Jacina Leong
Thinking with, and acting from, this place: caring in and through the ethics, methods and purposes of our practices, 2020
About
“Thinking with, and acting from, this place: caring in and through the ethics, methods and purposes of our practices”
From climate emergencies to global pandemics, to care in complex human and more-than-human worlds, amidst ongoing political, social and ecological challenges, is a weighted undertaking for contemporary curatorial practice, at once ‘globally implicated and radically situated’ [1], to critically and creatively grapple with. In this workshop series, we invite creative practitioners, whose work resonates with contemporary curatorial practice — that is, of bringing people together to explore and respond to complex challenges — to re-evaluate and re-imagine the methods, ethics and purposes of our practices.
In doing so, this four-part facilitated workshop explored not only what bringing people together makes possible, but also the following sorts of questions: What are our methods and how do they shape the ethics and purposes of our work? What new forms of sociality might emerge from these moments? What are the implications of bringing people together online, as physical isolation continues? How can we use this time as an opportunity, not to return to the same habits, but to think through inventive methods ready to meet new demands and needs? What methods should we let go off? What methods do we take forward? And finally, for who do we care, what for, why and how, in and through our practices?
Each workshop related to four overarching themes — Situating Presents, Curatorial Traces, Complicating Care, Possible Futures — and will combine shared reflection and group discussion about our past and recent experiences, and how, as practitioners bringing people together to explore and respond to complex challenges, we might take up the challenge to ‘think-with, & act from, this place’ [2].
Bio
Jacina was born in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the eastern Kulin Nations, to a Hong Kong immigrant and first generation Australian-Italian, grew up in Brisbane on the lands of the Turrbul and Yugara people, and now lives and works on unceded lands in Melbourne. She believes that responses to complex challenges (social, political, and ecological) necessitate not only transdisciplinary collaborations but also an ethics of care. She is committed to the roles that cultural and other civic institutions can play in bringing people together to explore and respond to complex challenges through purposeful and situated, critical-creative initiatives. This commitment has been shaped by professional and personal experiences working, since 2008, with and for universities, national and international festivals, museums and galleries, libraries and schools. It is a commitment that underpins Jacina’s work as an artist-curator, educator and researcher as a PhD candidate at RMIT University. To learn more, visit www.jacinaleong.com
The artist fees for this workshop are being donated to Pay The Rent.