Clare Brennan - Being a cultural sponge

Clare has been curator of Abertay University’s Hannah Maclure Centre for the past 6 years as well as lecturing and working on many other projects including Neon Digital Arts Festival.

Originally she graduated in fine art pursuing a career in painting but found herself being drawn towards the curation of others. She confesses that this is probably partly down to her desire to be around great people and not tucked away in a solitary studio. I can definitely relate to that, I don’t think I’d be able to run Slurpp from a bedroom in my house. I enjoy being around people to bounce ideas off or just talk nonsense around the lunch table with. For me I think that comes from having previously worked at an agency but it’s something that co-working spaces are great for.

During our chat Clare says she constantly feels like an imposter as if someone is going to tap her on the shoulder and tell her the game is up. This is definitely a common thread from people who have been on the podcast and I think it boils down to pushing yourself out with your comfort zone when you take on a role. Whether it’s trying a new project, applying for a new job or learning a new skill we all have to push ourselves outside our comfort zone in order to progress. I think the fear of being caught out is natural if you’re working in a new area but you’ve got to understand where the line lies between pushing yourself and totally blagging it.

Personally, my favourite bit of our chat was around inspiration and research and how it relates to culture. Clare talks about how she constantly feels the need to get out to events, openings, screenings, gigs and other stuff to digest some culture in before she ‘dries up’. I love this analogy of how we are all cultural sponges, going out and soaking it in. Then we use it up in our practice and it’s only so long before you need to go out again to top up. It’s so important to have that drive to get out to events and see what’s happening, to keep yourself involved in the creative community and really feel involved. There’s only so much you can do through social media, it’s far better to go and experience things first hand. To be honest, there’s no excuse not to in Dundee at the moment as there’s just so much going on. This applies to everyone from students, to graduates to professionals - we all just need to get out more!

Clare’s twitter - https://twitter.com/claredundee
Hannah Maclure Centre - https://www.abertay.ac.uk/discover/the-university/university-facilities/hannahmaclurecentre/
Neon Festival - http://www.northeastofnorth.com/
Biome collective - http://www.biomecollective.com/

Podcast recommendation #03 - No Such thing as a Fish - http://qi.com/podcast