Jimmie Durham
Surely We Will Be Confused
Artists' Research Laboratory (X CSAV)
1–22 July 2004
"Art cannot be taught. There are no more manuals skills, such as grinding and mixing of pigment or the proper method for splitting stone, that are a necessary part of art practice. Learning how to use a computer or a video camera will not help you. Thierry de Duve says that teachers can at best serve only as psychological counselors. But we who assign ourselves the task of making art cannot be so cynical as that. If as Sarat Maharaj says, making art is the production of knowledge, then probably coming together to work can be a good factory. One is not smart on one's own, but in dialogue. It may sound soft to say that I try to encourage younger artists. It is what i do, and I try not to use teaching as a way to accumulate personal 'power'. Students, however, often realize after the passage of some time that this lack of authoritarian manipulation on my part can be relentless. If you are not serious enough to make your own criticism I will not bother you. Security and self-satisfaction lead to the grave. If you want to dig your own grave I will not try to stop you."
(Jimmy Durham)
Director
Annie Ratti
Curators
Giacinto di Pietrantonio
Roberto Pinto
Coordinator
Anna Daneri