When you are a preparator working with a living artist on their installation.

There is no one type of living artist. Artists that you could work with on an installation will range from first time showing artist to famous artist, poor to rich artist, easy to difficult artist, humble to maniacal artist, confident to emotionally needy artist and their issues with the installation planning will be just as varied and complicated. With installations where there is no artist present, the exhibition is an entity for the preparator and curators to display and in many ways manipulate to their needs. They can install based on chronology, esthetics, medium or value because the objects for the installation are both set, in that their meaning or structure can not be changed, and malleable in that elements can be juxtaposed or removed from the exhibition to fit the curator’s vision. This allows the gallery or curator to manipulate meaning which most artists will cling to as their domain. A living artist may trust the gallery with this and often do so when the curator is their dealer, or their exhibition is with a museum. But too often the installation for a living artist is an artwork in itself. This means that there probably won’t be a single planned layout, though some artists may have a rigid layout in mind that they cannot be talked out of, most artists will continue to move and juxtapose objects throughout the installation well beyond the time you have allotted for the show’s layout. This shuffling may continue until the last minute.

When you are the preparator working with a living artist you need to keep in mind that this will not be a typical installation. You will need to be fluid in your thinking and be controlled in your management. The artwork is the artists. The exhibition is the artist’s statement and they have every right to delay and adjust until they are comfortable. But as with every project the installation has multiple stake holders and the gallery owner or director also has their reputation invested in the exhibition. They also have the right to open the best exhibition they can both on time and on budget.

You, the preparator, are the person standing between the living artist and your institutions upper management making sure that all parties are satisfied. To insure this, you need to spend time prior to the installation discussing priorities with both your management and the artist. I suggest speaking with your management first. You need to agree on the budget and the budget range the gallery is willing to accept. You also need to know what you are allowed to say yes to and when you are required to say “no”. Every adjustment or change you as the preparator agrees to is an expense for the gallery. It’s not your money to spend but at the same time few gallery owners want a direct confrontation with an artist over exhibition budgeting. This is your job. Once you understand what the gallery expects you need to meet the artist. You need to spend time with the artist so that you fully understand their plans for the exhibition. You should have full notes on general layout, any construction or fabrication and any special signage that needs production time.  Partially you are doing this well in advance so that you have preparation time, but you are also using the artists requests to develop a budget. You want to match the artists budget expectations with the actual budget so that if there is a discrepancy you can address this well in advance. Addressing it may be having the gallery agree to fabrication or you returning to the artist and telling them the fabrication is beyond the installation budget and needs to be removed. This is also the time when you would get a sense of the artists commitment to a single design or layout for the installation. If you cannot get the artist to commit to a layout and plan prior to the installation you would want to report this to your management. Not committing to which wall a painting will hang on is not unusual but not committing to framing, fabrication or construction needs prior to the installation indicates a problem that needs to be addressed early on. For the most part the artist, the gallery and the preparator all have the same objective, the success of the installation. When the requirements for the installations success are disputed it is important that each stakeholder remember their responsibilities and their chain of command; the artist is responsible for the success of the artwork, the gallery manager or owner is responsible for the success of the gallery and the artist, and the preparator is responsible for the success of the installation but ultimately reports to the gallery manager or owner.

Working with an artist on their installation can be exceptionally fulfilling especially when they are a confident, decisive and articulate artist that understands their arts presentation needs. It can also be exceptionally frustrating when the artist lacks decisiveness and confidence. When the artist is unsure and indecisive it is the preparator’s responsibility to gently step in and keep the installation moving. This requires preplanning and artist management. With an indecisive or unsure artist, the preparator needs to be acutely aware of the installation schedule and they need to keep the artist also acutely aware of the deadlines you are facing. The preparator needs to take control of the installation and let the artist know how much time, hours or days, they have to settle on a decision. Keeping the artist aware that decisions need to be made and finalized by a specific time in order to meet a deadline is important to keep the installation moving forward and is one of the greatest tests of a preparators strength for communicating and management. This is when the preparator is expected to tell the artist “There can be no more changes after this” or simply “no, there is no time or budget for what you are requesting”. This can be difficult because the preparator may not be liked by the artist for asserting control but that is the preparators job, to assert control over the installation. It is always wise to communicate throughout the installation with your management and in particular when a “no” to an artist is upcoming. This way no one is blindsided when the artist runs to the gallery manager or owner to tell them that you, the preparator, are being difficult to work with. Communication of deadlines and updates on progress to all parties will help pave the way to a successful installation.

The preparator also cannot be rigid in their role. With a decisive artist the preparator may only need to be an installer directing labor but with an indecisive artist the preparator may need to force the layout and keep the schedule and budget in the forefront of all decision making. This forces the indecisive artist to respond to the preparator instead of the preparator waiting for the artist to decide. No one is going to tell you the proper away to act with an artist to move the installation along. The preparator needs to use their instincts and management skills with the artist as much as they would with their staff.  The preparator also must remember that they do not work for the artist and that their primary obligation is to the success of the installation in some cases in spite of the artist.