Rasheed Araeen

In a darkened temperature-controlled room sit several seminal artworks the public has never seen. Hoards of could-be national treasures populate vast storage vaults. All of them out of view and consideration. What makes an artwork acquired by a museum worthy of wall space, while others are locked away? While efforts have been made behind the scenes to balance collections through acquiring more work by people of colour, this isn’t always reflected in what public eyes see. Hoisting up this much-needed discussion about what museums choose to collect and to show, ‘Speech Acts: Reflection-Imagination-Repetition’ at Manchester Art Gallery curated by Hammad Nasar with Kate Jesson, impels viewers to consider art history’s negative space and also the ways in which our encounters with art are inherently shaped by what is shown and what isn’t. - 在黑暗温度控制的房间里坐着一些公众从未见过的精巧艺术品。囤积的财宝可能是国家宝藏中的巨大储藏库。所有这些都是不可见的和考虑的。是什么使得艺术品被一个有墙空间的博物馆所获得，而另一些则被锁住了呢？虽然人们在幕后通过获取有色人种更多的作品来平衡收藏，但这并不总是反映在公众眼中。在哈马德·纳萨尔和凯特·杰森共同主持的曼彻斯特美术馆举办的“演讲行为：反思-想象-重复”展览会上，展开了关于博物馆选择收藏和展览的迫切需要的讨论，促使观众思考艺术史的消极空间以及我们如何看待艺术史。与艺术的相遇本质上是由所展示的和不存在的来塑造的。