Presentation - the pitch to the Tate

IDM 423 Group Assignment

Group F – Sue Clarke, Lynda Cornwall and Heather Kirkup
Our task is to research, plan and organise a hypothetical exhibition.


Format : Presentation to Curatorial Department at Tate Modern (Curator, Public Programmes, Curators, Interpretation)

In response to a competition seeking novel approaches to curating.



Good afternoon everyone, my name is Heather Kirkup and we are here today to present you with an outline of an exhibition for the Level 2 gallery at the Tate Modern which is proposed to run for three weeks in early 2008.

We would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to present today and we look forward to any questions you may have. Our presentation will last approximately 15 minutes.


Firstly, allow me to introduce the team which has worked on this proposal: -

We are all Post Graduate students at Kingston University, in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. I am a taking a Masters degree in the History of Art and Design and my colleagues, Susan Clarke and Lynda Cornwell are both practitioners from the Drawing as Process MA course.

OK, so let’s begin with the concept and a potential name for the exhibition :

Slide 1

THE FEELGOOD FACTOR/open up to art/

Our Exhibition’s guiding aim or concept is:
“ To explore the extent to which art and design can be experienced as much by the other senses as by sight ”
( HOW SUCCESSFUL CAN ALL THE SENSES BE IN INTERPRETING A WORK OF ART ?)
We are aiming to provide a way that elements in the Tate collection can be understood other than purely through visual or academic means.

Slide 2
Why have we chosen this topic ?
It is now clearly acknowledged that museums are no longer places where touch or other interaction by the spectator is entirely forbidden. Rather the reverse, it is now positively encouraged in many quarters.
So, in order to make collections more accessible to visitors new approaches are always needed. The British Museum’s handling tables were specifically designed to give a more direct, welcoming and intimate experience to the visitor. By offering members of the public the chance to touch objects related to those on display and to talk to people about these objects, a real sense of engagement and sharing is available to the visitor. Another example, The Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s Sensing Sculpture, created a permanent exhibition where, rather than it being taboo to touch, visitors are allowed to touch all the artworks on display.
This museum has itself an excellent track record of providing this type of exhibition, for example, the Raised Awareness exhibition in the summer of 2005, aimed at blind or visually impaired audiences. The Tate’s mission statement outlines the desire to “understand our audiences better, broaden their socio-economic and ethnic mix and improve the quality of the visitor experience”. Allied to this is the stated “ambition to communicate serious ideas accessibly” ( Tate Report, 2005 – 2006)

But we want to go beyond this with our concept, in three specific ways;

Slide 3
Exhibition Aims

1. To approach the artwork or design object from the perspective of the other senses, , ie touch, smell, sound. In other words to restore the balance, which over hundreds of years has privileged sight over any of the other senses.
2. To aim this at a general audience, not necessarily a visually impaired one or, for example, an audience of children.
3. The exhibition will be experiential, but backed up with scholarship, thus making the vital link between theory and practice. This will greatly aid the public’s understanding and appreciation of the artworks, as well as of the artistic process.

How will we achieve this?
1. By examining HOW the sensual qualities of art generate MEANING and RATIONAL THOUGHT. Providing exhibits and displays which CHALLENGE the classically VISUAL way we currently used to interpret and enjoy the visual arts.
2. Bring in work by artists which lends itself to this sensual approach. For example work by Richard Wentworth, Deborah Hart etc………. My colleagues will expand upon this in a few moments. We will also ask a number of the artists to appear with their works and EXPLAIN how the concept of sensuality was instrumental in creating their art or design works.
3. Incorporate work already in the Museum such as Carsten Holler’s Slides or Anish Kapoor’s Ishi’s Light.
In other words we will use the Level 2 gallery as a starting point and take the visitor on a tour of the museum using this sensory approach as a guide in looking at works spread throughout the galleries.

I will now hand you over to Sue Clarke to explore the specifics of the individual artists, the major themes and the works we wish to use. –

After that Lynda Cornwell will go over the project management, funding and other practical aspects of our proposal.