Speed Portfolio Viewing IV _ feedback

_{Yes, we did! Curators on the left, artists on the right.} 

We asked the artists participating at the 4th Speed Portfolio Viewing to send us their feedback in following questions.

1. How did you go about preparing your presentation beforehand and then during the event. Did you have a specific plan or left it unfold depending on the curator?
2. Which curator did you find more exciting, helpful and why? Which date did not work so well and why do you think.
3. What are your tips for artists doing this in the future?

Katharina Karrenberg
1. It is always a challenge to strip the own work down to a few topics! But I have tried it out and presented a small bundle of aspects which represent of course not the whole work. Within this frame I could react to the curators questions.
2. Lily Khositashvii had a spontaneous and positive access to my work. She put really interested questions about philosphical backgrounds and techniques. IMPORT PROJECTS asked some irritating questions about sales aspects. They were immediately fixed upon the confrontation between "original" or "edition" and missed therefore the whole complex of Hybridity / Third Space / Multiple Authorship, the construction of the original a.s.o. Because of the time-limit there was no possibilty to come into a discussion about these questions.
3. Dont't think twice! Do it! Afterwards you will be richer in any sense!

Pia Greschner
1. I prepared by of course organising the material and the order of the material I wanted to show plus a few introduction phrases regarding my work.  And I had an espresso with sugar before.
2. I found out that even if there is not even a minute time between dates it´s important to clean up your desktop before you (really!) rush into the next date otherwise it´s hard to stay organised..;-)  - most curators were very interested, focused and really friendly. some were exeptionally so. I enjoyed very much the meeting with susanne prinz. naturally in the last meeting of the day there was less energy in both meeting partners.  - see point 1.
3. be organised, plus don´t talk too much, leave space, leave something, a card, a small catalogue..  I really liked this event a lot. It was very straight forward, professional and at the same time casual and relaxed! With a sweet touch and care for everybody´s well being (coffee, juice, cookies, and something stronger, that I missed unfortunately...)  Thanks a lot to everybody and especially the really charismatic Despina..;-)

REBECCA LOYCE
1. Preloaded new video work and photo work into Preview so could show them quickly. Started by trying to draw a parallel between my many different bodies of work. After showing a few things to the curator, their reaction kinda set the tone and they expressed what they were interested to see more of.
2. Anna Catherine Gebbers was very engaged and actually looking for video work for a screening program. She took the time to watch the work and asked thoughful questions, she also laughed a lot when the work was funny- not afraid to be expressive. We agreed to meet for a coffee at a later time. Sophie Goltz was not engaged and even spent the first 5-8 minutes looking around the room, over my shoulder or at others when I was presenting work. In the end she focused for the last 4-5 mins and asked some provoking questions and then she kinda withered  out of the end….so no real feeling of acknowledgment. Peter Lang was engaged and generally interested and polite- no feeling if he liked or disliked the work- he said he found it interesting. Susanne Prinz was very engaged and inquisitive, she had many questions and wanted to know more. Elena Gilbert- I know already and we caught up. Import Projects- Very engaged, had experienced some of my work already at other exhibitions and had good questions.
3. Be prepared with your work and research who you are meeting with and what work that might be interested in seeing.

Kathrin Köster
1. I prepared a digital portfolio and I took some printed catalogues to show. Depending on the way of communication with the different curators I changed the way i presented my work. I didn't had a specific plan, but I had the most important questions concerning my work in mind. And depending on if there were discussions, questions or comments, it changed how much of the portfolio I presented.
2. I liked the curators who asked specific questions and who also commented the works I presented. In general I appreciated the dates where I could also get an idea of their attitude. Short dialogues and exchange-character, made the dates more intense and helpful. Some moments were really great, where my thoughts and the thoughts of the curators were visible and where they could cross. Some dates were more like a monologue in which i didn't get an idea of the thoughts of the curators. (In this case perhaps sometimes I didn't give enough space for questions). I can't say that those dates didn't work well, but in general this kind of communication feels less deep.
3.I really appreciate this short time exchange, but as for me the given 12 min are short. So my only tip would be to choose the most important works to make visible your way of thinking.

Bram Braam
1. I have made a selection from photographs from the works from the past and the works where I am busy with on the moment. I did not want to prepare to much on what I was going to say. So most of the conversations where slightly different all the time, but I think it is important to try to come to a point with your work somewhere. Although I know that this is not so easy in this short moment I had the idea that in all the conversations worked out more or less.
2. For me difficult to say, off course you have your personal ideas about how some conversations went but I think they were all important to me.
3. This is a nice chance to extend your network so for sure people have to give it a try! I can imagine that people do not like to explain there work in 10 minutes, but that is also not necessary, you only have to tell some fragments of your work that can be enough to have an idea about what you are doing.

Christian Jeppson
1. I went about my preparations by updating my physical portfolio, its always good to sit down and check the work again, write a few lines about it and get accustomed to it again.
2. I think it was good matchings between curators-artists, it felt a little funny to talk to Annette Schemmel since she was very focused on african art and I had a tough time promoting my work to Sophie Goltz halfway through the viewing, but that was only my own nerves and fatigue that played in. Unfortunately. It was just after the break and, while i think a break is important, Im afraid that this time it actually got me more unfocused, and I lost my flow.
3. My tips is, be systematic, sit down and write a few lines on what matters about the different works, and go about it in a fixed manner where you introduce yourself etc etc. and follow more or less the same formula at every date. And remember to have fun and enjoy talking about what matters most to you!

Gemis Luciani
1. I did prepare a presentation, but tailored to every curator in the panel. As I was expecting, each curator had a different sensibility and was reading the work from a different perspective. Every short discussion introduced new ideas to draw upon, even though the set time of twelve minutes  doesn't give much space to in depth analysis. A few minutes might be enough to get to the core of an artist's practice, but leave out a discussion about the social and cultural context of the same work.
2. It was a great experiment and I am glad I felt immediately comfortable with the curators observations on my work. There is a lasting feeling that the conversation will continue.
3. Follow your own beliefs and decide on what you want to compare with the curators.

Isabel Schmiga
thank you again for the speed, the port and your hospitality.
no, i did not have a real plan. i only decided before to concentrate just on a few works and put them together in one dossier.
i prefer printed material for showing and explaining my works and the context of it and just used my computer for one work, which i did not have printed out yet.
i think paper is in any case always better to handle.
for me it was fine with everybody i met. the noise in the room was hard to filter but i came along with it.
it was a very good afternoon for me! it´s a fantastic idea! thank you again!