Jill Magid’s Tate Show: I can burn your brain…
Before Christmas I was invited to speak about Jill Magid’s Tate Modern show ‘Authority to Remove’ for a video for the Guardian Arts and Culture section.
The project Magid showed described her relationship with the Dutch Secret Service (AIVD), which had ended in difficulties when the AIVD made clear its plans to limit its support for her work – which it had comissioned in the first place.
A few days ago the Guardian video went online and then, as Magid’s show closed, an AIVD agent arrived at Tate to confiscate the most sensitive exhibit: a work of fiction written by Magid but based on her time working with AIVD.
There are all sorts of ways in which Magid’s show was compelling but one which resonates strongly with me is the way this project is like doing a PhD:
She was invited to work with an institution and uncover something new and innovate. She set out to learn their ways and mimic them, but not call them into question or divulge too much to the uninitiated. She painstakingly recorded her research in a sizeable document and then the document was picked apart by her supervisors and now ends up only ever being read by a small amount of people.
When I first saw Magid’s manuscript under its protective glass cover, ripped from its spine and lying there showing little more than some opening pages, the lump in my throat was thesis-shaped. Some university somewhere should give Magid an Honorary Doctorate because from where I’m standing she has more than put the graft in (intellectually and emotionally!).