This PhD thesis by Nigel Hurlstone was provided to me by my tutor Keith Roberts as part of my feedback for assignment 1. I was most surprised that a document existed that could be so closely aligned to the subject matter that I am proposing for my body of work. Of course, I shouldn't be, as by now I know that most topics have been covered in Art. I am really pleased that a document so rich in ideas and references to the subject matter has come to my attention so early in my research. Many thanks to my tutor Keith for providing access to it.
This PhD thesis has covered a number of points that I hadn't considered when dealing with a sensitive subject matter and has proved most invaluable:
The thesis explores the concept of 'Historicising Installation artwork' and Hurlstone states that "The politics of difference dominate..." and that "The deconstruction of an arbitrary history based on white patriarchal power is the shared objective of artists practising in this medium" (pg2).
This statement aligns with the work I've undertaken in my last few projects that deal with the notion that it is impossible to write history from a neutral and objective viewpoint. My 'Rubber Flapper' work in particular has a fictional curator that controls the flow of artifacts for the telling of my fictional hidden history. Keith Jenkins book "Re-Thinking History" has greatly influenced my views on how history is sifted and interpreted from a biased and skewed viewpoint. As Hurlstone's thesis states, Installation art is complicit in "exploding the myths of history as fixed and unchanging [and] undermining the artificial constructs which support exclusionary views of culture." (pg2).
The thesis goes on to examine a number of conceptual pieces of historicising installation art. Three pieces, 'Gaze' 'List' and 'Reliquary' are Hurlstone's own work - alongside the analysis of other artist's particular to the genre. The analysis of all the pieces plus the documented artistic practise of Hurlstone was useful in terms in broadening out my own understanding of how installation art is conceived, researched and produced. As I have only completed a single read through of this document I shall no doubt return to this section for more insight and for potential leads to research the highlighted artworks in more depth.
One of the chapters deals with the social and political background leading up to the imprisonment of homosexuals in internment camps. These references are most useful for establishing the prevailing morality and reasoning behind many of the decisions behind the strengthening of the law against homosexuality. The system of discrimination using the pseudo science of Eugenics was very popular across the Western World prior to WWII. "He (Himmler) feared that instead of fulfilling its 'candidature for world power and domination', Germany would sink into insignificance within fifty years because some of its 'racially pure' and 'sexually capable' male population did not want to have sex with women." (pg61).
Before I'd read this thesis I was already prepared for a difficult subject matter. I knew I would be reading difficult historical documentation and biographies such as 'The Men with the Pink Triangle'. Although there is one aspect on the sensitivity of the topic of the suppression of minorities in patriarchal culture that I found disturbing; it is that the researcher/artist's research or artwork can be trivialised or found offensive. This section in Hurlstone's thesis was most informative. He recounts the discussions and feedback when viewers have engaged with his own art installations in public and gallery spaces. "Researchers may find their work trivialised or viewed as undermining what is 'natural' or 'sacred', of subverting traditional values or of being advocates for particular sexual practices." (pg37).
For myself I find it quite encouraging that I am working in a subject area that is currently not that well covered and has a lot of scope for research and creativity. Hurlstone claims that historicising installation art is often used by artists that deal in minority or underrepresented subjects as a means to explore issues that have traditionally been overlooked in the gallery space. I find it interesting that for my current project I have been drawn to this method of working and have been thinking about the display of my work in places that are unseen or unnoticed by the public, like woodland - perhaps using photography to record the work.
Strangely, I began work of this kind with the Citadels that I made with my partner as we travelled across America in 2016. The idea of the Citadels eventually led to a conceptual framework for the triangle project that grew into installation pieces rather than photography alone. As I analyse where I am in my artistic and creative process at this point in time it feels like I have come full circle.
Future reading/references:
Grau, Gunter. Hidden Holocaust? Cassell, London 1995
Marshall, Stuart. 'The Contemporary Political use of Gay History - The Third Reich', in Bad Object-Choices (ed) How Do I look? Queer Film and Video. Bay Press, Seattle 1991 pp90-97.
Video:
We Were Marked With A Big A: Lesbian & Gay Holocaust Survivors.
Marshall, Stuart. Bright Eyes, Ch4 1984.
Marshall, Stuart. Desire: Sexuality in Germany 1919-1945, Ch4 1989.
Marshall, Stuart. Comrades in Arms, Ch4 1990.
Marshall, Stuart. Over Our Dead Bodies, Ch4 1991.
Pink Triangles, Cambridge Documentary Films, 1986.
Installations:
Hurlstone, N. Reliquary 1996.
Hurlstone, N. Gaze 1998.
Hurlstone, N. List 1999.
Private Holocaust libraries:
Wiener Library, London.
Lesbian & Gay archive holdings, Hall-Carpenter Archive, University of London.
Lesbian & Gay Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington.
Obviously such a useful reference for you. Good summary and linking with your own practice.
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