curated by Richard Birkett & Taylor Le Melle

Contributions by G, Ima-Abasi Okon, Simon Worthington
Materials from Priya Jay, not/nowhere, Giorno Poetry Systems, Leigh Claire La Berge, PSS

Text exercises is presented by Taylor Le Melle, and organised with Richard Birkett, as part of ‘curated by’ 2020.

As the name suggests, Text exercises issues from a practice of writing, where a framework of language and grammar is yet to be determined. The approach taken is one of ‘exhibition-as-research’ – that is to say, the aim is not to find the thing being looked for and then put it in an exhibition, but rather that putting an object in an exhibition is a way to find the thing being looked for.

The work towards Text exercises is conducted through a set of methodologies, in accordance with the parameters of scale, logistical limitations and the ‘terms of agreement’ that define the working conditions. These methodologies include layering, chopping, directing, and foraging, and are applied to modify or generate texts, objects and sound recordings. The methodologies and what they yield are further defined by the labour time available, determined by Le Melle and Birkett based on the exhibition budget. Text exercises considers the resources to hand as a body of information, traversed by prescribed expectations and forms of exchange.

Taylor Le Melle writes, organises and produces objects. Taylor has written for publications and monographs on and with artists Adam Farah, Helen Cammock, Sophia Al-Maria, Ima-Abasi Okon, Zadie Xa, Evan Ifekoya, Imran Perretta, Aslan Goisum, Jamila Johnson-Small, Melvin Edwards, Torey Thornton, Sola Olulode, Rehana Zaman, and Daniella valz Gen. As the publishing imprint PSS, Taylor has published and edited numerous artists’ books. With not/nowhere, an artist workers’ cooperative, they have organised over 50 workshops and events to provide contemporary artists with training and space to experiment with writing, movement and film.

Richard Birkett is a curator and writer, and currently Curator at Large at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. From 2017-2019 he worked as Chief Curator at the ICA. Between 2010 and 2016, he was Curator at Artists Space, New York, and co-founded Artists Space Books & Talks in 2012. He has curated projects at organisations including Yale Union, Portland, U.S.; mumok, Vienna, Austria; and the National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristina. He has edited and written for publications including Cosey Complex (Koenig Books, 2012), Bernadette Corporation: 2000 Wasted Years (Koenig Books, 2013) and Tell It To My Heart - Collected by Julie Ault, Volume 2 (Hatje Cantz, 2015), and contributed texts to journals including Afterall, Artforum and Parse.