IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger OukSpecial thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana KushnirA Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery SydneyModeration(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary ArtISBN 978-988-12600-1-7Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

Moderation(s)Fig.1

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong

IntroductionA Constructed World

The Social Contract

A Constructed World

Spring Workshop

1 November -15 December 2013

With texts by

A Constructed WorldRuba KatribMia JankowiczBetti-Sue HertzVenus LauAlana Kushnir

Imagine another world in which you wouldalways be required to sign a writtencontract before being allowed to view anartwork. Each time you approached theexhibition space – in a museum, a galleryor other location in which an artwork ispresented – you would be greeted by anattendant who would casually ask you tosign a document placed in front of you.This document would include termsrequiring you to do or refrain from doingcertain things, in exchange for beingallowed into the exhibition space to viewthe artwork. How does this procedurediffer from what you actually experiencewhen approaching exhibition spaces? Doyou encounter contracts? Or do contractssimply not exist in these environments?

A contract is an agreement which isenforceable in a court of law. In order tobe enforceable, one party to the contractmust promise to do something inexchange for a benefit from the otherparty to the contract. Although it is helpfulto have a written document to prove thata contract exists and what its terms are,in principle the law does not requirethat the contract be expressed in writingor be signed by the parties in order tobe legally binding. In practice, whatthis means is that we are actuallymaking contracts every day, without evennoticing it.

Here is one such scenario: you’re hungryand you feel like eating an apple. Youenter a grocery store, choose an appleyou like, pay 50 cents for it at the cashregister, and walk out of the store. Younow own the apple and can eat it. In thisscenario, a contract has been formedbecause the grocery store has given youan apple in exchange for your 50 cents.You may not have signed a document,but because of your conduct and theconduct of the grocery store, a legally-binding agreement has been formedbetween you and the store.

This scenario is just one illustration of howfrequently contracts appear in everydaylife, whether they are expressly stated ormerely implied through the conduct ofthe parties. Indeed, contracts are far moreprevalent than many of us may care toadmit. As philosopher Virginia Held hasstated, “contemporary Western society isin the grip of contractual thinking”(Feminist Morality, 1993, p. 193). Indeed,contracts can take a myriad of forms andcontain endlessly variable benefits. Theycan be trivial or serious. They are amechanism that we have becomeaccustomed to, perhaps even overly so,and this is why they can exist unnoticed.

If we consider that contracts can arise outof implied conduct, and that they can existunnoticed, then is it reasonable to suggestthat contracts are present in the spacesof exhibitions? After all, it could be arguedthat as a member of the public, you aregranted access to an exhibition space andallowed to consider an artwork, andperhaps even be enlightened by it. Inreturn, the artist and the gallery benefitfrom your reception of the artwork. Inother words, you gain the experience ofan exhibition in return for their gain of anaudience. In addition to these benefits,there are also several implied obligationswithin an exhibition setting which regulatesocial conduct and point to the presenceof a contract. You may feel required toread wall texts or labels, to walk around

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

the space in a particular direction and tospeak quietly and only when necessary,so as not to affect the experiences ofothers. You may also feel obliged to nottouch the artworks or lean against thewalls.

This is precisely the type of conduct whichsocial and cultural theorist Tony Bennettproposed to be a signifier of the operationof ‘the exhibitionary complex’, a “self-monitoring system of looks in which thesubject and object positions can beexchanged, in which the crowd comes tocommune with and regulate itself throughinteriorizing the ideal and ordered viewof itself as seen from the controlling visionof power.” (The Birth of the Museum:History, Theory, Politics, 1995, p. 69).Bennett pointed out the ability of theexhibition space, via its architectural layoutand other functional aspects, to createlines of sight in which the viewer is ableto observe, whilst simultaneously beingobserved. He explained that self-regulationis produced through this process of self-observation. This system enables “asociety to watch over itself” (Bennett, TheBirth of the Museum: History, Theory,Politics, 1995, p. 69), and it employs impliedobligations in order to do so.

In utilising these implied obligations as ameans of governance, it is interesting topoint out that Bennett’s exhibitionarycomplex bears some resemblance tocertain principles of social contract theory.Therefore, even though any reason as towhy A Constructed World have namedtheir exhibition The Social Contract cannotbe discussed here (see the initialdisclaimer), social contract theory is stillrelevant to this piece of writing. Theconcept behind this theory has its originsin Plato’s short dialogue Crito, whereSocrates assumes the voice of “the Laws”and declares:

We further proclaim and give the rightto every Athenian, that if he does notlike us when he has come of age andhas seen the ways of the city, andmade our acquaintance, he may gowhere he pleases and take his goodswith him; and none of us laws willforbid him or interfere with him. Anyof you who does not like us and thecity, and who wants to go to a colonyor to any other city, may go where helikes, and take his goods with him. Buthe who has experience of the mannerin which we order justice andadminister the State, and still remains,has entered into an implied contractthat he will do as we command him.

Social contract theory was then developedfurther during the Enlightenment bythinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, JohnLocke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Eachof these figures used the concept of thesocial contract as a means of arguing fordivergent forms of legitimate government.In the 20th century it was then revised asa premise for further developments inmoral and political philosophy, mostnotably by John Rawls in his influentialbook, A Theory of Justice (1972). Althoughit would be misleading to suggest thateach of these protagonists employed acommon interpretation of the concept ofthe social contract, each of theircommentaries relies on the hypotheticalpresumption that there exists an impliedagreement among all individuals in asociety, and that these individuals give upcertain liberties by adhering to certainrules of conduct, in exchange for thebenefit of being protected by that society.This implied agreement – the socialcontract – is used as a means to justifysociety’s right to govern. Therefore, whilesocial contract theory and Bennett’sexhibitionary complex share the centralityof rules of social conduct, the theoriesdiffer in regards to the benefit receivedby individuals who adhere to those rules.

For the exhibitionary complex, that benefitis to self govern. For the social contract,that benefit is to be governed by others.In the spaces of exhibitions, the socialcontract’s benefit of being governed byothers can also be gained, in addition tothe benefit of self-government which isoffered by the exhibitionary complex.Aside from the more obvious kinds ofsocial conduct such as walking aroundthe space in a particular direction,speaking quietly and not touching theartworks – those used by Bennett to justifythe exhibitionary complex – there are moresubtle kinds of social conduct which existin, and are encouraged by exhibitions.

One such kind of conduct is touched uponin the press material for A ConstructedWorld’s work The Social Contract: thegenerally implied obligation to discusswhat one has seen in an exhibition. Thisobligation does not apply to anyone whoenters an exhibition space. Rather, itapplies to those visitors who consciouslyor subconsciously play the role of theinterested and knowledgeable art viewer.Visitors who play this role are expectedto be able to understand what it is theyhave seen and to impart theirunderstanding to others. They play thisrole successfully if there are others towhom they can impart their understandingof the artwork. This requirement of thepresence of others – of an audience – iswhat makes this subtle kind of socialconduct relevant to social contract theory.If the visitor’s discussion of what he orshe has seen does not live up to theexpectations of the audience, then thevisitor loses their confidence and approval.The visitor is left without the protectionof the audience, a consequence whichaccording to social contract theory meansthat the visitor is left without the benefitof being governed by those around them.In doing so the visitor effectively waivesthe benefit of the social contract.

Modern and contemporary artists havemade various proclamations to theiraudiences using codified writtenstructures. During the interwar years, wesaw a proliferation of manifestos by artistgroups such as the Dada Manifesto (1918)and the Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and1929). These texts were meant tosynthesize for the public the main tenetsof an art movement, to communicate aset of values, aesthetics and intentions.Even as late as the Fluxus Manifesto (1963)pronouncements were a common causeevent, and one that distinguished oneartist group’s raison d'être from another.There were no clear mechanisms for theaudience to participate in the creation ofthese texts, which were crafted by a close-knit cohort of artists.

Even now, these documents still serve asa shorthand communiqué, a fast way tograsp the semantic field of reference foran artistic practice. While not consideredto be artworks themselves, their functionsextrude a powerful aura. While AConstructed World’s The Social Contract(2013) may seem to diverge from thesesorts of pronouncements—the agreementis not conceived with grand schemes inmind, but as a term of engagement withindividuals who would choose to enterthe exhibition space—it does communicatea set of propositions. Like Superflex’sEcological Burial Contract where signeeswere committing to a climate friendlyburial during the UN Climate ChangeConference in Copenhagen in 2009 , itis closer in form to the contracts onedevises in a marriage agreement orbusiness partnership—a declaration ofroles and responsibilities with impliedconsequences engendered through a trustaid. These are invitations to audiences toparticipate in a social experiment.

While The Social Contract (2013) is a directreference to Thomas Hobbes’s 17th-century Enlightment ideals of the right of

the individual and State sovereignty, onemay also consider it in relationship withthe 18th-century work of the same nameby Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He writes:“But the social order isn’t to be understoodin terms of force; it is a sacred right onwhich all other rights are based. But itdoesn’t come from nature, so it must bebased on agreements. Before coming tothat, though, I have to establish the truthof what I have been saying.” In otherwords, I must be earnest in my approachto this endeavor.

In contemporary life, civil society and freewill have shaped our relationship not onlyto the State but also to agreements amongits citizens. It is structures such as thesethat keep lawyers employed, as implicationis embedded in the words and phraseswhich aim for clarity yet cannot resistdiverse interpretations. Curator DanielMcClean writes: “In many [artist contracts]there is a deconstructive moment, as theyoperate on the borders of legalintelligibility, playfully destabilizing theorder and rationality of the contractualform whilst retaining its performative shell.”

For A Constructed World’s The SocialContract there are a few turns that maketheir project less than straightforward.However forceful social contracts are, itis the function of trust that becomessalient when engaging audiences in anarrangement as a key component to awork of art. The artists make an interestingpoint in questioning how hyper-connectivity has been stretching oursociability to the breaking point. Theartists’ contract disallows the audiencefrom speaking about their experience inthe gallery (at least during the run of theexhibition), thereby obligating theaudience to sign away their freedom ofspeech, a basic right in the U.S. Bill ofRights (a document derived directly fromEnlightment ideas). Yet in this case, silenceis considered by the artists to be a

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

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What would it mean to write about anartwork you haven’t seen or heardanything about? And furthermore, to write‘critically’ about it? The basic frame of thecritic’s position is that, by virtue of yourexperience, your study or your privilegedencounters with the artist, you have accessto some conceptual material or meaningthat lies beyond the surface of the work.Although much has been written rightlycontesting this, we critics nonetheless arestill dancing around the roles of revealerof meaning, announcer of profundity,janitor of mysteries.

The Social Contract is a work whosecondition is this: prior to entering theexhibition room, you will sign a legalagreement stating that you will not discusswhat you have seen. I have not seen anydocumentation of the room’s content,though even if I had, I would still not bein a position to tell you anything.

A Constructed World remainedappropriately coy in response to myquestions, meta as they were: when theconceptual gesture is so strong, howimportant were the formal qualities of thework people saw? Would there be waysin which the content reflects the contract’sconceptual gesture? Is it a McGuffin, ordid they care what it looked and felt like? I did not get far with this sort ofinvestigation, so I pulled my line of enquiryback to the matter of the agreement itself,which no doubt is the point.

So I have to come at the artwork anotherway. In a world of short deadlines andshady editorial practices, writings onunseen works happen all the time. Theanecdotally-circulated artwork is oftenmore interesting than the real thing, notbecause of any shortcoming of the work,but because of the accumulation ofassociations, contexts, embellishments,excitements of description that it acquiresacross retellings. Anecdotal artworks, as

a form of storytelling, circulate in the nicestsettings, such as educational ones,moments of shared research, or ones inwhich the consumption of booze hasblurred the memory yet loosened thetongue. Some of the best artworks I knoware big helium balloon bunches of ideastethered loosely to the anchor of an artobject that is rumoured to have beenmade once. Taking The Social Contract atface value, we lose this expanded space;the work will only ever be what was seenand then privately remembered.

Of course, the foremost aspect of ‘thework’ consists of the conceptual gestureof the legal agreement itself, which isavailable for me to view. However, bydefinition, legalities have no contentbeyond what is written. Consider thisanecdotal artwork: in ancient China (I havebeen told, in a hurried meeting at Schipholairport) rocks were chosen from themountains and hills and placed onsympathetically-shaped platforms. Theywere chosen for their beauty, but most ofall, they were chosen for their rock-likerockishness. They were examples of themost like-themselves things that could befound. They were perfect objects, sittingseamlessly within the idea of themselves.Cats do this, too. When my mother saysof her cat (as she often does) “she's agood cat,” it is not a statement on moralgoodness but an affirmation that the catis good at her cat-ness.

Such is a well-written contract:interpretation is its failure. While breakinga contract generally invokes a pre-agreedpunishment, often there’s no compellingforce beyond the performative nature ofthe legal agreement itself. The very formis what commands respect. Pure legalitieshave no meanings, only effects. Theseeffects are the production of particularsubjectivities.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

UntitledRuba Katrib

There is a room in a small hostel with nomore than six rooms in all. The two womennext door rarely show up; I see their palefaces drift by the half-open door onlyonce. The dim yellow light common to allhotels drowns the entirety of the spaceof the room, but strangely I do not seeany lights on. I wonder if there is a sunstruggling on its deathbed somewhere,vomiting a milky yellow daytime.

I am sure that I came with anotherperson—who it was I cannot recall, but Iam sure it was a woman. Of that I am sure.A person, not a dog or a reindeer. Of thatI am sure. The space I am in is filled withbreathing sounds and smelly breath, butI cannot see anyone. Or maybe I can, andI just forget the feeling of seeing. But Isense people, a lot of them, in this room.

I sneak into the room next door, notlooking for anything particular, justloitering. I flip through their sharply foldedold underwear, pick up a half-eaten appleon the floor, and stage a story in my headabout how to defend myself when thewomen come back to the room: “Oh, Iopened the wrong door.” “Oh, I left mybag here.” “Oh, I saw a thief break intoyour room.”

There are several bathtubs in their room.One of them is round, of normal size.There are eight smaller tubs, rectangleswith rounded corners. They are as smallas infants' coffins. An indigo fluid fills thesmall tubs, as stagnant as any othertranquil, inorganic substance. I am sittingin one of the small tubs when I awaken,stretching my legs beyond its smoothedges. The fluid is neither cold nor hotnor even lukewarm. I find it hard to evensense the wetness of the fluid—it is nothingbut a subtle flow. Seated in this tiny,trembling blue heart reminds me of thehumid, slightly poisonous air of the south,which scratches the throat like the softstems of so many plants, of the wet

ground where tricycles pass by, of heapsof toxic colorful fruits on the sidewalks.When I bite into those vibrant hues, theyturn to tasteless ash.

The women are back, standing wordlesslynext to me. Their eyebrows and thecorners of their smiles tremble like ripplesover the indigo fluid. I leave the roomnaked, wondering about the dryness ofmy skin.

I don't know the bald man in my room,and I cannot do anything but smile. Theman talks a lot, telling me about the pastbetween us. I am overwhelmed by thesheer amount of detail, hearing everythingwithout understanding, but I start tobelieve him no matter how the story goes.Anyway, we knew each other a long timeago—I should not and cannot question.The man has a big laugh, so it seems likeeven the oil on his face is smiling in itsway. His eyes are black, translucent. I stareinto his eyes and fall through onto a dampmeadow where the grass grows up to mywaist, succulent with dark green juice. Thewind becomes bitter as it passes throughthe lustrous green.

The sun is bright, but when its beamstouch my skin, it becomes cold. My limbsgo numb on the grass.

Story 1Venus Lau

A Constructed World work with actionsand methodologies that bring attentionto diverse modes of artistic practice. They are well known for their lengthyperformances which include up to twentyperformers presenting speech,conversation, philosophical texts, musicand singing, incorporating high levels ofspecialisation and not-knowing as a sharedspace. In their ongoing project, Explainingcontemporary art to live eels, they inviteart specialists to speak to live eels thatare later released back into the water.

Based in Paris, A Constructed World isthe collaborative project of Australianartists Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva.They have presented major surveyexhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum ofArt, The University of Melbourne (2012),Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,Melbourne (2007) and Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney (1996). Theyhave also had solo exhibitions at NationalCentre for Editioned Art and Image(Cneai), Chatou (2007) and CAPCMuseum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux(2008), where they made a year-longproject of four exhibitions andperformances. Their next expansiveexhibition will be at Museum Villa Croce,Genova (2014).

A Constructed World have madeperformances for art centres includingLes Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2013),Cneai, Chatou (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012); Academy of FineArts, Stockholm (2011) and Paola Pivi’sGRRR JAMMING SQUEEK, SculptureInternational Rotterdam (2011). Their workhas been included in group exhibitions inmuseums and organisations includingNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne(2013), Museum of Objects, Blois (2011),Villa Arson Centre for Contemporary Art,Nice (2010), Gertrude Contemporary ArtSpace, Melbourne (2009), NUS Museum,Singapore (2008), Foundation Sandretto

Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2007) and Arteall'Arte, San Gimignano (2000) andbiennale such as Belleville, Paris (2010),Tirana (2003), Saõ Paolo (1998) andGwangju (1995). They have been therecipients of artist-in-residence grantsfrom Villa Arson, Nice (2010), Couventdes Récollets, Paris (2007), AustraliaCouncil for the Arts, Cité, Paris (2005)and Serpentine Gallery, London (2002).

Heman Chong is an artist, curator andwriter whose conceptually-chargedinvestigations into how individuals andcommunities imagine the future generatesa multiplicity of objects, images,installations, situations and texts.

In 2006, he produced a writing workshopwith Leif Magne Tangen at Project ArtsCenter in Dublin where they co-authoredPHILIP, a science fiction novel, with MarkAerial Waller, Cosmin Costinas, RosemaryHeather, Francis McKee, David Reinfurtand Steve Rushton.

The artist has developed solo exhibitionsat The Reading Room (Bangkok), FuturePerfect (Singapore), Wilkinson (London),Rossi & Rossi (London / Hong Kong),SOTA Gallery (Singapore), NUS Museum(Singapore), Kunstverein Milano (Milan),Motive Gallery (Amsterdam), Hermes ThirdFloor (Singapore), Vitamin Creative Space(Guangzhou), Art In General (New York),Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Ellen deBruijne Projects (Amsterdam), TheSubstation (Singapore), KuenstlerhausBethanien (Berlin), Sparwasser HQ (Berlin).

He has participated in internationalbiennales including Asia Pacific Triennale7 (2012), Performa 11 (2011), Momentum 6(2011), Manifesta 8 (2010), 2nd SingaporeBiennale (2008), SCAPE ChristchurchBiennale (2006), Busan Biennale (2004),10th India Triennale( 2000) andrepresented Singapore in the 50th VeniceBiennale (2003).

Biographies

Betti-Sue Hertz has been the director ofvisual arts at the Yerba Buena Center forthe Arts (YBCA) since 2009. Trained asan artist and art historian her curatorialand scholarly projects are fueled by theintersection of visual aesthetics andsocially relevant ideas, where emotionalcontent is filtered through intellectualmachinations. She understands exhibitionsto be a site for the creation of relationalstructures and comparative propositionsto expand opportunities for newperspectives on a wide range of topics. 

Exhibitions at YBCA include MigratingIdentities, 2013; Audience as Subject (2010and 2012); Song Dong: Dad and Mom,Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well(2011); The Matter Within: NewContemporary Art of India (2011); andNayland Blake: Free!Love!Tool!Box! (2012),which received the 2013 2nd Place Awardfor a Non Profit/ Alternative Gallery fromthe International Art Critics Association-USA. As curator of contemporary art atthe San Diego Museum of Art from 2000-2008, exhibition highlights includeAnimated Painting (2007); Transmission:The Art of Matta and Gordon Matta-Clark(2006); Past in Reverse: ContemporaryArt of East Asia (2004), for which shereceived the Emily Hall Tremaine ExhibitionAward; and Axis Mexico: Common Objectsand Cosmopolitan Actions (2002).Dissident Futures opens in Fall 2013.

Mia Jankowicz is a writer andindependent curator based in Cairo andLondon. Between 2009-2013 she wasArtistic Director of Contemporary ImageCollective in Cairo, Egypt.

Under her leadership CIC saw majorexpansions including relocation, and theCIC PhotoSchool, as well as curatorialinitiatives such as The Alternative NewsAgency and PhotoCairo 5. She studiedVisual Cultures MA at Goldsmiths Collegeand worked as Residencies Curator at

Gasworks, London, before participatingin de Appel Curatorial Programme. Shecurrently writes around Egyptian culturalcontexts and internationally, contributingpieces to numerous catalogues andmagazines.

Ruba Katrib is Curator at SculptureCenterin Long Island City, New York, and waspreviously Associate Curator at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Miami(2007 – 2012). Her recent exhibitionsinclude A Disagreeable Object (2012), onthe legacy of surrealism, and Better Homes(2013), which addressed domesticity incontemporary art, as well as the firstcomprehensive solo museum exhibitionsof Cory Arcangel (2010) and ClaireFontaine (2010).

Her writing has appeared in severalperiodicals including Artforum,Kaleidoscope, and Mousse Magazine.Recent publications include New Methods(MOCA, 2013), on independent artistinitiatives throughout Latin America, andInquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture –Where is Production? (co-editor)forthcoming from Black Dog Press.  

Alana Kushnir recently completed an MFAin Curating at Goldsmiths, London. Priorto this, she worked as a lawyer at King &Wood Mallesons in Melbourne,Australia. Her curatorial practice andresearch explores the intersections of thelaw, curating and contemporary art. 

Recent curated exhibitions include OpenCurator Studio at Artspace, Sydney andonline (2013), Fourth Plinth: ContemporaryMonument at the ICA, London (2012 -2013), Paraproduction atBoetzelaer|Nispen Gallery, Amsterdam(2012), TV Dinners at BUS Projects,Melbourne (2012), Acoustic Mirrors (co-curator) at the Zabludowicz Collection,London (2012).

Spring is a non-profit arts spacecommitted to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorialresidencies, exhibitions, music, film andtalks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hangindustrial neighborhood of Hong Kong, itopened in August 2012. Spring serves asa platform and laboratory for exchangebetween the vibrant artists andorganizations of Hong Kong’s rich culturallandscape and their internationalcounterparts who seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Witte de With Center for ContemporaryArt is an international public institutionwith Rotterdam as its home base.Established in 1990, Witte de With exploresdevelopments in contemporary artworldwide and presents this throughexhibitions, theoretical and educationalprograms, public events and publications.

Editor: Mimi BrownDesign: Heman Chong

First published 2013© The authors,Spring Art Foundation Ltdand Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

Spring Workshop3/F Remex Centre42 Wong Chuk Hang RoadAberdeen, Hong Kong

Witte de WithCenter for Contemporary ArtWitte de Withstraat 503012 BR RotterdamThe Netherlands

www.springworkshop.orgwww.wdw.nl

Team :Moderator: Heman ChongWitness: Christina LiObserver: Michael LeeWitte de With:Defne Ayas(Director and Curator)Amira Gad(Associate Curator and Publications)Samuel Saelemakers(Assistant Curator)

Spring Workshop:Mimi Brown(Founder and Director)Athena Wu(Program Manager)Emily Cheung(Operations Manager)Sean WongMandy Chan(Interns)

Legal:Creative legal advice, research and thewritten agreement for The Social Contractwas provided by Roger Ouk

Spring Workshop, A Constructed Worldand Heman Chong wish to express theirgratitude to Roger Ouk

Special thanks to Trevor Yeung, RubaKatrib, Mia Jankowicz, Betti-Sue Hertz,Venus Lau, Alana Kushnir

A Constructed World is represented bySolang Production Paris Brussels andRoslyn Oxley9 Gallery Sydney

Moderation(s) is made possible in partwith support by AMMODO. The researchpart of Moderation(s) in 2012 wassupported by the Mondriaan Fund(Research & Development) grant

Moderation(s) brings together aninternational group of artists, curators,and writers including A ConstructedWorld, Nadim Abbas, Lee Ambrozy, Oscarvan den Boogaard, Michael Lee, GabrielLester, Christina Li, Bik van der Pol, EszterSalamon, and Koki Tanaka, who willparticipate in a program of contemporarydiscourse and production lasting for morethan year and taking place betweeninitiators Witte de With Center forContemporary Art and Spring Workshopin Hong Kong. Within this framework,Witte de With invited Heman Chong, aSingaporean artist, curator, and writer, tosteer the program which will involve morethan fifty artists and engender aconference, three exhibitions, threeresidencies, and a book of short stories.

In speaking about this project, moderatorHeman Chong proposes to ‘make soft’the practices of both artist and curator,so that one becomes easily soluble in theother, while retaining their unique formsand patterns of working. The participantswill be encouraged to indulge in thepleasures of exchanging knowledge andtools without any pressure to collaborate.

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liberatory act, one that is hard for us togrant ourselves in an age of social mediaand blog posts. This is not the Zenmeditation version of silence—the silenceof sitting zazen that allows for a different,more intimate relationship with oneself;this one is a protection against norms.

While I can write about manifestos,contracts, expectations, silence andspeech, I am unable to divulge that whichI do not know: what takes place withinthe room. So I, too, am disarmed, uselessin my speech. Pronouncements as thespeech act of artists are documents ofintention as well as recordable archives.In this case, the audience gets to choosewhether to participate in what may leadto a form of freedom through anagreement based on constraint.

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The press material for A ConstructedWorld’s The Social Contract also explainsthat visitors must agree to not disclosethe contents of what they see in theexhibition by signing a Participation andConfidentiality Agreement. Given that thepress material mentions that thisAgreement needs to be signed, it can beimplied that the contract will be expressedin writing and signed by the parties.In this set up, the written and signeddocument will act as a tool by whichvisitors will be able to waive any socialcontract which they may have implicitlyagreed to. In other words, the impliedsocial contract (which is not legallybinding) will be replaced with an expresslywritten contract (which is legally binding).When this new contract is signed, thesocial contract which lies beneath thesurface of exhibitions will be revealed.

1http://superflex.net/tools/ecological_burial_contract(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

2Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1,http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/roussoci.pdf(retrieved Oct. 21, 2013)

3Daniel McClean, “The Artist’s Contract/ From theContract of Aesthetics to the Aesthetics of theContract,” Mousse Contemporary Art Magazine,Milan, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=607(retrieved Oct. 20, 2013)

In 2014, Kushnir will be curating anexhibition at the Sherman ContemporaryArt Foundation in Sydney. She haspresented her research and writing in awide range of online and printedpublications and academic journals,including the Journal of Curatorial Studiesand Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Venus Lau is a curator and art writer basedin Hong Kong. After working in Beijing asan art writer and project curator, she nowworks actively in various cultural spheresacross greater China, pursuingmultidisciplinary experimentation withpotential and emergent culturalproductions in the region, while initiatingdiscourses between Chinese art and thecultural structures in other countries.

Beyond contemporary art, she alsoengages in criticism on local cinematicand literary work and produces literarytexts. She is currently researching topicsincluding the Pearl River Delta as culturalrhetoric, subalterns and implosion inrepresentation of triads in Hong Kongcinema and their relationship to themythical monster Lu Ting, scrambled eggsas an object of desire in Hong Kongcinematic language, and empire andjianghu in the cultural geographies ofChinese contemporary art. She is alsoactively exploring the linkage betweenphilosophical turn of object-orientedontology and the ever-changing conceptof objecthood in the realm of art, with anoutput of a publication (as an awardedproject of CCAA Critic Prize) whilecurrently working on her master thesis onhauntology and the paradox ofappearance in media art. She is chairmanof the curatorial office Society forExperimental Cultural Production.

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Biographies

The Social ContractBetti-Sue Hertz

* Disclaimer: This piece of writing should not beunderstood or interpreted as a disclosure of anyinformation provided by A Constructed World tothe author in connection with their exhibition entitledThe Social Contract, held at Spring, Hong Kong inNovember 2013. At the request of A ConstructedWorld, the author has signed a ConfidentialityUndertaking to keep this information secret fromthe 27th of August 2013 until the 15th of December2013. As such, this piece of writing cannot discussor otherwise refer to any content of A ConstructedWorld’s exhibition The Social Contract which mayhave been provided to the author by A ConstructedWorld.

What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

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What Lies Beneath –Some Deliberations onExhibitions and Contracts *

Alana Kushnir

Biographies

To characterise this subjectivity, GeoffLowe, one half of A Constructed World,paraphrased Giorgio Agamben for me:“What the State cannot tolerate in anyway is that humans co-belong withoutany representable condition of belonging,form a community without affirming anidentity.” Here is a group of people withnothing in common except the fact thatthey saw an artwork and have agreedthrough legal means not to talk about it.It is a small platform of identification,based on a small aesthetic memory, whichby definition cannot announce itself. It’snot an important mode of identificationin and of itself; what makes it such is thatit absents itself from any form ofrepresentation, even anecdotally.

So the work – which might then be thisgroup of people - doubly escapes ourview. I have another blank spot here,literally, in my imagination: why is thisimportant? Am I supposed to be piquedas to what is special about this group ofpeople? Isn't that what forms ofidentification are meant to do? It seemslike the banality of the group is itselfsignificant, and the agreement to silenceheightens it. A group that refuses toacknowledge itself, by this paradoxicalmeans, become a group, and theseverance between speech andsubjectivity is made.

UntitledMia Jankowicz

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A part ofModeration(s)

All rights reserved.No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the written permission of SpringWorkshop & Witte de With Centerfor Contemporary Art

ISBN 978-988-12600-1-7

Printed inWong Chuk Hang,Hong Kong