Ten Fundamental Questions
of Curating
‘What Is a Curator? ‘What To Do with
1 1.
2. What Is the Publict the Contemporary?
3. What Is Art? 8, What About
4. What About Collecting? Responsibility?
5. What Is an Exhibition? 9, What Is the Processt
6. Why Mediate Artt 10, How About Pleasure?
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Table of contents
Why Does the Hyden Hlave Ten Heads?
by Milevan Faszonato
Ten Fundamental Answers...
by Jens Hosinann
What Isa Curator?
by Jesica Morgan
What Is the Public? -
by Joan A. Gaittn
What Is Ar
by Chus Martinez
What About Collecting?
by Sofia Hernindex Chong Cay
What Ison Exhibition?
by Elena Filipow
Why Mediate Art
by Maria Lind
What To Do with
by Joio Ribas
What About Responsibiligy?
by eter Eleey
What Is the Process?
by Adriano Pediosa
How About Pleasure
by Di
Contemporary?
ee Roelsacte
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12sJens Hotta
Ie has become almost cliché to introduce a
‘compendium of essays on curating by taking nate of the
Plothora of recent publications on the subject. How, in
Justa few shore years, did we reach this poine of sel
feferentia! saturation? What do al there publications
offer? What questions, exactly, do they address?
Several of thom profess to offer an overview of
the curatorial ald ae Ie exists today or ateompe co map
ies historial trajectory. Others propore a series of exe
‘he collected writings or interviews ofa single curator. All
fare hoping to contribute to this relatively new discipline,
land ies accompanying canon, through the putting forth of
‘shared set of values and knowledge base.
“The aim of Ten Fundamental Questions of Curating ie
same time, It aspires to offer a real critique of existing
Publications and modes of thinking by explicitly asking
fhe questions that others may have miszed, ignored, or
‘deemed already answered, BY inviting ten international
curators co each propose and then address one question,
‘Ten Fundamente! Questions of Curating takes an almost
of what a curator is and does seems both necessary and
turgene.
“The idea for Ten Fundomental Questions of Curating
has been with me fora long time, and Ie stems from my
essential desire co understand what is happening n the
turatorial leld today. Over the course of my caresr
‘ones addressed in these essays. I believe ies constantlynecessary to interrogate the simplest, most baste
Drineiples of one's own profession, precisely because the
answers are simultaneously quice complex and almost
never given ay thought by ther n te cae of erating:
curate for! These questions seem so straightforward, 50
fundamental, that most curators bypass them entirely.
“They eae the answers for granted, assuming the relevance
of our work in ehe wider worl, thereby indulging in 3
angerous sore of uncheded, assumed self-Importanc
ambiguity, about winat this eld Is, what le has bach, where
Fe might ge, and where we all are a¢ this specific moment. 1
0 discuss them openly and get a better understanding
of che coordinates of curating, s0 to speak. The essays
“development of this profession.
‘Ten Fundamentel Questions of Curcting began as 2
sertes of ten commissioned essays for Mousse magazine
‘written aver a period of two years i 2011 to 2012. Each
personally, and also as Important to curating, art and
Sxhibition making today. The questions reflects broad
1 opens with Jesstea Morgan grappling with one
‘of the most fundamental and overarching quortions
albeit partially, charts out a genealogy and classification
‘ystem for tha profersion, For Morgan, the role ofthe
‘curator ir inextricably bound up in ite—be fe the museum,lest, most basic
«precisely because the
‘complex and almost
20 straightiorward, 50
boypase them entirely.
4, assuming che relevance
sry nding
blication emerged
erat te hae been, where
these questions in order
Detter understanding
to speaks The essays
s blueprint, a basic
ponsibiitis, eo hel
f Caroting began as 2
‘or Mousse magazine
Sin 2011 co 2012, Each
"related to curatorial,
2 grappling with one
rarching questions
logy and classification
{mall nonprofie—and
he different typologies of curators correspond to theit
transnational curator, che director-curator, and so on. She
constructs the potsiblltie for defining cirstorship eoday
by the inseteutional, loational, dizipinary, and financiat
restraints placed upon us.
{f context fs the framing device By which we define
‘our practice, chen for whom do we curate! Juan A. Galeén
Sttacks ehis question head-on by fecusing on the presumed
Social contract that exits between museums and thelr
idlences, He examines the development of the fst publle
of are inthe publ sphere that subsequently emerged.
‘Arguing that contemporary conversations around the
public and the public sphere reflect outmoded models of
harmonious and homogenized society, Galean proposes
that we see those who visit our exhibitions a fractured,
tisharmontous, and constantly in a state of Becoming.
CChus Martinez asks perhaps the broadest and most
intra question nthe minds fl erst: What
tmaaning, future, and (portended) death-—by recounting
‘he story of a philosophy professor's eake on art. In this
{ory art ie already dead ef a remnant of an earlier, lese=
developed age. Martine:’s unsettled narrative pricks Roles
in ehis Hegelian decree, poineing out ies tdlosynerasios
ahd faws, and indicating her uncertainty regarding the
Possibility of ever knowing a beginning or an end to ar
Ina time when the role of art itself sin question,
Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy asks: What about eollecting
In today's are wort, che role ofthe collection curator
is dofiniely perceived as less glamorous than that of
the organizer of temporary blockbuster exhibitions
or biennias. Collecting as an aspect of curating Is
almost completely ignored in curatorial degres courses.
Homandes bags co differ with this actitude, accerting
that collections remain a core principle upon which the‘traditional pubic art institution is based, and thae the
private-curned-public collection s becoming a more
End more prominent insleutional model globally. How
in a collection originally built on the tastes of a single
Elona Filipovic endosvors to answer what for many
curators isthe core quostion of the practice: What Ie an
xibtiont She dispenses wich any notion of the exhibition
pace as neutral or inere and argues that the each of the
diferent typologies of exhibicions that exist (or may
Possibly exis in the future) must be analyzod in thelr own
Fight, salting into aecoune thelr entirely different aims and
foals, For Flipovie, a dleeussion of exhibitions ie always
bout seeking eo datermine “what Ie docs, which Is to
‘ay, how exhibieions function and matter, and how they
participate in the construction and administration of the
speriance of the tems they prerent.” Diving into the
function of the oxhibicion enables us to examine Ie asa
tte for the emergence of dialectical relationships among
Maria Lind asee 2 question that we ean all agree
‘s increasingly relevant: Why mediate art! She prosents
‘ove dominant tendencies in rt mediation in the 20ch
‘century. On the one hand thera is ehe traditional, didaethe
‘museum mode! largely developed by the founding director
nd ies founding director of education, Victor D'Amico.
‘On the other she offers up the more radieal, participatory
pesdagogteal practcos developed by figures such asthe
Srtise El Lisieayy and the curator Alexander Dorner. Lind
argues thae the abundance of dldaetie materials prorented
‘major muscums-—wall texts and object label, near
‘leplay narratives, and an assortment of art educational
fundamentally in need of explanations. She challenges us
teste this domiane model and propose ater typeshe practice: What Is an
1y notion of the exhibition
Ss that exise (or may
bbe analyzed in thet own
ntioly diferent sims and
H exhibitions is alway
Tmateer, and how they
sd'administration of the
ica relationships among
that we can all agree
Hate art! She presents
nediation inthe 20ch
{by the founding director
Art Alfved H. Barr,
oy figures such as ehe
‘Alexander Dorner. Lind
Actie materials prosented
4 object labels,
tions. She challenges ut
tomene that curators
are increasingly seeming to turn inward, and consider
{heir practices In Isolation from the ever-growing publics
Tlevant what we are doing for more than the already-
‘Converted few, without slipping into bland traditional
anon-building er curating only for other curators?
‘What to do withthe contemporary? Jose Ribas
tacklor perhaps the most frequently used word (second
tly 60 “are,” hat ls) inthe fled today. What does 1
‘oncorned with a comparison of the contemporary €0 its
modern ontological predacessor, nor wich its more plebian
Synonym, the “now.” He focuses instead an the ways
in which curators coday consider the work they display
‘within temporal, spatial, and historical frameworks. The
‘ahife in chronological time, more than just the stalreaze
fa shife in how humans see the world, and the art that Is
‘created In response to changing conditions
‘What about responsibilty? Peter Eleey brings up
tue increasingly pertinent question of what constieures
‘curatorial esponsibility. For number of reasons, which
of overstepping thelr bounds by valuing their own work
‘more highly than the art they are showing, commissioning,
for otherwise facilitating. Elegy questions the limits of
‘rating with regard to placing artworks in conditions oF
contexts for whieh they were not made or meant to be
‘splayed, He adviser wt to proceed with caution in the
brave new world of the curator-as-author.
‘uilding on the questions around the varying
structures of curating, Adriano Pedrosa asks: What is the
process? Researching fora contemporary art exhibition
{sof course, a different beast than art historical research,
While many curatorial degree programs exist, and more—
surely pop up n the years to come, Pedrosa argues
{or a diferent kind of professional methedelogy—one
‘that fs fundamentally incerdislplinary and grounded in
[nd informational models and a self-rllexive, inquisitive
‘mentaliey, a well az an ardent desire for travel,
particulary to che lossechareod areas of the art world, are
2 productive toolbex for curators today.
Finally, nal seriousness, Dieter Rectstracte asks:
How about pleasure? OF course curating Isa serious
Cndsavor conducted by scholarty, Intelleceual individuals
he experience of visiting a museum or secing an
‘uhibition is meant to be rigorous, changing, and
Comseiousness-raising. But even a how curated with the
‘most aspirational intentions can be 3 decidedly didactic,
“antisoptie, even anti-pleasurable viewing experience.
focstracia muse! "Does the invocation of on form of
practice with the evil forear of entertalament?® How can
Ive as curators achlove in our projects a middle ground
sensibiiey!
CCurating is arolaively young fala with short history.
It certainly borrows from the more established aiseipines
fof ae hiscory and cultural studies, but fis sili ee
tdotescence, stil transitioning from an open, creative,
Targely undefined practice to'a diverse professional arena,
‘with many highly spectalized branches of knowledge and
practice, But these specialized branches, while a necessary
part of any established fel, are producing mountains of
iscourse under which [fear many essential thoughts can
be buried, and perhaps suffocate.
von as this book goes to prin, I eannot help but
wonder if the questions tens crators examine wi a
inthe early stages of formulating 2 theory of curating,come, Pedrosa argues
almethodology—one
Tinary and grounded in
Feoday.
trating is a sertous
lum or seeing an
5 challenging, and
be a decidedly aldactie,
viewing experience,
Jects 2 midate ground
vg feta with short history.
te established disciplines
Sman open, ereative,
verse professional arena
‘ches of knowledge and
anches, while a necessary
Producing mountains of
Y errential thoughts can
ne, tearmot help but
‘ators examine lal
Yor ton years. We are
sting a theory of curating,
and there may come a time (although f doube i) when no
fone will want €o talk about curating and exhibicion making
Sny more. The more likely scenarios that a decade from
now the role ofthe curator will be analogous to a many
headed creature, the perfoct embodiment of a peripatetic,
decentralized, deregulated inellectual worker who Als
20s in cultural meaning ehrough a wide range of products
Sng services to an ever-broadening consumer market.
‘Questioning the roles and limits of curating, while
certainly a healthy thing for thore of us working in
“Curating” today can mean everything —or utterly
nothing-depending on whom you ark. Clearly and
‘traightforwardly defining this work, as we attempt to
‘doin thi Boole, means staking a lain for the substance
‘nd rolevance of the Held as a whole. There are specie
‘questionsquestions that are not specialized —that every
‘Curator must a2k him- oF herself. How and why do we do
| strongly belove that anyone working in any
intettectval fled should, every fowryoars, review the
‘essential questions of their practice and reflect on
hhow their relationship to them has changed over tim
Curatorial innovation, new theories of curating, and
‘diverse new conversations should be welcomed and
‘istract us from engaging, and re-engaging, with what we
already think we know.
In my own practice, curating is still fundamentally
tied to mating exhibitions. Ie ted to artists and
reworks. My role, 251 soe It, isto dlsplay artworks
fn epaca in a meaningful way according to a particular
concept. Today | sense that such an approach (s coming
‘more and more under question and that curating is moving
further and further away from the gallery. In the debates
concerning curatorial practic, we see an ever-expanding
array of viewpoints. These range from the traditionalmuseum curator postossing deep lenowledge of art history
roar particular eolection, to the academically rained
area Riporary curator working n 2 larger institution