograph, through the medium itself, as a springboard for contemporary practice and the multi-disciplinary approaches of artists is, to my mind, a very clear statement, and the communication of a vision for the future.


Coming from a 15-year career in art education, and being very fortunate to teach across the sectors, I've always started with what my audience knows, and take it from there - some will run ahead and we see leadership and authority in those who can express themselves with eloquence and clarity; those who are interested but find it difficult to grasp new ideas, ways of thinking, and decoding the sometimes oblique visual language of other artists; and those for whom an amount of contextualising information is essential to the introduction of previously unexplored work. It is pedagogic in approach, but 'knowledge is power' (scientia potentia est) creates a more common ownership of understanding, which is what I would want, for the personal experience to become a shared experience. But that's only my vision.