FAQ NET: Part IV

FAQ NET: It is the name of the new column that we start as Media Partners on a regular basis of Platforms Project-Independent Art Fair, asking a common question to participating artists – representatives of artistic groups and collectives, resulting from the needs of conteporary reality and the changes that have already occurred after the Covid 19 Pandemic and the Global Lockdown; with Platforms Project-Independent Art Fair to pioneer in the European Art Fair space and to transfer the entire fair online at Platforms Project Net 2020 (14-31/5/2020).

By Efi Michalarou & Dimitris Lempesis

How do you feel participating in an online Art Fair like Platforms Project 2020? A new experience that emerged through the needs of Covid 19 World Pandemic fighting. What are the new challenges and what do you expect from this participation?

Alessandra Falbo (Five Years & Darling Pearls & Co): I’ve been taking part in Platforms Project Independent Art Fair for six consecutive years now. Initially I was working for other artist-run spaces and eventually opened Darling Pearls & Co, my project & residency space in Hackney, London, through which I’ve continued to take part in the fair yearly. My company’s structure was always online in terms of sales and collaboration based in the sense that it partners or collaborates in a project-based manner with other companies & organisations in a variety of ways. Partly thanks to Platforms, Darling Pearls & Co has been in partnership with IFAC Arts (New York / Athens / London) for slightly over a year now. Participating in Platforms Project Independent Art Fair has taught me a lot through the years and has put me in touch with like-minded artists and curators from all over the world, contributing considerably to the development of my business, curatorial and art practices. This year Darling Pearls & Co is participating in Platforms Project with an exhibition planned in collaboration with Five Years (London), a space that consists of a membership of various artist contributors who propose exhibitions independently, composing a programme that, by design, goes beyond the control of any individual directorship. This allows for creative freedom and continuous presentation of new and fresh propositions at their space in Archway as well as at other spaces. We were really happy with the news that the fair would proceed in a digital manner this year & with the proposition of Platforms NET as a digital structure. It was impressive and, as usual, inspiring, the speed with which Platforms’ directors managed to adapt an international art fair to the circumstances of an unprecedented Global Pandemic. Having presented online exhibitions previously and having prepared images and texts for artworks to suit a variety of online environments, the challenge for me has been the same as it is usually: to work alongside a large group of people (we are 3 curators and 17 artists in total) organising the exhibition with its images, videos and live presentations of a selection of artworks within specs that are adequate to the pre-set online structures in which it will be presented. For Platforms, the challenge was a lot greater: all that I have mentioned above plus designing the structure itself (Platforms NET) so that the public can experience an entire art fair online. I think what I am trying to say is that what is new and exciting for me this year is the magnitude of Platforms NET considering the fair is generally primarily physical as opposed to organisations primarily dedicated to digital arts culture (e.g. the wrong biennale) which are already pre-set for a web environment. The process thus far has been really positive, keeping me in touch with the involved artists as well as with directors, curators and artists from other Platforms. To keep us all connected, seeing one another’s new works and knowing that whichever conditions we may find now or in the future will be dealt with and overcome instead of stopping or putting our practices on hold is meaningful, it strengthens us individually, as well as a group. I’m honoured to contribute and really looking forward to experiencing Platforms NET this year.

 

Charlotte Magnin (BIG – Biennale interstellaire des espaces d’art de Genève): I like the potential for metamorphosis of a situation x into a variation y : in a Cartesian plane, isn’t it the y axis that stretches towards the peaks? Platforms Project 2020 proposes a literal alternative (alter: to modify // native: the origin) which becomes an alternartive. Together, we are a community of those who do not give up. Who climbs. Art is a life force that can become mutant. Artistic fields, especially the independent ones, are ruled by a powerful adaptability that stems from the need for the survival of their production. They are constantly reinventing their form and methodology in order to survive. An elastic chameleon. The choice of an exclusively digital switchover is, however, a double-edged sword. Hic et nunc tend to be distended. Visibility and diffusion open up in every home while risking being instantly drowned in the constant flow of stimulating information that surrounds us. Borders are crumbling ; only the one of the screen still stands up, a barrier that will have to be broken down tomorrow.