Diary of a thirty-something Art Dealer - Altermodern

Diary of a thirty-something Art Dealer - Altermodern

09 March, 2009
by: Beverleyknowles

This article comes courtesy of West London gallery-owner Beverley Knowles.

Altermodern: aka the Fourth Tate Triennial. It's new alright. But it hasn't come out of thin air. Think Einstein. Think Buddha. Think Lao Zi. It's almost impossible to understand in words because what is being pointed to is beyond words. It's more like a leap of faith. And if you're not in the mood for a leap of faith you're probably not going to be in the mood for Altermodern.
 
But what is life without faith? It is doubt. It is cynicism. It is victimhood. It's everything that was summed up by postmodernity. And that's so over guys. But actually, it's not completely over because Altermodern grows out of the post-modern but does not exclude it. Altermodern includes everything. Altermodern is everything.
 
I like Altermodern. It's brave. It's fantastically audacious to be grappling with ideas as profound and all encompassing as this - to put them together in your own unique style, stick a name on them and attempt to describe them with a bold selection of very contemporary works by artists of all nationalities. That takes some serious bottle doesn't it? Even with the backing of Tate, that takes guts. Probably in a forum as public as Tate, it takes even more guts. I've got to respect that.

I know how difficult it is putting on even a four-person show of local artists in a small gallery in Ladbroke Grove. I know how tough it is juggling people's fears; battling with egos and bureaucracy and politics and logistics and finances and press and all the other minutiae you probably wouldn't even dream of. And I'm not at the same time coming up with what might prove to be the next great cultural and theoretical phenomenon.

OK so it might not. But even if it doesn't, Altermodern will still have been a mighty undertaking and I take my hat off to Nicolas Bourriaud. He's a brave man. Far from being a 'curatorial dunce' (Januszczak, The Sunday Times), he is in fact, a voice of the zeitgeist. And the zeitgeist is on the move. Times are changing. If the credit crunch is a sign of anything, it is without a doubt, a sign that that is not a moment too soon.
 
I'm not sure I fully understand the specifics of half of what Bourriaud says in his by now famously impenetrable theory-heavy texts. But in a way you don't really need to. Just walking around the exhibition, I knew in my gut, that this was worth taking note of. Big time.
 
So what is it all about? Visit Diary of a Thirty-Something Art Dealer to find out.


Beverley Knowles runs Beverley Knowles Fine Art in Notting Hill.

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