DENISEUM @ Folkestone Triennale Research Conference by Dr Denise Ackerl, PhD (Chelsea College of Arts)

Between institutional identity, tide and toilet paper.

From zero to liquid institution

The DENISEUM, a DIY institution, led me into thinking of a concept titled ‘liquid institution’; a solid appearing structure that gets washed away with the arrival of the tide which I introduced at the conference. I built it on the anthropologist’s Claude Levi Strauss notion of the zero institution, in which social antagonism between rivalling tribes is balanced through the agreement on a location for performing rituals; it becomes agreeable because it lacks a specific meaning other than the meaning of institutionality.

The conference was also another opportunity for me to present as a Doctor; after six years of practice based PhD research and numerous conference presentations, the satisfaction of finally changing the title page of a power point from PhD candidate to actual Dr could not be any bigger. But at the same time it also occurred to me that with this moment of pride and satisfaction an anxiety kicked in – by leaving student life and my affiliated institution behind, I realised that; first failing was not an option anymore, something which I had ‘encouraged’ within my performance crit group Space For Failure (2016-2018), supported by the Post-Grad Community; and second that I stop having access through the institution to funding, networks, workshops, libraries etc. Overall it is an anxiety evoked by suddenly not being affiliated to something that is bigger than oneself; a solitary researcher/artist often lacks leverage in a system relying on institutional connection and validation to exercise influence.

Would the DENISEUM, my own (liquid) institution, be able to fill this gap?

Solitary collectivity

I founded the DENISEUM in April 2020 during a time when I felt a loss of opportunities to perform (live), my way of displaying my artwork, and institutional connection by being by myself at home. So while I was still part of an institution as a research student, the DENISEUM potentially provided a way to meet this lack. It led me to explore the question of ‘How do we perform institutional belonging when we are at home in front of our laptops?’. Next to the liquid institution also a notion of solitary collectivity came to my mind, where a sense of connection is established through the fact that almost (!) everyone in the institution is at home in front of their screen, solitary but somehow together through this awareness and sense of necessity. This notion also to some degree builds also on the experience of many PhD students and made me consider the question if an actual physical institution is necessary to create the sense of being part of the same framework; or is it something that is more a matter of performance than location?

Having moved to London specifically for a post-graduate art degree in 2013 for me, the location of my College really mattered to feel a sense of (institutional) belonging even though a building is just an empty shell without anyone in it. My fellow students and its physical location gave me the certainty that by going there, I would meet people to connect with; a condition that was dependant on having a studio space, creating a visibility for those who want to meet but also others in the institution.

Tragic Magic

In the DENISEUM I created a DIY illusion of vast museum space through which I guide my visitors by being tour guide, museum founder, interior architect, curator and artist in one person. I always enjoyed using green screen technique, as I tried to emphasize in my ‘studio display’ at this year’s Discursivity research student exhibition at Chelsea College of Art. A green screen allows me to live my fantasies (as an artist) and produce a ‘magic’ by inserting myself into spaces that are not available to me, for example, a space ship which was part of my work Mars Interview 2019 which I produced for the exhibition Women on the Moon. Given the feminist focus of my work, the green screen also produces a ‘tragic magic’ as it simultaneously reveals the cause of the fantasy: the barriers to locations of power because of factors such as sex and gender.

Structure Struggles

The DENISEUM presents itself as space without windows, a potential non-place whose location cannot be determined. At the same my living room/home office/space-for-everything peaks through the too small and falling apart green screen, which I used for filming. In this ambivalence of location I over-perform an institutionality in my multiple roles, where suddenly I become the sole bearer of institutional weight without the means to hold it. So while carrying this weight, the DENISEUM as a DIY structure unfolds as incredible unstable and lacking any power or influence, by being exclusively private for a (fantasy) public institution. The zero institution signifies no meaning except institutionality and I consider the liquid institution a potential aggregate form of this notion; it has the potential to bear meaning but because it is so unstable and has no a solid base apart from oneself, this potential is variable because of its liquid aspect. The DENISEUM arrived in its visitors’ homes via a sheet of toilet paper and left with a flush of water not because but despite its liquid quality. Its DIY aesthetic adheres to the sense of solitary collectivity, by being visibly home-made like many artworks/offices in the pandemic (and beyond).

In the ‘Immaterial Labour’ panel discussion, which my talk was part of, the central focus was on how to navigate the blur between public/private through technology as well as the power of self-sufficiency and the ability to work independently. While there is tremendous empowerment in DIY, it also risks being an endless exercise of labour; the focus onto these skills can become a trap when the functions which an institution should provide, are taken on as private responsibilities; not everything can/should be home-made.

I also got asked at the conference what the future for the DENISEUM looks like.

Born out of the pandemic, there might be no further development as it is attached to this moment even though the issues addressed in it, go beyond it. But I am also curious about developing it and the notion of the liquid institution in the framework of other new institutional structures that I may join in the future, raising the question of what happens to a liquid institution when it is inserted into a solid one?