London-based curator Sarah McCrory is a powerhouse. Formerly the Director of Glasgow International and curator of Frieze Projects and Film, in 2012 McCrory curated a multi-site program of public art as part of the Summer Olympics in London. Now the Director of Goldsmith’s Center for Contemporary Art, McCrory co-curator of Lyra’s inaugural exhibition “I’m Not Afraid of Ghosts” in Venice during the Biennale de Venezia.
McCrory’s extensive curatorial experience and specialized interest in international artists created a unique lens through which to view the works on display, on view now at the Palazzo Tiepolo Passi through September 2024.
For Volume I of our interview series “Conversations on the Canal,” we connected with McCrory to discuss the exhibition’s title, her experience working with the artworks in the collection, and the timeliness of the individual works on display.
Universal themes will always feel contemporary, especially when placed alongside young and emerging practices.
Lyra: Explain the name of the exhibition, “I’m Not Afraid of Ghosts.” Why do you describe the past as a specter, or ghost?
Sarah McCrory:The title is taken from a work in the exhibition by Shadi Al-Atallah. The title made sense as it alludes to a feeling about the current affection for trauma and the past to inform everything we do. It makes sense and is rational, but we wanted to think about what it would mean to activate a defiance against that: to make an exhibition with artists who looked to the future. However, it’s a collection show, so the overarching theme was a guiding principle rather than a hard and fast thematic across all works.
Lyra: How did you find working with a young collection such as Lyra?
Sarah McCrory:When selecting works from an existing body, you are looking at the conversations and relationships between them, as well as the frictions and absurdities reflected in the choices – in a young collection like Lyra there’s also a sense of discovery in seeing for the first time many of these works together. [Lyra founder] Tanya Fileva was very open to the process and I think (and hope) it's inspired ideas around adding certain works and artists to the collection. As the collection is so young, there’s a feeling of optimism about what can be achieved.
Lyra: The Venice Biennale is famously a time when artists from around the globe are represented in one city. Did this emphasis on global issues influence your selection of the artists on display?
Sarah McCrory:The collection is comprised of artists from around the world, from very diverse backgrounds. Therefore many of the artists included are by nature bringing issues from their experience to the exhibition. No specific issues influenced the selection but certain ideas and motivations are clearly represented in the work.
Lyra: We love your use of the word contemporaneity in the exhibition statement and the way you described it as an active feeling, rather than a passive state of being. How do you feel the artists in the exhibition are using their work to express the unique feeling of our contemporary moment?
Sarah McCrory:This relates again to the youth of the collection. Although there are some artists who are no longer alive in the show, their work had a feeling of being prescient and timely, and that was the case throughout. Universal themes will always feel contemporary, especially when placed alongside young and emerging practices.
Lyra: Our sincerest thanks to Sarah for her invaluable contributions to ‘I’m Not Afraid of Ghosts:’ the inaugural exhibition marks a significant milestone in Lyra’s journey and would not have been possible without her.
Stay tuned later this month for part II of “Conversations on the Canal” featuring an interview with Lyra artist Scout Zabinski.
Interviewer: Maddie Phinney
