Shana Nys DambrotQuotidian’s jill moniz’s curation is as much about openness, energy and community ethos as it is about a specific style, aesthetic or identity.
“What I’m trying to do with every exhibition is to create a singular, immersive space that makes the viewer an active part of the experience,” says independent curator jill moniz — and she does just that. Her roving curatorial practice Quotidian is mostly based at 410 S. Spring St. (where “Telling, Making, Doing” is on view through August 24, with an artists talk on Saturday, August 17). But moniz frequently produces exhibitions at venues from Roberts Projects in Culver City to Louis Stern Fine Arts in West Hollywood, the Good Luck Gallery in Chinatown, and the Craft Contemporary museum on Wilshire (where “The RIDDLE Effect” is on view through September 8).
Viewing each project as an integral component in a long-term holistic vision, moniz is committed to the idea that every show she does, “has the same energy even though they tell different stories and use different materials and compositions.” She chooses her artists the same way, based as much on openness, energy and community ethos as their specific style, aesthetic or identity.
And what is that energy? While moniz is materially interested in uplifting voices that may have been neglected by the canon, such as women and people of color, in a sense she is all about the audience — to attract, welcome, empathize, nurture and empower everyone and anyone to experience art as part of the daily fabric of their lives. That’s what the name Quotidian promises — art for people everyday, and for everyday people. She hopes that viewers, as they move through the space, “feel that they have the power to interact with and interpret and activate the language of the show, and integrate it as a call and response to their own storytelling. That makes the work live beyond the space.”
Serpentine Fire installation view (Quotidian)
Not interested in patriarchal ivory-tower exclusionary visual culture, moniz flips the institutional premise and asks, “Where we can go and have a glimpse into the spectacular? I think it should be part of your daily life. It should be so much so that the extraordinary becomes ordinary in your interaction with it.” As a personal matter, that’s one reason she and her colleagues work in the arts themselves. “We don’t have a lot of money or job security, but we know that we’re probably going to see at least one incredible thing today. And that would be lovely to share.”
With such an ambitious perspective and serious curatorial chops, why isn’t moniz working at a museum? “I have resisted institutions for the reason that in the United States in particular, but also globally, institutions have largely been places of violence against black and brown bodies, and I did not like the idea of contributing to those power structures that I don’t believe in. I’m constantly measuring off Audre Lorde, you know, can the master’s tools ever dismantle the master’s house? Art has become a tool of stratification, of moving up a ladder so to speak.” She’d like to turn the ladder on its side, and make every rung available for every human being.
Art by Carla Weber in Telling, Making, Doing at Quotidian (Monica Nouwens)
Quotidian started as a project with the help of moniz’s mother, who built Featherstone Center for the Arts in Massachusetts. “It all started with her, and I really want to finish because I want to honor that,” moniz says. “And so when I came into this space in the first big show here when I opened was “Extent” and it was about negative space as a metaphor for dealing with loss. It was a space that held all of these memories and its history and it felt very much like the place where I wanted to finish what we started.”
Quotidian’s current show “Telling, Making, Doing” is up at 410 S. Spring St. through August 24, with an artists walk-through at noon on Saturday, August 17, noon; laquotidian.com.
“The RIDDLE Effect” highlighting John T. Riddle Jr.’s (1933-2002) sculptural work from Los Angeles collections and examining his influence as a foundational member of the Black Arts Movement in Los Angeles, is on view at Craft Contemporary through September 8; cafam.org/exhibitions.
The RIDDLE Effect installation view (Craft Contemporary
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