INTERVIEW: Huma Kabakci & Anna Skladmann

London-based curator Huma Kabakci (Founder of Open Space Contemporary) and artist photographer Anna Skladmann are digging into the history and the archives of the soon-to-be redeveloped Whiteleys Shopping Centre in London; a building designed by John Belcher and John James Joass which opened in 1911 in the area of Queensway/Bayswater, London. Back in the days, the Whiteleys was synonym of luxury including both a theatre and a golf-course on the roof. Huma Kabakci and Anna Skladmann are using the sky-roof of the building (a space rarely open to the public) to curate the group exhibition “Adventitious Encounters”, aiming for a creative dialogue with the space including site-specific artworks and performances. At the same time they explore themes like: the notion of belonging, identity to a place and the politics of the body… the extensions they take in our lives and the changes that will occur. For the curators, and we totally agree, it is extremely important for such exhibitions to take place in alternative spaces. Including collaboration with institutions such as indoor-gardening specialists Conservatory Archives and performance art festival Block Universe, Huma Kabacki says ‘’I believe that art should be available to everyone and that is what I have been trying to do through my curatorial practice’’. On the other hand as Anna Skladmann explain to us ‘’It was important to us to incorporate different collaborators and institutions in order to foster a dynamic and diverse debate’’.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Open Space Contemporary Archive

Efi Michalarou: Dear Huma Kabakcı and Anna Skladmann, as we know you are the curators of the exhibition “Adventitious Encounters” on the sky-roof of the historic Whiteleys Shopping Center in the area of Queensway in London – a space rarely open to the public. What were your criteria to organize a contemporary art exhibition in this particular space?
Huma Kabakci: Developing links between the practices and approaches of different artists in challenging, site-specific contexts is very significant to my curatorial practice. I have always been interested in subjects including identity politics, materiality, socio-geopolitical issues, all of which were fascinating to explore in relation to the Whiteleys building.
Anna Skladmann: The themes of the Anthropocene that informed the exhibition are close to my research interests. Drawing on my own practice as an artist, I was especially excited to delve into the archives of Whiteleys’s history, where I discovered old architectural plans that revealed William Whiteley’s unrealised dream of building a botanical garden on top of the shopping centre. It felt very intuitive to respond with my own botanically oriented works, as well as to physically realise Whiteley’s dream through a plant installation in the sky-roof’s historic dome.

EM: The idea of an exhibition in a shopping center is not new, as similar exhibitions have taken place in alternative spaces in the past, i.e. outside of galleries and museums. What is the new that you are proposing to the wider public with this exhibition and what is the message you want to communicate?
HK: The idea of curating exhibitions in unconventional spaces is not new in general. It has been 27 years since Hans Ulrich Obrist curated the kitchen show in his apartment and we see a lot of itinerant exhibitions nowadays as well. What is interesting to me and what we are proposing that is fresh are the partnerships and collaborations with a lot of other institutions including Conservatory Archives, who are creating the plant installation around the dome that Anna mentioned, along with London’s leading performance art festival Block Universe and Delfina & Gaia Foundation, with whom we are collaborating on our program of events. Open Space Contemporary is an itinerant contemporary art platform that promotes cross-cultural dialogue and multidisciplinary exchange – I truly believe that art goes beyond aesthetics and that it should stimulate accessible dialogue and prompt different strands of thought, which is why we invested in developing an exciting program of talks and events as part of the exhibition. Despite the fact that I tend to work in unconventional spaces, I believe that art should be available to everyone and that is what I have been trying to do through my curatorial practice. Some of the questions these discussions will address include artificiality in nature, which is a topical issue, as well as feminist theory, materiality and consumption.
AS: We also wanted to create a multisensory experience within the arts and combine sensuality through, and with, the material.ls that the artists work with –we are even planning an edible installation for our finissage. It was important to us to incorporate different collaborators and institutions in order to foster a dynamic and diverse debate.

EM: How important to you is a private space with public character –such as a shopping mall that is visited by a wide audience– to present contemporary art, especially performances? How familiar is this idea in London?
HK: It was exciting to respond to such an unusual site with its long and particular history. We really want the public to experience the space in a different way. Whiteleys was once a department store, and the site is now in a transitional period, so the opportunity to work in the space is something very unique for Anna and I.

EM: Is the space a source of inspiration to tackles the burning problems of nature and climate change that will affect the lives of all of us in the near future?
HK: The sky-roof, the dome, the history of the building and the neighbourhood were definite sources of inspiration for our exhibition making and conceptual framework, which links to issues of climate change, nature and the Anthropocene era.
AS: Yes, as going into the archive and history of the building itself proved that to be able to make a change one needs to review our own individual patterns and habits.

EM: With this exhibition do you think you can awaken the public to become more aware of the environment? Is it interactive?
HK: Both the exhibition and the programme of events that are an integral part are designed to be interactive. We included performances by Joshua Leon as well as by Himali Singh Soin partnered with Block Universe (performed by Nephertiti Schandorf) on the opening night, we hosted a brunch on the 11 March with a series of curatorial discussions. There will be another artist talks on the 17 March and a radio-walk responding to the area on 18 March by Delfina resident Anton Lapov, which is very exciting.
AS: We hope that the exhibition will engage viewers’ senses and bring them into a space of self-reflectiveness. Only though that mind set can change, awareness and healing occur!

EM: Recently we saw images of piles of clothes thrown on the Harrods shop windows, a caustic comment on fashion overproduction and overconsumption. What is your opinion on this issue, which in any case has a particular environmental impact? Do you have any corresponding action-performance or artwork at your own exhibition?
HK: The NY based artist Chloe Wise uses food and fashion as symbols in her paintings and sculpture works also as still-life where these works become a a cypher for the artist to map protean relations between self-care, consumption, gender negotiations, and alternative routes to pleasures. In a way her work is the one that directly responds to overconsumption and over production. Having said this, most of the works comment on it more subtly.

Info: Curators: Huma Kabakcı and Anna Skladmann, Whiteleys Shopping Centre, 4th Floor, Queensway, London, Duration: 9-22/3/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, www.openspaceistanbul.co.uk

First Publication: www.dreamideamachine.com
© Interview-Efi Michalarou