The Gallery in the Expanded Field: Russian art students investigate the diversity of international DIY gallery spaces

Abstract

Abstract

The Gallery in the Expanded Field is a case study of the development of a pedagogic model which involves art students working with a range of international DIY gallery spaces.  Students gain first-hand experience of exploring the possibilities of exhibition making, and how initiating and running a gallery programme can be a creative and empowering activity.

Participants are exposed to different models of what could constitute an art gallery beyond those of simply the museum and commercial dealerships. The gallery spaces that the project has worked with were chosen for their unusual physical manifestations and have included: an iPhone, an overcoat, an art school locker, the grease pit of a former garage, a hair salon, a world-wide shipping container and a small Scottish town. Through their dialogues with artists and gallerists, students start to understand how, through their own agency, they can begin to engage with the art world.