Curation by Jade Montserrat

I take a long time to accomplish even the most seemingly straightforward everyday tasks. I bring this to attention because, with the best will in the world, my ambitions to exhaust all schools and work and artists on line for RCA2021 in the School of Arts and Humanities - to give time to each of these gifts on show - has proved impossible. Given a day to curate a collection, (and for further transparency I looked at the school that had invited me to fulfil this, CAP, and as a special treat I looked at ceramic and glass too), means the artists and works selected here for my conversation starter (as opposed to carefully curated as I would wish, which would take me months), are those that I would like to draw further attention to, today, and this selection, this note on practices and work that especially moved and jolted and questioned me, could obviously differ tomorrow or from yesterday, but I had a day. I’ve called the curated collection “Say, see here” for ease of suggesting a prompt to look, and, in keeping with the artists and their work, makes reference to announcement, steering attentions, for relational pointers. I was drawn to these artists and their works for their absurdity, groundings, pedagogical disruptions, their emphasis on collectivity and communality and resistance and meditative devices. Many of the works appealed to me today for their playfulness and affectionate emphasis.

Evidenced in all the work I looked online at today, which was a lot, but sadly a small fraction, is a dynamism, resilience, tenderness, inquisitiveness, sensitivity, care, and crucial critical reflections on the world in which we live in together. I for one feel stronger for seeing this work and am celebrating the offerings I have been privileged to spend time with. Thank you.