European Commission - 7th Framework Programme European Museums and Libraries in/of the age of migrations last updated: February 2015


"Not Dressed for Conquering - Ines Doujak's Loomshuttles/Warpaths" Research Exhibition

13-21 March 2013

London, United Kingdom |  Royal College of Art

MeLa | Research Field 04 Exhibition

 

Within the MeLa RF04, the Royal College of Art promoted a series of events aimed at exploring “Curating Contemporary Art” through the work of the Austrian artist Ines Doujak.

 

Research Exhibition: "Not Dressed for Conquering – Ines Doujak’s Loomshuttles/Warpaths"

An exhibition curated by Ruth Noack with the Royal College of Art CCA students for MeLa Research Field 04

14-21 March 10am – 5.30pm daily, free admission
Royal College of Art Galleries (Upper Gulbenkian), Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU
 

The exhibition was complemented by a series of events:

  • 13 March 2013,18:00-20:30: Opening; 19:00: Haute Couture 01 Fires, Ines Doujak’s performance
  • 14 March 2013, 15:00 - 17:00: How to do Research with Art?, RCA/MeLa Symposium
  • 17 March 2013, 15:00: An Investigator, an Indian Automat and a Puppet visit the RCA, Ines Doujak’s performace
  • 21 March 2013, 19:00-20:30: Engaging in a work by Ines Doujak - a critic's perspective, public talk given by Ruth Noack, hosted at the Austrian Cultural Forum, London (28 Rutland Gate London SW7 1PQ)

Austrian Artist Ines Doujak’s two year and ongoing extensive artistic and scientific research project had resulted in an eccentric archive, tracing a complex and asymmetrical relationship between Europe and Latin America through the medium of Andean & Bolivian textiles. The project, presented here in her UK debut knots connections with wider global geographies, past and present, to reveal histories of colonial power and gendered labour exploitation. Not Dressed for Conquering aims to contravene and reflect on the hierarchal boundaries and binaries between disciplines by going beyond the cultural and scientific practices and communities in creating links with social groups and performers, in order to create structures to participate and intervene. By looking at ethnographic, mostly textile material that has been ideologically ethicised and feminised- Doujak’s practice leads her to ask the question: “How can textiles take on another life in the world of display?”

The exhibition, curated by Ruth Noack with CCA students focusing on educational activities with curatorial and artistic staged events, was part of MeLa* - European Museums in an age of migrations, a four-year Research Project funded by the European Commission under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities Program (FP7).

 

On March 14th, the MeLa symposium "How to do Research with Art?" opened with a conversation between Claire Pajaczkowska and John Barker, discussing questions of artistic research with May Adadol Ingawanij, Susanne Leeb, Francesco Manacorda, Ulrich Schötker and Ruth Noack.

 

Participants:

Ines Doujak, Artist
Francesco Manacorda, Artistic Director of the Tate Liverpool
Ulrich Schötker, Art Educator, Hamburg
Susanne Leeb, Laurenz Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Basel
May Adadol Ingawanij, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media, Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster
Claire Pajaczkowska, Senior Research Tutor, Royal College of Art
John Barker, artist, novelist and short-story writer
Ruth Noack, Head of the Curating Contemporary Art Department at the RCA and MeLa RF4 leader