Page 12 - Studio International - January 1972

Vote! and the selectors' selectors). As someone chosen to act on his own, has been elected, but in
recently remarked, 'Artists are the mere brush accordance with the majority of votes for the
Gareth Jones strokes of selectors'. number of selectors he has to work with others.
Having shown the present selectorial system In the event of a person refusing his/her elected
for what it is —an irresponsible and illogical post, the person with the next highest count of
procedure—it is necessary, if my complaints are votes would be included in the selection
to be valued as real, to offer a real alternative. committee, and so on.
The next question concerns the duration of
The British Biennale, 1972 the task given to the selection committee. The
The Arts Council propose that this exhibition voter is advised to think in terms of the time
occupy the whole 18,000 sq. ft. of the Hayward needed before the exhibition for the selectors to
Gallery. The selection of the selection committee familiarize themselves with the work of the
has already taken place: the show will be chosen artists they do not know as well as the time
solely by Anne Seymour, advised by Richard spent organizing the exhibition: and also an
Hamilton, Bernard Cohen, Joe Tilson, Keith assessment of the merits or otherwise of the
Milow, Adrian Heath and Victor Burgin. These whole enterprise after the closure of the
artists are expected to bring other artists to Miss exhibition.
Seymour's attention. Following this, an enquiry into the eligibility
of the nominees for selectors. There seem to be
Not many people know of this exhibition, only two prescriptions, that he/she be alive and
still less of its elected selectrix, and nobody human. (It should be noted that to be eligible
except those members of The Arts Council who to vote, the electorate must be prepared to take
elected her know of the form and process of this part in the exhibition).
exclusive election. It is to draw public attention The final item of information required is the
to this fact and to offer a real and more limited number of artists to be included in the
Large scale mixed exhibitions such as that appropriate alternative that the following exhibition. Bearing this in mind there should
planned by The Arts Council for the Hayward proposal is made. The effectiveness of this be some relationship between the voter's
Gallery, 17 August-8 October 1972, pose many alternative, the possibility that the Arts Council concept of the minimum amount of space
questions. will re-think its ill-founded selectorial scheme, necessary for each artist and the total space of
This document deals primarily with one of depends initially on the support the following the exhibition area.
these questions, the problem of organization, Invitation Ballots receive. Once elected the selection committee should,
and proposes a real solution. To focus down given the single constraint of an agreed limited
even further it deals with the linchpin of the The Selection of the Selectors number of artists to exhibit, be allowed to
whole matter—who selects the selectors ? This proposal hinges on two premises : proceed uninterrupted. There should be no
(There is no such state as 'no selection: what (r) that the motivation and onus should be with need for the committee to give an account of
is really meant by this term is `self-selection'.) the artists from the inception of an exhibition; its reasons for selecting or rejecting artists. It
(2) that the only people who know all the artists should be able to make full use of the power
Most, if not all, selection procedures are who want to exhibit are all the artists who want invested in it by the artists to simply issue
hierarchical, ie. there is an executive body which to exhibit. verdicts.
selects another body (the exhibition selectors) An electoral roll of all the artists who voted
which in turn select the artists for an exhibition. Proposal should be available; only in this way can all the
Any artist should have the power to vote a artists who want to exhibit be made evident to
This is a policy based on the linear descent member to the selection committee. The dura- all the selectors.
of power: the executive body, being answerable tion of the selection committee's term of office
to no-one, is therefore irresponsible. I should be limited to the specific exhibition for BALLOT B is designed to ascertain the
imagine there will be some return on this which they were elected i.e. for each exhibition appropriate circumstances for voting required
statement to the effect that executive bodies are, using public funds a new election of selectors by those persons who will complete Ballot A.
in some obscure way, democratically elected. should take place. The information received will be analysed in
Well, I suppose in some way I elected the Chair- Announcements should be made publicly the same way as Ballot A, i.e. a democratic
man of the Arts Council, but in reality this of the results of Ballot B and the availability of acceptance of the majority vote on any question.
claimed effect is so rarefied as to have evaporated Ballot A. The results will be carried out wherever
completely. possible. There may be cases of practical
Ballot A difficulty, but it should be emphasized that
Together with this, the linear system places First, the voter is asked to state his preference every effort will be made to secure that which the
exhibition selectors in an impossible role—of for the number of selectors, and that number majority of the electorate desires.
having to be in possession of knowledge of work with the highest count of votes will specify the
of all the artists who might be considered for an number of selectors to comprise the committee. On the facing page are two questionnaires.
exhibition. It is illogical to expect one body (the Also included should be the name of the voter's Ballot A is not to be completed. You are invited
exhibition selectors) appointed by another body choice for a selector (only one person may be to complete Ballot B opposite, or to reproduce
(the executive committee) to have complete nominated), and similarly those persons with the it on a separate sheet of paper and complete
knowledge of a third body (the artists). most votes, allied to that specific number of that, and return it to the following address by
And let's emphasise the fact, it's the artists selectors agreed in the first case, should • 29 January, 1972. `Vote!' ICA, Nash House,
who are the important element. Yet, not only constitute the selection committee. The voter Carlton House Terrace, London SW1.
are they not considered until the last stage but should bear in mind when choosing a selector The results of Ballot B will be published in
they have the least power. (No power at all that this person may have to act in discord with Studio International shortly. Only after these
actually because they are, at present in this the voter's wishes for the number of selectors. results have been announced and put into prac-
country, ineffectual in the face of the selectors E.g., it may transpire that a selector, originally tice can Ballot A be implemented. []

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