Abstract
My curatorial concept for Sequences XII centers around a growing aesthetic field, as Arden Reed has termed it, called “slow art” – which encompasses intimate encounters between art and viewer, examining alternative approaches to art making and experiencing. Through an aesthetic perception of slowness, the festival will connect locally, and focus on practices involving investigation, research, and interconnectivity. Programming will emphasize community building and reflective discussion and mediation. I will emphasize artists who use their practice to invest in a time and place through research and pedagogy. We will explore what it means to both experience and produce with slowness at the heart, through works that force us to pause, to meditate and reflect. Exhibitions will focus on artists that approach their work through a slowness of research practice, as well as works that are produced slowly through a meditative patience and sensory focus.
An appreciation for slowness reframes the concept of productivity. As a mindful practice, it offers an escape from oversaturated content and an unhealthy bias towards speed and consumption in our modern society. Through the ethos of less is more, artists allow for ethical and sustainable production, creating work carefully and with consideration, and towards a deeper observation and slow appreciation. Slowing down then offers a political dimension, an act of rebellion, resistance, and patience. I will approach slowness not strictly through an element of time, but rather through deep connection, immersive attention, reciprocal relationships, engagement, and participatory involvement.