Do Nothing Curating

http://www.donothingcurating.com

Do Nothing Curating is dedicated to research and mediation of art as a medium in the relationship human-environment. For this DNC launches this year an online platform, on which artistic and academic findings are juxtaposed. The text-based contributions are to be published regularly. Out of the juxtapositions and the contributions themselves DNC invites international author to contribute subsequent essays. This serves to demonstrate personal and topical networks.

The core of this LEARN is the question for sustainable artistic production. The science of and the field of ecology is both object of interest to DNC, as well as litmus test for aesthetic, social and economic models of sustainability in the arts. Art is understood as both as an aesthetic depiction of the human relationship to the environment as well as an active agent that shapes that very same relationship. In the spirit of environmental sustainability, the conditions of art and artistic production are investigated from social, ecological, economic, but also empirical standpoints as are artistic or theoretical models of sustainability in their regard.

In a second phase DNC realises in reaction to the collection of contributions and their findings art projects, that are thought as curatorial and artistic research: exhibitions, publications, or other forms of artistic production that feedback into the DNC website as essays. Any initiative that feeds from knowledge found on the website, or events, is understood as a mediating outpost of the LEARN: DNC acknowledges the many forms of mediation as requirement for further findings – and understands itself as a virtual neurological center in a larger network.

The DNC website and its programming are at the centre of the functioning of the website. The homepage displays on first view a preview of the latest four contributions in a grid-pattern. In the centre of the grid a button triggers the website to reload four randomly selected contributions from all available essay on DNC. This feature was designed to keep the attention evenly distributed between the newest and older texts and to promote cross-reading of the website.

An index-system links the contributions to each other and sheds light on the dialogue lead between them. Each text gets a number of keywords assigned depending on geopolitical location, topical references, and authorship. This enables any user of the website to follow topics or authors and to search for the keywords on the website, both through a search screen or an index containing all keywords.

Last but not least the contributions may be displayed in chronological order as a clear list that demonstrates DNCs evolution as well as an easy scroll through the available content.

The variety of display modes is a technical proposition to the question of how accumulated content may be shown without neglecting either older or less popular texts.

DNC aims to grow indefinitely and serve as a repository of knowledge as well as a research tool for the field of sustainability studies in the arts.

People

Mateo Chacon-Pino