Curating Norman Rave: A Conversation with Emily Quli and Mariah Chuan

Interview and words by Maya Bewley

With the success of Norman Rave and its kaleidoscopic celebration of dance culture, we spoke with co-directors Emily Quli and Mariah Chuan to reflect on the lessons learnt from curating their most recent and exhilarating exhibition. 

Maria (left) and Emily (right) at the Norman Rave exhibition opening night

So where does the curatorial process start? And what was the inspiration behind the project? Third year English student Emily explains that initially, ‘’Norman Rave was Mariah’s idea after she got inspired by Edsard Driessen’s article of the Saatchi Gallery’s Sweet Harmony Exhibit.’’ COVID had left a huge void of creative opportunities and of course, she was ‘’immediately on board with it’’. In her own words, ‘’Live music, art, a celebration of youth culture - all seemed like medicine for students after such an under-stimulated year.’’ 

But the next step was finding artists who wanted to contribute. According to History of Art student Mariah, the committee would work together tirelessly to ‘’search and contact artists that fit to the theme of the press release’’. An unsurprisingly strenuous process, she continues to add that ‘’depending on the medium and our budget, it would then be mailed to us to be installed.’’

Opening night was the perfect excuse to celebrate everyone’s hard work, offering a multi-sensory soundscape of music and performance to experience the exhibition. For Mariah, interacting with the art on display is a collective experience akin to rave, one where you are ‘’able to meet like minded people like you and also enjoy the live music’’. Emily, on the other hand, muses that the best way to interact with a piece of art from Norman Rave is to ‘’look beyond the immediate attraction to what the intention or what the piece is trying to tell you.’’

The artwork on display truly reflected the values of rave - bold, vivid, and beating alive with explosive colour. But we wanted to know what it was that attracted these garish colours, and what it was at the heart of rave culture’s aesthetic. Mariah thinks that these colours emulate ‘’positivity and movement’’, bringing ‘’energy and light into play, which I feel the artists draw many of their inspirations from’’. Emily believes that the colours capture the feeling of “life” - “They captivate your attention and ask you to enjoy them, just as many of these pieces do”. She continues, ‘’Rave culture is a hedonistic appraisal of life. Life and being alive is the vein of the culture, enjoying yourself and the moment that the art provides.”

After a year of making art online we finally returned to the physical space of the Norman Rea Gallery - the next challenge was finding a way to utilise the gallery’s four walls. Mariah explains that ‘’We wanted to use the main gallery space as a place of socializing with dimmer lighting to emulate an atmosphere for live music as well as be able to project the video contents clearly.’’ Emily stresses the importance of using the space to bring people together, describing the gallery as a ‘’creative melting pot’’, allowing students to ‘’comfortably network with each other at an opening night like Norman Rave.’’

What about their favourite pieces? A work highlighted by Emily was the hyperreal cyberscapes of Ondrej Zunka, where liquid metal glides alongside luminous figures to explore different states of being. She praises his ‘‘crisp and inventive way of looking into deeper and more psychological topics.’’ One of Mariah’s favourite pieces were the trippy designs of clothing brand EthaRavewear - she appreciates their ability to convey the atmosphere of rave, and “the energy of music and art very well.” “The designs were well thought out and the variety of items gave a good selection.”

Still from Ondrej Zunka’s video ‘Looking at the brain, an ecorche and
naked lady inside a mirror, wearing a mirror.’

We asked what their favourite part of the experience has been. Mariah thinks that it’s “communicating with the artists who were just as excited as we were creating the exhibition. For our team to be back together all in one space again and bouncing ideas off each other.” For Emily, it’s a similar process of being able to collaborate with the committee ‘’It doesn’t feel like work when you are creating with such good friends”. 

Emily and Mariah at the exhibition after party

 Their advice for students wanting to get into curating would be to join the Norman Rea Gallery and get as involved as possible! Looking toward the future, Emily comments that it's the best way to see ‘’the behind the scenes of art curating. It will increase your employability loads and you will become a part of a really lovely creative community.‘’ Mariah invites students to come along to ‘’our installation days and our exhibition meetings fortnightly. This can be found through subscribing to our newsletters as well as following our social media pages.‘’

Emily and Mariah will be working together on co-directing the gallery’s next exhibition ‘Dreamland’, which will be opening on the 15th November, 6.30-9pm. If you’re interested in getting involved, you can follow the gallery’s socials @normanreagallery on Instagram and Norman Rea Gallery on Facebook.