We caught up with our dear friend Summa Durie recently to ask her what’s new in 2020, what she thinks about everything that’s happening in the event space, and to tell us what’s going on in her world of art, events, curation and more.

Photo by Roberto Aria Putra. of Summa durie with Roa

What was your favourite moment today?

We recently moved back up to Ubud to what I can only describe as a little smurf village. Our balcony looks out over a jungle garden and rice fields—a view normally saturated in greens, sky blues & pops of tropical colours. Today started with a rainy, misty morning but suddenly through all the greys and blues the most brilliant, eery orange appeared on the horizon as the sun tried to peek through. I am kind of obsessed with colours at the moment so this stuck with me.

Tell us about the projects you are working on…

And which one has your heart right now? I am the International Curator for an art space here in Bali called Rumah Sanur - Creative Hub. In 'normal' times this is a bustling place that hosts art, live music, festivals, markets—last year alone we welcomed 32,000 people through our doors, held 450 events/concerts/art exhibitions, and held workshops for over 6,000 participants. I am also the Co-Curator of TEDxUbud (working with the awesome folks at Elami & Co) and a freelance curator. In the crazy times we are living through right now a lot of this curatorial work has come to a standstill as gathering people has become slightly tricky. So this has become a time of reflection and resilience—looking at how models can change and how art and artists can still connect in different ways. With that in mind, we've been cooking up some new projects which are still in the very early stages. Without saying too much at this point one of them involves some of my favourite things—art, monsters, myth & history—so I am very excited to see how it unfolds.

What are you (un)secretly good at?

I originally trained as a theatre designer but realised I'd never learnt how to paint. So a couple of years ago I found some classes to learn the basics and mucked around now and then. But it has only been since this lockdown that I have established a regular practice and have felt myself developing as a painter. I have been working on a series of studies to explore different styles and colours—it been wonderful seeing what works and what doesn't. If you want to have at my look at my experiments see my IG @summa_. It has also been a great time for exploring other artists’ work and making connections online. I have found a lot of forums for artists gathering together and learning from each other which has been brilliant. A special shout out to Nicolás Uribe (@nicolasuribe) for his insanely brilliant art and daily videos. At the moment I'm totally fangirling over the works of Colleen Barry (@colleenbarryart). If I ever get a chance to attend a workshop with either of these artists I'll be one happy woman!

How did you start curating?

I started curating in non-traditional spaces—clubs, bars, restaurants—in my early 20s. My focus back then was on emerging and street artists*, and I'll always be grateful to the people who allowed me to take over their spaces. I believe art can and should exist outside white cubes, that art should be where people are. But alternative spaces don't work for all art forms, so these early exhibitions led to me curate exhibitions for major festivals and in more traditional gallery spaces over time. My curatorial work in the visual arts morphed into programming music, performing arts and even a writers festival—I programmed the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival programs 2013-15, which is how I landed in Bali. What I am most excited by is the intersection between different art forms and how when they come together they can create little moments of magic.

*Side note: after working with street artists in Australia, a dream came true here in Bali when Belgium street artist ROA came to Rumah Sanur and did a piece on our walls. I had stalked ROA's work all over Europe so I’m still pinching myself one of his works is on our walls.

How do you curate?

Curating is all about connections, most importantly the connection with artists—it is still the thing I adore most about it, working with and watching artists grow.

Curators need to have an understanding and respect for artists—their background, art form and the stories they are telling. If an artist in return trusts the curator's vision for their work and the exhibition, good things can happen.

Curating groups show can also be about understanding how different artists' can work together, how to create a cohesive exhibition that doesn't feel disjointed visually or thematically. Again, this comes back to understanding an artist's style and voice. But curating is also about connections to communities, spaces, festivals, buyers, sponsors, funding agencies, media, and arts writers. A lot goes into making an exhibition successful, far more than simply hanging works on walls. A good curator knows how to make all these connections work or can bring in the right people to make them happen.

Photo by Suki Zoe, Gelombang by Made griyawan Exhibition for john Hardy Jewelry

Do you have some tips for upcoming curators?

I am stealing some advice a mentor once passed onto me, but I think it is still relevant for all curators and they are the three Rs.

Relationships – know the artists, art spaces, and galleries you want to work with and develop those relationships. Go to artist studios, attend art exhibitions and artists talks. Remember relationships take time, but if you show up they will happen.

Research – a curator must always be researching—new artists, new works, and ways of presenting contemporary ideas that will resonate with an audience. But equally important is knowing your art history—limitless resources exist online so there is no excuse not to do your research.

Relentless – the final ‘R’. Curators must be relentless. Being a curator is not a 9-5 job, it’s a way of being—constantly searching, piecing art, and works together.

To be a good curator you have to be part-composer, part-mad scientist and above all be a relentless collector of people, ideas and things.

How does the curation process happen in the COVID-19 era?

This is a big question that I think everyone is still trying to work out. There is no issue in creating connections and ideas for exhibitions at the moment. We are all connecting via Zoom, IG Live, or whatever platform you like to use. I think the big question comes in the delivery of these ideas. Online exhibitions and digitally generated walkthroughs can go so far, but there is nothing like seeing the artwork in real life. For me something is still lost in the digital realm—I love to walk around sculptures and get up close to paintings to see the texture. Also missing from online is the other people. Art is about an individual's experience in the artwork, but it is also about a collective experience—when people gather in RL to appreciate art.

Where do you see it all going? Meaning, the future of events in the time of a pandemic…

Again I don't think anyone quite knows the answer to this as none of us knows how long this pandemic will go on for. But for the time being, I think we'll see more experiments with online viewings or exhibitions and events with restricted numbers. For galleries, this is not such a hard thing, but for a lot of other art forms like music and performing arts it is hard to create sustainable events with only a fraction of the ticket-buying audience. I think we are all hoping there is a magic bullet that will solve this crisis but no one knows if and when this will happen. What I do know is that humans are creative and resilient beings and whatever happens I am sure we will continue to make art and share it, although I can't wait for the day we can all do that together again.

Thank you, Summa!