Island curator talks about contemporary art
By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser
Michael Rooks, associate curator at the Contemporary Museum, straddles two worlds: a fast-paced life at home in Chicago and a casual but challenging life here in Hawai'i. Jumping back and forth between two cities might seem maddening, but Rooks takes it all in stride.
Rooks received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Master of Arts in modern history, theory and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He comes to the Islands from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where over the course of six years he organized and curated many exhibits, authored articles, essays and reviews and gave public presentations. He has juried art shows and remains involved in community service there.
The Advertiser talked with Rooks about his job, upcoming shows and his vision for the museum's future.
Q. How do you manage to work and live in two cities?
A. When I am on site, I am doing a lot of the same things I do when I am in Chicago or elsewhere. I work on my laptop. It is actually more convenient for me to develop several of the projects that I am working on for the museum on the Mainland because of the time change. I tend to get up at 5 a.m. here so that I can make calls. There isn't a lot of difference between what I do here and when I am not here, except for actually installing shows. Obviously, then I need to be present to oversee the logistics.
A. What does an associate curator do?
A. Director Georgianna Lagoria created my position so that I could bring something to the table they haven't had in the past — a program for international contemporary art — to broaden our scope and reach.
When I am traveling, I am not just organizing exhibitions for the museum. I am also visiting artists in their studios, going to biennials and art fairs. I follow artists' work to see how they are evolving and how their work is still relevant with contemporary concerns. The market is exaggerated lately because it is crazy for new artists' work. ... As a curator, you have to calibrate your vision to download the latest update while continuing to look at what's being shown at the biennials and fairs.
Q. What's planned for TCM?
A. First, there will be a collections show, "Personal Mythologies: Joseph Cornell and his Legacy from the Contemporary Museum's Collection" in January of 2005.
We are initiating a project series this fall that will be organized by Wei Fang, our education director. It's called "O2 Art" and it is a series that won't be dedicated to one space. We've conceptualized it to be discursive, dramatic, pluralistic, flexible and fluid. We'll invite artists from all over the world. For example, next year we have Taiwanese artist Michael Lin committed to rehabilitating the tennis courts (on the Contemporary Museum property, which is a former family home) by painting the ground plane with vibrantly colored Taiwanese textile patterns. His art plays with architectural spaces. There will be no boundary lines, so you will have to make up your own rules to play. We are working on the idea of having some kind of sign-up sheet. Eventually, this project series will spill out onto the lanai, the parking lot, gardens and other galleries, off site and online in virtual space.
"Aloha Yoshitomo Nara" is planned for the spring of 2005.
A group exhibition, "Situation Comedy," is planned for the fall of 2005. This show is unusual because when most people go into a museum, they think that it is a sacred space. It's intimidating. Some people feel they are inadequate to understand the work. Well, it's just the opposite. You have all the equipment you need to understand work, and it's here (he points to his heart) and it's instinctual. So you can respond to something on that level alone and that's what's most important. You can laugh. That is what this show is about.
Almost 40 artists are in this show with work ranging from video, photography, sculpture, painting and drawing. Curators are not known for their sense of humor, but one facet of this show is really funny — it's like karaoke for standup comedians. It's about breaking the barrier to understanding art, particularly art that is cold, distant or out of our reach.
And we have a ground-breaking show, "Dreaming of a Speech Without Words: The Paintings of H.C. Westermann," planned for the winter of 2006. He is known as a sculptor, so most of these paintings have never been seen in public. He was unique in that he combined his skill as a carpenter and craftsmen with fine-art concerns. His work will resonate strongly here in Hawai'i.
Q. You've been at the Contemporary Museum since November 2003. Do you like your job so far?
A. I love it. It's the best job in the world. One of the best parts is organizing shows and working with artists. They are wonderful, the salt of the earth. I have a tremendous respect for artists and what they do. I try to facilitate what it is they want to achieve in an exhibition and present it in the best possible light for it to communicate as clearly as possible.
I like to design my installations. I think the impact an exhibition has on the viewer is like anything else: First impressions make a difference. And it is important to have it designed in a way to clearly guide people though the exhibition. The visual impact of designing the space, whether it's theatrical or austere, is another artistic role that we are afforded as curators.
The beauty of this place, the architectural beauty of the building and the gardens, is a challenge, because how do you compete with that? One goal is to have part of the project series be site specific and become integrated into the landscape here so that it makes sense and augments your experience of the place rather than competes with it.
Q. Will the recent state budget cuts affect the museum?
A. Not significantly. But museums all over the country will have to make even harder decisions in the coming years to survive. I think you will see fewer big-budget exhibitions and more collection shows that are thematic. And this is a good thing, because it refocuses the museum staff's energy on the collection and its history. You can look at your collection in different ways and put works together that have relationships that you might otherwise take for granted.
Q. Are you an artist?
A. I studied painting as an undergraduate. After I got out of school, I needed to make a living. I didn't have the discipline to pursue other ideas or modes of working, so I gave it up. But working with artists is one way to maintain that interest — and also collecting. I have been collecting contemporary art for the past 13 years. It's an expensive habit. Writing takes the place of painting for me. I get the same satisfaction writing a good piece as I used to get making a painting in the studio. It's fulfilling and satisfying. It's not just about being didactic but being creative, putting words together. I will be writing a lot of essays for my upcoming shows. As a curator, you write for many different audiences — press releases, didactics for the walls, catalogs, historical and academic essays. When I was an art critic, I had a more-focused audience.
Q. What artists are you enthusiastic about?
A. Michael Lin, of course, and Dana Schutz, out of Columbia University, is really hot. So is Cuban performance artist Tanya Bruguera. I would like to integrate more performance art in what we do here. In January 2005, there will be a collections show, and Japanese contemporary artist Aya Kawaguchi will do a performance in the garden on opening night.
Q. How do you select artists for exhibitions?
A. I approach art from an intuitive place. Instinctively, it is from my heart first. If there is substance to back up my initial reaction to the work, then that makes it really interesting to me. I get really engaged in it. I am also suspicious of that initial response because it is emotional, and emotions are really strong. So when I have a response, I want to make sure there is really something there to sustain my interest in the work and make it relative in all the concerns that I think the work should be about.
Q. What advice would you give upcoming artists?
A. Stay informed, read art publications, research art on-line, and keep a rigor about thought processes. It's important to know what the dominant discourse is at the moment and either refute it or contribute to it, one or the other, or create your own line of discourse.
