S4:E1 A Feral Commons... Tairone Bastien in conversation with Stephanie Fortunato
Guest
Tairone Bastien
In conversation with
Stephanie Fortunato
In the first episode of our 2024 season, our host Stephanie Fortunato speaks with Tairone Bastien, curator of 'A Feral Commons', a global public art co-commission project that examines the often unrecognized co-dependence and open-ended collaborations between human and non-human beings. The project is led by Alserkal Advisory in collaboration with GCDN and with support from UAP – and features site-specific installations located in three cultural districts worldwide: Alserkal Avenue, Kingston Creative, and Victoria Yards.
Date of Recording
25 September 2023
Date of Publication
18 January 2024
[00:00:00]
Io Makandal: Hi, my name is Io Makandal and I'm an artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the precinct that I'm working in is the Victoria Yards precinct, along the Jukskei River.
[00:00:14]
Muhannad Shono: My name is Muhannad Shono, I'm an artist from Saudi Arabia and my intervention in this commission is going to happen at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai.
[00:00:24]
Camille Chedda: My name is Camille Chedda, and my project is based in Kingston, Jamaica, at a place called Parade Gardens.
[00:00:30]
THEME MUSIC
[00:00:35]
Stephanie Fortunato: Hello and welcome to a new season of The Three Bells, a podcast brought to you by AEA Consulting and the Global Cultural Districts Network, in which we explore what's happening around the world at those busy and sometimes feral intersections of cultural and urban life.
I'm your host, Stephanie Fortunato, Director of Special Projects for GCDN.
I'm speaking to you from the ancestral land of the Narragansett, Pokanoket, Nipmuc, and other Indigenous peoples on which Rhode Island is located. I recognise their enduring connection to this place, and I pay my respects to those who have and continue to live here, and to all First Nations people on the many lands on which we are listening today.
A quick note about the conversation you're about to hear:
This one will be a little wilder than our traditional podcast format. We've woven together sound recordings captured over about six months’ time to tell you the ongoing story of A Feral Commons, the global co-commissioning initiative led by Alserkal Advisory in collaboration with GCDN, and cultural districts in Kingston, Jamaica, and Johannesburg, South Africa, supported by GCDN members UAP.
[00:01:45]
Stephanie Fortunato: We had access to archival interviews with each of the participating artists shortly after they had been commissioned, and we thought it was important for you to hear directly from these artists. But my guest today is Tairone Bastien, someone I've had the pleasure to get to know over the past 18 months through their curatorial practice.
Tairone Bastien is an independent curator based in Toronto and an assistant professor at Ontario College of Art and Design University. As the curator of A Feral Commons, Tairone is working with artists across three continents to inspire new narratives of possibility by asking questions, ultimately creating public art that is both responsible and accountable to all beings.
Hello, Tairone!
[00:02:29]
Tairone Bastien: Hello~
…
External Links
A Feral Commons Website: https://aferalcommons.com/
A Feral Commons Artists
Feral Atlas, 79 field reports from scientists, humanists, and artists that show you how to recognize “feral” ecologies
Juksgei River, Johannesburg South Africa
Water for the Future, an organization dedicated to reviving the Jukskei river's ecosystem through collaborative, community-based spatial interventions. Collaborating with Makandal on her exhibition
About Our Guests
Tairone Bastien is an independent curator based in Toronto and an Assistant Professor in the Criticism and Curatorial Practice program at Ontario College of Art and Design University. Tairone co-curated the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art in 2019 and in 2022. From 2011-2016, Tairone established the arts program at Alserkal Avenue and the Alserkal Residency in Dubai, for artists, curators, and researchers in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. From 2005-2010, he was a curator for Performa in New York City, co-organizing the first three editions of the ground-breaking biennial of live performance art. Tairone holds a Master of Art from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History with a Minor in Critical Studies in Sexuality from the University of British Columbia. +
