Sudo Document

Sudo, in its purest form, evokes ownership ‘su’ and action ‘do’. As the education sector in the UK moved into an unprecedented period of change, The Modern Language Experiment felt it was important to take ownership of our own educational paths and evoke action.

Sudo Document was an educational programme of lectures and talks offering access to the thoughts, ideologies and pedagogical studies of important curators, artists and gallerists throughout the UK, working both independently and through institutions.

Once presented, the lectures were edited and broadcast online, serving both as a ‘sudo document’ and as reference videos available to view at any time. The programme was also conceived to form a publication featuring an overview, artworks and writing from all contributors, made available for reference in institutional libraries and for sale in bookshops.

Mark Jackson discussed the relationship between his role as curator at IMT Gallery and his PhD research into William S. Burroughs’ experiments with sound and space as a curatorial strategy for sound art.

Cedar Lewisohn spoke about his art practice and how it informs his curatorial practice. Carlos Noronha Feio presented Art4Debt and considered how the language of finance could create global citizenry, borderlessness and accountability.

Cathy Lomax addressed contradictions in commercial and subsidised gallery systems and the need for artists to devise integrated models for making, showing, working and watching. Colin Perry’s Into the Mainstream examined experimental film and video on television, collective action and opportunities for art beyond the commercial sphere.

Jon Cairns’ Feeling Your Way: art, affect and value in times of recession considered collaboration, informality, audience response and the political value of the affective communities constructed by art during cultural retrenchment.