THE DEEP BREATH invokes conversation as a technology: how can an institution contextualize, safeguard and broadcast brave new digital works in an intentional way?

THE DEEP BREATH is an exploratory research project and an experiment in response. Through 1-on-1 conversations with artists, educators, curators, gallerists and contemporary arts supporters, we ask: what is the vital context of The Current Museum? What kind of cultural infrastructure is needed to support the next generation of contemporary artists? What must be dissolved in order to allow more constructive patterns to emerge?

We're inviting participants to discuss creative practice in isolation; labor, funding and exploitation; stewardship online and offline; crumbling the brick-and-mortar notion of scarcity; as well as surveillance, privacy, capital and this massively online moment. What futures will artists and cultural institutions shape in the wake of a reignited movement for racial justice and a global pandemic?

How does born-digital art gain value? What kind of value is this?

What is ethical funding? How can we start to address wealth inequality in this space?

What are the values of an art world that cherishes the labor of arts workers?

When the next generation of collectors, patrons and supporters emerges, what values do you hope to see in their support of contemporary art?

What is stewardship? How does social exchange circulate ideas? How can we do that virtually, and how does this strengthen/weaken the community around the art we preserve?

How do we design art spaces that are progressive and function to dismantle systemic racism? Can that space be called a museum?

What forms of support have been most valuable to your practice? What’s missing?

What does success in your practice mean to you?

How do you see the context of your own work? Have institutions you’ve worked with in the past properly communicated it?

Participants

Carmen Aguilar-Wedge, Morehshin Allahyari, Salome Asega, Chris Barr, AnnaLiisa Benston, Tommy Martinez, Mad Pinney, and more to be announced soon...

About this Project

This conversation series is a survey of our community to guide the next iteration of The Current. Designed and conducted by Olivia McKayla Ross in collaboration with Kelani Nichole. The findings will be presented online to launch the museum into 2022.