Friends of the Divided Mind
17–29 March 2009

The CCA graduate exhibitions at the Royal College of Art have traditionally mimicked the museum – attempting to reclassify galleries as a critical art space akin to larger institutions. Breaking somewhat with a tradition, this year’s cohort of graduating students organised four projects that each addressed a branch of today’s diverse range of curatorial approaches – from the museum to the event, and from artist-run spaces to commercial galleries. In all of these cases the site in which they took place was, in some respects, transplanted into the College galleries from its intended, or natural, environment. As such Friends of the Divided Mind is itself a microcosmic model of the unregulated system usually encapsulated under the rubric ‘art world’.

This approach created a freshness in the final outcomes – which appeared more as experiments or research propositions than a final, polished exhibition. As such the process of exhibition making has not ended with the de-installation. We are grateful to all those who contributed to Friends of the Divided Mind, the artists, participants, the many generous sponsors and RCA staff, who all supported the students to ensure their individual projects could be realised fully.

Special thanks goes to Arts Council England, whose long-standing support of the Curating Contemporary Art MA reaches its end with this year’s graduating students. The Department is indebted to ACE for the funding that has allowed the CCA to develop its exemplary position as a leading curatorial course internationally.