[matilda] How was the Art 05 project a success?

[mark cohen]

A couple  of points about what has been said about Art 05 specifically how 
was it a success.

The opening night certainly was and all subsequent bullshit aside I think 
that the event certainly added to the Thursday soicial.

The rest of it: well measures of success for art shows are difficult to 
quantify but things like; what did the artists think, what did the public 
think, how many people saw the show, what were the reviews like what did the 
critics think, how much work sold etc are usual indications.
Personally I think it had cool bits and not so cool bits but then that's art 
shows for you. It would be nice to know how many people came along. 
Subsequent confusion aside I think it was fairly successful and this sort of 
thing would be worth doing again.

The subsequent confusion is a real pain in the arse and more so because it 
seems to have stemmed from misunderstandings (on lots of fronts) rather than 
any real issues and I think that to prevent this sort of thing recuring it 
would be better to tie down before hand what every one expects and make sure 
that there is an agreed procedure. Lack of prior agreement that everyone 
agrees was agreed on seems to be at the root of the issue.  Of course this 
may not always be possible or sometimes desirable but I think that it would 
help.

Communication as someone said is the key.  Not every one really understands 
art shows and their funding and that includes most people who put them on 
(including me and the two I have run) and as soon as people start to think 
in different idioms there are problems. What I mean by that is what may be 
considered normal and realistic for say an arts council funded show is often 
totally inappropriate for say a commercial or guerilla style show. And what 
underground venues may expect of a show may not mesh with what curators may 
want if they have say a formal art idea about the show.

That all said I don't expect to be reimbursed now, too much water, bridges 
etc. It doesn't bother, me like lots of people I have put a lot of effort 
into Matilda (much more than in to Art 05) and I don't expect to be 
reimbursed for that other than having the place up and running. Some times 
we just have to put up with these things and move on. Preferably before it 
gets too hard to do so easily, like in this situation.

Mark Cohen

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