Learn how to run an art gallery with this free evening course in curating. Gain experience, qualifications and get to put on your own show in Mapalim's Parlour Gallery & Project Space.

Nowadays, the creative and cultural sector is more competitive than ever. This Cultural Curators Programme offers an opportunity to increase one’s marketability by achieving a nationally recognized qualification in Cultural Venue Operations.

Have the opportunity to:

Learn the essential non-art side to organizing exhibitions and events.
Gain Level 3 qualifications in ‘Cultural Venue Operations’
Design, market, run and manage your own art exhibition (with other people’s art, not your own!) and community events. Click here to see previous exhibitions.
Choose your job role of finance, marketing, community, curating or logistics and work in a team to realise your own art event.
Learn aspects of venue management such as health & safety, photo image capture and guided tours.
Gain valuable experience that will help you further your career in the creative field.
Do this course around your day job!

The ideal candidate for this role will be extremely hardworking and a motivated team player, taking on this course as a challenge. You will have the opportunity to use the Cultural Curators Course as leverage to market yourself as a curator, marketer or events manager.

To be eligble you must:

•Be aged 19-24

•Be a UK/EU citizen or have lived in the UK for 3 years

•A passion for the arts and events!


The time commitment of the course will be 8 hours per week on a Tuesday and Thursday evening, 5:30pm – 9:30pm.

Intake dates: 13/03/12, 05/05/12

Interested candidates should email their contact details and date of birth to skills@mapalim.com with ‘Cultural curators 9 week’ as the subject line. Successful candidates will be invited to an information and interview evening closer to the time of intake.

For further details please contact Gideon Golstein skills@mapalim.com

Opportunity for Graduate Students in Interdisciplinary Studies in Curation:
Graduate Student Research Assistant for an interdisciplinary art/film curatorial project between Media Production and Studies and Visual Arts investigating concepts of expanded cinema. The position will fully fund an MA applicant to the Interdisciplinary Studies program interested in a thesis topic in curation studies. Includes a stipend of $12,000 per year, for two years (September 1, 2012 to August 30, 2014) under the supervision of Dr. Christine Ramsay and Professor Rachelle Knowles, with independent curator Elizabeth Matheson (Strandline Curatorial Collective) and Timothy Long (Adjunct Professor and Head Curator, MacKenzie Art Gallery). Duties will include travel (expenses paid) to venues such as Documenta, ZKM, Manifesta 9 and Cinematheque Ontario to train in researching curatorial models. Other duties will include online research and literature review, copy editing, and administrative/organizational tasks serving the project, as well as teaching assistant duties in a 4th level undergraduate course in curatorial studies.

Contact: Christine.Ramsay -at- uregina.ca (Media Production and Studies) regarding the Research Assistant position.

Contact: Randal.Rogers -at- uregina.ca (Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Research) regarding application to the program. The deadline for applications is February 15, with a window for extensions under special circumstances.

For more information on the University of Regina please visit their website: http://www.uregina.ca.

CURATOR/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Opportunity
Esker Foundation is a privately funded non-collecting exhibition facility built to Class A museum standards. Located in Calgary’s historic Inglewood district, Esker comprises approximately 15,000 square feet of exhibition space within a newly constructed building that is scheduled to open in mid June of this year. The Esker Foundation is funded by Jim and Susan Hill. The Hills are the founders of a successful oilfield service company and have a strong interest in art, including a large collection of primarily Canadian and American post-war abstract paintings and sculptures.

The Esker Foundation will be a non-collecting exhibiting institution and therefore the Hill collection will remain outside the scope of Esker. The mission of the Esker Foundation is to provide the people of Calgary, in fact all Albertans and visitors to the City, opportunities to experience the art of art times in an amiable environment of leisure and study, and of learning and enjoyment.
The Esker Foundation is seeking a Curator/ Artistic Director to oversee the exhibition program and organize exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.

Responsibilities:
To develop and implement a cohesive vision and strategy for the exhibition of modern and contemporary art.
To develop and curate rigorous exhibitions both large and small of modern and contemporary art.
To conduct original research, prepare exhibition budgets, negotiate with artists and lending institutions and the supervise installations.
To collaborate with the Gallery Director and other Esker staff in the creation and management of interpretive materials, publicity materials and public programs for a variety of audiences.
The Curator/Artistic director will work in concert and as a peer with the Gallery Director who is already employed. The Gallery Director is charged with all aspects of operating the gallery including employees, marketing, art handling and transport. Both the Curator/ Artistic Director and the Gallery Director will report to Esker Foundation founders.
The role will not involve presentations to Boards, fundraising or the writing of grants. The opportunity will be almost purely involved with the exhibition program for the Foundation.

Qualifications:
MA or PHD in Art History or related field.
Minimum of five years relevant museum experience with a substantial record of exhibition making, publications, public presentations and service to the field.
In depth knowledge of Canadian and International modern and contemporary art and participation in the national and international art and curatorial community.
Familiarity with museum best practices and current trends in the field.
A passionate advocate for artists.
Excellent working relationships with colleagues in the field including collectors, artist, gallerist, critics and scholars.
Proven scholarship as well as excellent writing, communication interpersonal management and administrative skills.
Proven ability to manage budgets
Collaborative, collegial creative and resourceful.
Demonstrated integrity in all professional matters.

While the gallery is located in Calgary, the successful candidate does not necessarily need to reside in Calgary if willing to travel to Calgary on a regular basis.

Interested candidates are asked to apply by February 29, 2012, with cover letter, resume and a general suggested programming schedule for 2 years detailing reasons for the exhibition program selected.

Applications can be mailed or emailed to:
Jim Hill (jim.hill -at- eskerfoundation.com)
Esker Foundation
444, 1011 – 9th Avenue S.E.
Calgary, AB T2G 0S6

No phone calls please, and only those selected for interviews will be contacted.

The American University of Beirut is embarking on a major initiative in the visual arts. We will shortly be opening two new exhibition
galleries. The first will house a small permanent collection of paintings, primarily by Lebanese artists from the early 20th century.
The second will showcase temporary, rotating exhibitions, concentrating primarily on contemporary art. We are seeking a dynamic
Director/Curator to take responsibility for these galleries. Familiarity with the local Lebanese art milieu and regional artistic
developments is strongly recommended.

The position carries an academic appointment in the Department of Fine Arts and Art History, and a close working relationship with the department is envisaged. The successful candidate will integrate the art exhibition spaces as much as possible with the teaching curriculum. Ideally, courses in curatorship will be taught as well.

Candidates should possess at minimum an MFA in studio arts, or an MA in art history, curatorial or museum studies. Curatorial experience is expected.

Interested applicants should send a cover letter, curatorial portfolio, CV, and three references. Review of files will begin on February 1, 2012 and will continue until the post is filled.

All application material should be sent to:
Office of the Provost
American University of Beirut
3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 8th Floor
NYC, NY 10017-2303
USA
Or
Office of the Provost
American University of Beirut
PO Box 11-0236
Riad El Solh
Beirut 1107 2020
Lebanon

Electronic submissions are highly encouraged and may be sent to md02 -at- aub.edu.lb.

This temporary position offers the opportunity to work closely with a roster of internationally recognized artists and contribute to one of the nation’s most ambitious surveys of international contemporary art. The curatorial assistant provides essential organizational support to three curators in the development and coordination of the next Carnegie International, a quadrennial exhibition of contemporary art, opening in October 2013. S/he also works collaboratively with the contemporary art department’s curatorial assistant to accomplish the exhibition’s and department’s goals. As an integral member of the International team, the curatorial assistant works closely with the curators, associate curators, departmental curatorial assistant, exhibitions department, registrars, and workshop to help realize multiple large-scale projects by artists from all over the world. Working in concert with numerous museum departments, the curatorial assistant helps the curators to clarify administrative priorities, meet deadlines, and achieve maximum productivity and efficiency. The work commitment is 40 hours/week, including weekends and evening hours during busy periods; schedule flexibility is essential.

Job Requirements:

Requires deep familiarity with the range of materials and media formats used in contemporary art installation. Excellent problem-solving, multi-tasking, and organizational skills required. Seeking an adaptable team player with the initiative to undertake and complete tasks and projects as they arise, to contribute intellectually to the content of the exhibition, and to coordinate and make recommendations for improving the overall functioning of the department. Bachelor’s degree (Masters preferred) in art history, studio arts or similar field is required, along with at least two years of administrative experience with contemporary art in a museum or gallery environment. Must demonstrate excellent organizational, interpersonal, and oral and written communications skills. Experience working on large-scale group exhibitions is preferred. Proficiency with Microsoft Office programs, including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook, as well as the Internet for research is required; familiarity with Photoshop and other layout programs is a plus. A working knowledge of basic office equipment such as copier, fax, and scanner is also necessary. For more information and to apply, visit http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/hr.

Arnolfini

Arnolfini is one of Europe's leading centres for the contemporary arts, based in Bristol's Harbourside. Through a visual arts-led, multidisciplinary programme of exhibitions, live art, dance, music, film, poetry & literature, on-line and off-site projects, with a strong emphasis upon learning and participation, Arnolfini's mission is to foster artistic experiment and engagement across the contemporary arts.

Curator of Exhibitions

The Curator of Exhibitions works in conjunction with the Director to initiate, research and develop Arnolfini's exhibitions programme and related projects. The Curator of Exhibitions is responsible for all aspects of the delivery and management of exhibitions. In addition, it is expected that the Curator of Exhibitions will contribute extensively to collaborative project team working across the organisation, and in liaison with external partners.

Salary £29,000

Deadline for applications: Noon Wednesday 8th February 2012
Interviews: Thursday 23rd February 2012

For further information on the post and details of how to apply please send an A4 SAE to Recruitment Manager, Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA or email recruitment -at- arnolfini.org.uk or download information from www.arnolfini.org.uk

If you require the information in alternative formats please let us know.

Assistant Curator, James Pearson Duffy Department of Contemporary Art

Full-time, Exempt (Salary)
Salary commensurate with experience

GENERAL SUMMARY

The James Pearson Duffy Department of Contemporary Art at the DIA is responsible for painting, sculpture, and decorative arts made after 1950. This is an important public collection, installed in a major suite of galleries, presented thematically with frequent rotations. The search committee will consider candidates specializing in any aspect of contemporary art after 1950.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Assistant Curator will work under the direct supervision of the Head of the Department. The Assistant Curator will be expected to contribute to all aspects of departmental operations, including the development of new exhibitions, refreshing installations in the permanent galleries, research on the collections, acquisitions, deaccessions, conservation of objects, educational programs, donor cultivations, and the production and supervision of grant applications. The Assistant Curator will be expected to maintain and develop their scholarly expertise and contacts, and to disseminate the fruits of their original research via appropriate scholarly publications. He/she will perform other duties as assigned.

Job Requirements:

Candidates must have expertise in one or more areas in art made after 1950. A Ph.D. in contemporary practice or a related field is attractive; an M.A. is required. We are especially interested in candidates who have worked in a museum, gallery or comparable venue for at least two years, or have had equivalent experience working with living artists. Strong interpersonal skills; the ability to work successfully with cross-disciplinary teams; strong written and verbal communications skills; and strong organizational skills including the ability to multi-task in a fast-paced work environment are essential.

Please apply online at www.dia.org by sending a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a brief writing sample (no more than twenty double-spaced pages), and three professional references.

THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.

Job Purpose:
To contribute to the conception and realisation of an exhibition and public programme of international standing.

Key Outputs and Accountabilities:
To contribute to the conception of an arts programme, which supports the vision and strategic aims of BALTIC.
To curate and realise individual projects and exhibitions through in-depth research, working with artists, guest curators, and collaborating with external institutions, including in respect of touring exhibitions.
To successfully realise projects, demonstrating best curatorial practise in all aspects of work, and in liaison with appropriate internal teams at BALTIC.
To manage the installation/ de-installation of exhibitions in close liaison with the Technical Manager (Exhibitions).
To liaise with the Learning team on the effective development of interpretation and mediation of the Programme.
To liaise with the Communications and Development team on the implementation of effective strategies to support the Programme through fundraising, promotion and marketing.
To lead on the management and delivery of individual publications for the arts programme, including the development, writing, commissioning, editing and proofing of such publications.
To effectively manage and monitor individual project budgets, in close liaison with the Chief Curator.
To sustain a well informed understanding of national and international developments in contemporary art and general knowledge of cultural developments.
Representing BALTIC and contributing to public and professional forums as required.
Accompanying touring exhibitions, as required.
To undertake any other duties commensurate with the level of the post, as may be reasonably required.

Person Specification:

Essential:
Significant curatorial experience at a comparable organisation.
Educated to degree level (or equivalent) or higher in a relevant qualification.
Excellent knowledge of contemporary art at a national and international level and general knowledge of cultural developments.
The ability to write and edit lucid text for the general public and specialist publications.
Substantial experience of initiating and project managing a wide range of visual arts projects of international and museum standard.
Proven ability to collaborate with artists, galleries, guest curators and external institutions.
Demonstrable commitment to the development of diverse audiences.
Excellent people management skills.
Excellent communication skills.
Experience of drafting contracts and letters of agreement.
Experience of developing and project managing publications (catalogues and books)

Desirable:
Second language (conversational level).

For further information and to apply, please visit http://www.balticmill.com/jobs/index.php

Since its inception in 2001, InterAccess' annual Emerging Artist Exhibition has showcased new media work by post-secondary students and recent graduates. Curated and organized by a selected emerging curator, this initiative offers young artists and curators professional experience and exposure. Past exhibitions have been reviewed by The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star and The National Post. Former participating artists and curators have gone on to work and exhibit in such institutions as the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto, Xpace Gallery, The Banff Centre, Western Front, Trinity Square Video, Plug In Institute for Contemporary Art, Space Media Arts in London UK, FACT in Liverpool, and Transmediale in Berlin. This call for an emerging curator pertains to InterAccess' 12th Annual Emerging Artist Exhibition, which will open in July 2012.

Nature and Scope of Position:
The primary responsibility of the Curatorial Intern is the development of the annual Emerging Artist Exhibition. Reporting to the Programming Coordinator and supervised by the Executive Director, the Curatorial Intern is given the opportunity to learn about all aspects of programming within an artist-run, media arts centre environment. The Curatorial Internship typically requires up to10 hours per week beginning in February 2012. Extended hours will be required during the weeks leading up to the opening of the exhibition in June 2012. The Curatorial Internship is an ideal placement for an undergraduate or graduate student looking for hands-on experience of the curatorial process and, more generally, of the gallery environment. The internship is unsalaried but InterAccess offers an honorarium upon the successful completion of the exhibition.

Primary duties and responsibilities:
- Develop a coherent and relevant theme for the exhibition.
- Select approximately five works from new media students or recent graduates within Canada.
- Assist in drafting an exhibition budget.
- Write a curatorial statement and extended essay.
- Manage the installation of the exhibition in June/July 2012.
- Assist with other duties at InterAccess, which may include organizing submissions for review, assisting with distribution of listings and other communications, assisting with installation and event set-up, assisting with InterAccess' workshop series, researching materials for upcoming exhibitions and events, general office assistance and sitting the gallery during the Emerging Artist Exhibition.

Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will be an undergraduate or graduate student in a related field of study. Recent graduates will also be considered.

Applicants must have:
- Strong knowledge of contemporary media and visual art practices, especially within Canada.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Excellent computer skills (Mac environment).
- Superior organizational ability.
- The ability to deal with diverse publics.
- The ability to work in a self-directed manner as well as in a team environment.

Submissions must include:
- A current CV
- Cover letter detailing your experiences and interest in media arts (1 page)
- 2 letters of reference

Deadline:
February 1, 2012

Additional information:
Please send submissions in PDF format to info(at)interaccess.org.
InterAccess will only accept email applications for this position.

InterAccess is committed to the principles of Employment Equity and encourages applicants to self-identify.

Deveron Arts / the town is the venue is looking for a dynamic and motivated Intern to assist in curating and arts development through the Shadow Curator methodology.

We are looking for people with a proven interest in developing a career in socially engaged / collaborative arts development and curating. Experience will be offered in all forms of curatorial development, arts administration and event organisation through training and opportunities for critical engagement.
Duration: six months, full time; April - September 2012. Base: Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
Fee: £10000 (per rata)

A travel/training budget and accommodation will be provided.
Apply with a letter outlining your interest and send a CV (clearly marked with your file name) to:
Anna Vermehren
anna(at)deveron-arts.com
or by post to Deveron Arts, The Studio, Brander Building, The Square, Huntly, AB54 8BR, 01466 794494.

For more information and to apply, please visit http://www.deveron-arts.com/wb/pages/opportunities.php

Call for Applications
Residencies at Darling foundry
CURATORS in visual arts


FRANCE-QUEBEC CROSS RESIDENCIES
Pilot Darling Foundry - Astérides (Marseille)
Residencies : November to December 2012
(1 French curator in Montreal and 1 Québécois curator in Marseille)
Deadline January 15, 2012


THE RESIDENCY OF THE AMERICAS OF THE CONSEIL DES ARTS DE MONTRÉAL
Residency: May to June 2012
This program is dedicated to curators from the Americas, including Canada. Québécois are not eligible.

**Deadline extended to January 23, 2012**

Guidelines, forms and more informations:
www.fonderiedarling.org/encourager_e/index.html
residence -at- fonderiedarling.org

===============

Appel de dossiers - Résidences à la Fonderie Darling
Volet commissaires en arts visuels


RÉS. CROISÉES FRANCE-QUÉBEC
Pilote Fonderie Darling - Astérides (Marseille)
Résidences : novembre - décembre 2012
(1 commissaire Français à Montréal et 1 commissaire Québécois à Marseille)
date de tombée : 15 janvier 2012

LA RÉSIDENCE DES AMÉRIQUES DU CONSEIL DES ARTS DE MONTRÉAL
Résidence : mai - juin 2012
Ce programme s’adresse aux commissaires en provenance du continent des Amériques, incluant le Canada.
Les Québécois ne sont pas admissibles.
**Date de tombée reportée au 23 janvier 2012**

Curatorial Assistant, Public Programmes
£16,185 pa Full Time, 2.5 year contract

Nottingham Contemporary is one of largest and most renowned centres
for contemporary art in England. We opened in a landmark building by
Caruso St John in November 2009, and have welcomed over half a million
visitors to date.

We are now recruiting a Curatorial Assistant to support the
development, and delivery of our ambitious cross-disciplinary Public
Programme of talks, symposia, screenings and publishing activities
linked to our exhibitions programme.

The ideal candidate will have an interest in and understanding of
contemporary art and a wide range of intellectual interests, combined
with good administrative and planning skills and experience of event
organisation.

http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/opportunities

Koffler Centre of the Arts is Canada’s only multidisciplinary, contemporary Jewish cultural institution, with a broad mandate to serve all and present a wide range of artistic programs through a global lens in a specifically Canadian context. The Koffler’s unique mix of programs and exhibitions examine the arts across disciplines and cultures in a way that strengthens identity while encouraging an appreciation of difference, aiming to bring people together to create a more civil and global society.

The Curator of Multidisciplinary Programs of the Koffler Centre of the Arts is a full-time, senior position reporting to the Executive Director. The Curator of Multidisciplinary Programs is responsible for developing, scheduling, contracting and producing literary, film, theatre, dance, global music, current affairs, symposia, and festivals for adults and children often in conjunction with Koffler Gallery exhibitions and the Koffler’s education department. S/he works collaboratively with the Koffler professional team to shape the artistic agenda for the Koffler.

The Curator of Multidisciplinary Programs will be responsible for strategic planning, development, budgeting, and fundraising efforts for programs described above at multiple sites in the GTA, including those at the UJA Sherman Campus (Sheppard and Bathurst), Artscape YOUNGplace (where the Koffler Gallery and Koffler administrative offices will be relocated in late 2012, and at the UJA Lebovic Campus in Vaughn. S/he will prepare and manage multiyear program budgets, logistics, schedules, and artist and venue contracts and be responsible for creating successful business and content strategies with an emphasis on building a robust repertoire of programs, a strong and loyal audience, and increasingly new and diverse audiences. S/he will work to ensure increasing recognition and support for the full range of Koffler programs and be able to articulate goals and objectives as well as strategies for reaching them.

The Curator of Multidisciplinary Programs will supervise the Programs and Outreach Assistant and will work closely with the Director of the Toronto Jewish Book Festival, the Curator of the Koffler Gallery, the Education Coordinators, the Head of Communications and Marketing, and the Director of Development as part of the senior professional team.

Requirements

The successful candidate will have minimum 4 years experience in cultural programming, an advanced degree in art, art history or related fields and have demonstrated strong leadership and imaginative approaches to content and audience development. Experience working in small organizations with limited budgets and many projects at once is a plus. Knowledge of contemporary Jewish arts and culture is preferred. The Curator of Multidisciplinary Programs will need experience working with cultural institutions, knowledge of the Toronto and Canada arts scene, excellent people skills, administrative skills, grant writing abilities, and ability to balance business development with content goals. Excellent writing and verbal communication skills, a good sense of humor, capacity to work collaboratively as part of a team, and ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously are a must.

Additional Information

Application Deadline: February 10, 2012, 5 PM.

Please send a cover letter, CV and a short writing sample via e-mail or mail to:

Tony Hewer
Head of Communications and Marketing
Koffler Centre of the Arts
4588 Bathurst Street
Toronto, ON, M2R 1W6
thewer(at)kofflerarts.org

No phone calls please. We sincerely appreciate the interest of all who apply, however only those selected for interviews will be contacted.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is located on the campus of the University of Utah, and holds a collection of almost 19,000 objects and art works from Greek and Roman antiquities to global contemporary art. Founded in 1914, the UMFA is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is the state of Utah’s official art museum charged with creating exhibitions and public programs that serve a wide variety of audiences.

Job Requirements
The Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art is responsible for overseeing the management and growth of the UMFA’s collection of 20th and 21st century art, and for organizing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art at the UMFA, including the museum’s new salt gallery, a project space for emerging global contemporary art.

Responsibilities:
1.Develop and implement a cohesive vision and strategy for the UMFA’s existing collection of modern and contemporary works of art to benefit both the University community and the broader public.

2.Build the collection by making recommendations for acquisition of modern and contemporary art made possible by endowments for the purchase of 20th and 21st century art, and participate in the development of a museum-wide collecting strategy.

3.Develop and curate rigorous exhibitions (both large and small) of modern and contemporary art using works of art from the UMFA’s collection as well as loaned objects.

4.Curate the Museum’s salt series of semi-annual contemporary exhibitions featuring the work of global, emerging artists.

5.Work with colleagues in the field and at the Museum to schedule exhibition tours, to secure loaned exhibitions, and to develop collaborative exhibition projects as well as an overarching exhibition program for the Museum.

6.Assist in the development and production of interpretive strategies and materials as they relate to exhibition projects and permanent installations of the collections.

7.Collaborate with the Director of Education and other Museum staff in the creation and management of interpretive materials, publicity materials, and public programs for a variety of audiences.

8.Lecture on and lead tours of the Museum’s exhibitions and collections, and participate in other program activities related to the modern and contemporary art collection.

9.Train docents and volunteers in specific content areas and museum best practices.

10.Encourage and facilitate the use of UMFA resources and collaborative programming with University of Utah faculty and students.

11.Conduct or oversee original research, and interpret the UMFA’s modern and contemporary collection.

12.Assist faculty, students, scholars, docents, and members of the community in research of the UMFA’s collections and exhibitions.

13.Work with Museum staff to develop fundraising strategies for the modern and contemporary art collection and actively participate in the solicitation process including identifying, and cultivating donors and collectors.

14.Interact as needed with the Museum’s Board of Directors and Collections & Program Committee and work with development staff to oversee a donor group (the Young Benefactors) aimed at supporting the UMFA’s modern and contemporary collection and exhibition program.

15.Collaborate with collections staff to develop and implement preservation and conservation strategies of the highest professional standards for the UMFA collection.

16.Perform administrative duties related to the functions of the position, including the management of budgets for exhibitions and programs.

•M.A. in Art History required. PhD in Art History, or related field, strongly preferred.
•A minimum of four years relevant museum experience with a substantial record of exhibition-making, publications, public presentations, and service to the field.
•In-depth knowledge of American and International modern and contemporary art and participation in the national and international art and curatorial community.
•Familiarity with museum best practices and current trends in the field.
•A passionate advocate for artists.
•Teaching experience at the University level is a plus.
•Excellent working relationships with colleagues in the field, including collectors, artists, gallerists, critics, and scholars.
•Proven history of excellent scholarship, as well as excellent writing, communication, interpersonal, management and administrative skills.
•Proven ability to manage budgets.
•Collaborative, collegial, creative, and resourceful approach to work.
•Demonstrated integrity in all professional matters.
•Enjoys working with students, docents, college interns, volunteers, and general audiences.

The Curator should support the UMFA’s commitment to cultural diversity, and be committed to innovative approaches to exhibition-making and collaborative partnerships with other departments and organizations across campus, with organizations in the community, and with colleagues and other institutions regionally and nationally.

All applicants must submit an application through the University of Utah’s online job application program. Applications should include a cover letter, current resume or CV, a list of three professional references, and examples (PDFs) of exhibition catalogues, scholarly writing, and other publications.

Please, no telephone calls.

Applications accepted until position is filled.

The University of Utah is an equal opportunity employer.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, is one of Chicago’s major museum institutions and one of the nation’s largest facilities devoted to the art of our time, offering exhibitions, performances, and programs of the most thought-provoking art created since 1945.

Considered one of the premiere curatorial training opportunities in the nation, the MCA Chicago’s Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellowship is intended to offer an exceptional graduate-level candidate the opportunity to gain professional curatorial experience in a major museum setting. The Fellow is primarily responsible for exhibition- and/or collection-related research, with additional duties as appropriate to specific projects. As a 12-month, 40-hour per week commitment, the Fellow is exposed to all aspects of curatorial operations and participates in internal and external communications on a daily basis. With a start date of July 1, 2012, the fellowship carries a stipend of $25,000 plus selected benefits.

The MCA considers exceptional candidates in art history, museum studies, and related fields with a strong emphasis on art historical research and methodology. Qualified applicants must possess an M.A. degree or be in their final year of graduate work. The MCA seeks increased diversity in its staff and provides equal opportunity to its applicants.

The application deadline is January 31, 2012.

Application Process

There are no application forms. Please note that application materials, including writing samples and any supplementary materials, will not be returned to candidates. All application materials should be typed and include the following:
1. Cover letter with name, home and school addresses, and telephone numbers of the applicant.
2. A full resume of education and employment history.
3. Two letters of recommendation from academic and/or professional settings.
4. An essay describing the applicant’s interest in the internship program, museum work, and reasons for applying.
5. Two writing samples.
6. Application materials should be sent to:

Internship Coordinator
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Please note: International candidates must secure and be in possession of a valid US work visa for the entire fellowship period.

After reviewing all applications, a group of candidates are selected for either an in-person interview or telephone interview. Final notification to all applicants are mailed by the end of April.

The MCA Chicago Curatorial Department reviews applications. Final selection of the Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow is determined in consultation with the Susman family and curatorial staff.

The Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellowship was established by members of the Susman family in honor of Marjorie Susman.

Despite the fact that new media art might be still treated as a new and recent phenomenon of art practice, the story of new media can be traced back as early as the sixties. Artists such as John Cage, Allan Kaprow, Roy Ascott, E.A.T. have been preoccupied with themes including interaction, multimedia, electronics, kineticism, cybernetics and technology, and so have curators and theorists such as Marshall McLuhan, Jasia Reichardt, Lucy Lippard and Jack Burnham, among others. The context for artists, theorists and curators alike has been changing since that time, when this type of work formed a new territory for exploration in the arts. There was not only a change in creative language, but also a change in aesthetics and attitudes that would effect the ways we perceive artworks, exhibitions and cultural production in general.

One of the landmark exhibitions was “Les Immatériaux” curated by Jean-Francois Lyotard at the Centre Pompidou, Paris in 1985. Lyotard had already written his seminal book The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979) in which he examined the changes in human condition effected by technological developments in communications, mass media and computer science. The exhibition sought to present the repercussions of such a restructure of society and culture and also to construct an emergent space filled with emergent concepts. Nathalie Heinich explains “Paintings and sculptures were still present, of course, but became part of a much larger set of information made up of signs, words, sounds and technical artefacts” in a labyrinth-like exhibition space. Additionally, the notion of “immateriality” was introduced at a point when computers and interfaces were not user-friendly, a fact that also highlighted the latent problematic aspects of technology in art making and curating.∗ Curating here may have functioned as a philosophical quest authored by Lyotard, which in spite of its drawbacks has opened the door to a new era of exhibition making.

Moving forward to the mid-nineties, we can see the next wave of artists and curators engaging with new media under a new set of conditions again. Since the term “new media” is a very loose one, I would like at this point to refer to Olia Lialina’s description of new media: “a field of study that has developed around cultural practices with the computer playing a central role as the medium for production, storage and distribution”. However, it still seems that new media art cannot be contextualized under a certain canon because of its hybrid forms, and there is still a need for new media art practitioners - be they artists, curators, theorists- to provide a contextual umbrella for new media practices to be discussed.

From a curatorial perspective, new media art has brought new challenges to contemporary curating with its immaterial nature, its interactive qualities, its computer-based character and its constant developments. Anyone working with or keeping track of the shifts in new media will have noticed that new media art can be “web-based projects, sound events, virtual reality installations, mobile cellular, or PDA projects, and practices- conceptual art practices, networked-based practices, software coding or sampling” as Sarah Cook has outlined.∗∗ It is hard to permit the flexible and dynamic character of new media art to fully articulate in an exhibition space since most new media artworks tend to defy physicality. The need for new curatorial expressions to embrace the concepts of new media is becoming more and more apparent in the variety of exhibition formats.

Curating in online contexts has been a prevalent mode for web-based art projects. A rewind through the recent history of new media art will remind us that the dawn of the World Wide Web proved beneficial to web artists not only because of the new possibilities of the medium, but also because it allowed a certain degree of autonomy from institutions and curators altogether. An early example of such an exhibition was the project Desktop Is (1997) initiated by artist Alexei Shulgin for which he gathered desktop screenshots from 67 artists and hosted them online for public viewing. The developments the World Wide Web brought about at that time were equally important for curators. The novel notion of distribution and communication meant that not only artworks could be distributed but also curatorial practice. The “instantaneity in contemporary culture” (Charlie Gere, 2008)∗∗∗ was and still is evident and emergent in many distributed artworks and exhibitions on the web. For example, the exhibition Beyond Interface (1998) curated by Steve Dietz at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. On the archival website of the exhibition, one can find Steve Dietz’s quote, which reads: “This online exhibition presents a simple proposition. There is art that is created to "be" on the Net. After that, it gets more complex very quickly. Beyond Interface explores some of the complicating issues but does not attempt a comprehensive investigation… the main goals of Beyond Interface are to present outstanding examples of net-based artistic activity, and to try and begin to better understand and appreciate this art and its context.” Steve Dietz is very conscious about his early venture by pointing out the uncertainties of curating web-specific exhibitions. Nevertheless, that is mostly the case when something new is coming out. By laying emphasis on the art and its context, Dietz attempts to highlight the dynamic of web-based artworks, being fluid and hybrid and also the Web as a space for art production, curating and cultural interaction. However, while distributed curatorial practice on the web might fulfill the democratic and decentralised expectations of its medium, it also could ensure the work is easily confined to a specialist audience online.

Curating new media art in “offline” contexts is another main method of presenting such work. From the eighties onwards, many different spaces and structures have flourished to support new media art activities. New media centres such as ZKM in Germany, The Banff Centre in Canada and FACT in England; festivals, like Ars Electronica and Transmediale; galleries such as the Furtherfield Gallery in London; and labs such as the V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media in the Netherlands, among others. Contemporary art museums have been quite wary of new media art, with some exceptions such as SFMOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Baltic. Simply stated, the visibility of new media art exhibitions in museums is low compared to mainstream contemporary art shows. The exhibition Database Imaginary (The Banff Center, Alberta, Canada, 2004) curated by Sarah Cook, Steve Dietz and Anthony Kiendl included works from 1971 to 2004. The exhibition sought to explore the idea of the database as an evolving phenomenon in human culture, featuring works such as Hans Haacke’s “Visitors’ Profile” (1971), a questionnaire about contemporary events that was distributed to museum visitors to a group exhibition in Milwaukee and Graham/Mongrel’s “Lungs-London.pl” (2004), a Perl software-code poem based on the 1792 poem London by William Blake. Database Imaginary attempts to establish connections between old and new art forms that share a common ground. Such exhibitions provide a space, firstly, to reflect on the continuum of ideas taking “shape” through a range of mediums and secondly, to discover the correlations that new media art shares with its precursors. The idea of creating narratives that are not fragmentary and follow the trail of art development also shows the dynamic of curatorial practice itself. If museums refrain from showing new media art by being skeptical about the qualities of such art in the course of art history, then exhibitions, such as Database Imaginary, provide for the art references that institutions may lack.

There is no doubt that there is not a singular practice or canon of curating new media art and that is primarily triggered by the hybridism of the art itself. Christiane Paul (2008) has argued that ‘Because new media art is more process-oriented than object-oriented, it is important to convey the underlying concept of this process to the audience’.∗∗∗∗ New media art curators need to be constantly resourceful in order to create evocative spaces and experiences. As new media art gradually enters the museum doors, curatorial strategies need not only communicate the art but also the fact that the exhibition itself is a process.





∗ See Nathalie Heinich (2009) “Les Immatériaux Revisited: Innovation in Innovations” and Sarah Cook (2008) “Immateriality and its discontents. An overview of main models and Issues for Curating New Media” in Christiane Paul (ed.), New Media in the White Cube and Beyond. Curatorial Models for Digital Art. University of California Press, pp 26 - 49

∗∗ Sarah Cook (2008), “Immateriality and Its Discontents. An Overview of Main Models and Issues for Curating New Media”, in Christiane Paul (ed.), New Media in the White Cube and Beyond. Curatorial Models for Digital Art. University of California Press, p. 27

∗∗∗ Charlie Gere (2008). “New media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age” in Christiane Paul (ed.), New Media in the White Cube and Beyond. Curatorial Models for Digital Art. University of California Press, p. 23

∗∗∗∗ Christiane Paul (2008), “Challenges for a Ubiquitous Museum. From the White Cube to the Black Box and Beyond”, in Christiane Paul (ed.), New Media in the White Cube and Beyond. Curatorial Models for Digital Art. University of California Press, p. 65

Special contribution by Amy Fung

I went to live and work in Scotland (a nation and not a country) for six months this past year on an arts writing and curating fellowship. The food was bad, the people solid, and the best art show I saw was German. The overall experience of being on a writing/curating fellowship sounds better than it actually was; and while I do not regret my time spent in the land of lochs and moors, I would have done somethings quite differently if I could do it all again.

Looking backwards and from across the pond, the bright shining light of Framework stands out as a beacon. Devised by Glasgow-based independent curator Kirsteen Macdonald the first five Framework events came as a response to the perceived lack of international resources and networks for Scotland-based curators. While both independent and emerging curators were encouraged to apply, the majority of participants consisted primarily of emerging curators who were looking more for a sounding board to vent their frustrations. I can only hypothesize that the more established curators refused to apply or excused themselves as too busy to participate, but as a platform for networking with international guests within the scope of your national peers, I walked away with a sense that those curators in more stable positions needed to feel they were not on the same level as everyone else, or that they were also not interested in engaging with these guests out of some sort of inferiority complex.

On the other hand, an easy critique can and should be made at the definition of "international" only demarcating UK and Berlin-based writers and curators like Jan Verwoert and Maria Fusco. But let's go back to the beginning of this text where I am giving a first impression of Scotland and consequently Scotland's art scene.

Coming from Canada, I was and remain blown away by the sheer scale difference of Scotland's wee geography. With only a 45 minute train journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and only a three hour train between the central belt and the North East town where I was based, geography does not play a convincing factor in the vastly different attitudes and the general lack of internal dialogue. The town of Huntly where I was working and living could have stood as a microcosm of Scotland as a whole: a wee picturesque place, embedded with traditions and class structures, tolerating and attempting to build a lively and surprising contemporary art scene – producing works that rarely anyone local actually pays attention to unless a ceilidh is on the bill. The common practice is to look south and out for success and inspiration, often bringing people in for their ideas -- but at the end of my six months, I do wonder if the people of Huntly, and by extension the people of Scotland, actually care that an ongoing privileging of foreign value perspectives and systems is being placed onto their sovereignty-seeking selves?

With a population of 5 million, there are actually four sizable art schools in Scotland, and a significant proportion of alumni from The Gordon Schools in Huntly go on to attend these national art schools. I attended (in some variation) all the graduate or undergraduate exhibitions for Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and Gray's School of Art. Mentorship on the production side is visible and lineage is respected, but of the four schools, only one showed any depth in the relatively new field of curatorial studies and arts writing. This is a problem, especially if the solution has been importing in thought rather than focusing on the local production of critical thinking. This may be a watershed moment as now under Creative Scotland's new "talent" pool, artists of all disciplines will be geared to how they fare for international consumption. Like its fine drams and rich shortbreads, goods that few born and bred Scots actually show much interest in, Scottish artists may soon be on the same ship out.

This is not a problem unique to Scotland, but Framework has magnified a contentious issue that it believes (self-consciously so) to be its own. It's true that the void of support and understanding about curatorial work is staggering, especially by its practitioners. Most curators in the field either grab onto the title or are bestowed with it, but few actually fit the definition with confidence. During Framework's finale, in lamenting on her disparate curatorial roles for an upcoming exhibition in London, a curator was asked point-blank: "What do you think a curator actually does?" and her response was only a pause and a stutter.

For the record: curating as a practice for all extensive purposes of this text translates as researching, producing, and presenting a unified and ideally critical/social/philosophical context for a single work or group of works that questions or addresses a facet of history for present-day musing. Under this definition, most curatorial work today is in fact a straight forward commissioning gig, or fund-driven project management, which has confused the role of the curator as someone with power. Most emerging curators who attended Framework were not really curators, but hustlers trying to get ahead in this profession. This assumed curatorial power is directly associated with funds rather than knowledge or ability. This is when curators simply become "gate-keepers", but note even how one-sided this argument stands. The desire to get beyond the guarded threshold takes on celestial proportions of seeking permission and desiring acceptance, which unfortunately, reveals just how elusive and unrealistic the standards of success sit in this cultural profession that is skewered by an inflated art market and where the Hirsts and Obrists make up all of 1% of the art world.

Curators have always been specialists of specific strands of knowledge, but now, according to British Art Show curators Tom Morton and Lisa le Feuvre (who were also guest facilitators for Framework), everyone can be a specialist of the everyday! The sentiment is idealistic and so it is admirable, but the execution requires some logic and an infinite breadth of knowledge that reflects the multifaceted experience of our everyday. The historical definition of a curator has progressed, and rightly so, but the integrity of curating has yet to catch up. I am not arguing for a return or even a favouring of traditions, but I do strongly question the use of this language if the meaning has so drastically shifted. In Fusco's words, we should take the time and energy to "re-caress the art object" -- be it through words or actions.

Based on final presentations given by Framework participants, it became frighteningly clear the presupposed value of calling yourself a curator has been accumulating steadily for the last three decades, but in an economic reality, the precarious state of the curator is doubly duped as the false assumption of power is a reflection of needing to have an expanded practice: that one also needs to organize, administrate, market, and fundraise independent projects in order to be a legitimate arts professional. The hyphenated artist/curator/designer/administrator works in an "expanded practice," a term Macdonald came up with that nobody seemed to question. Working in an expanded practice also became the subject matter for the workshop by Ellen Blumenstein, which was rescheduled due to exhaustion and so became the finale of this first set of Framework events. The end revealed the beginning as an expanded practice revealed itself in an unfolding of collective illness and exhaustion. Soldiering on in a burnt out state of being appeared to be the bane and survival tactic of maintaining an independent practice, and it was a glimpse of a grim future I did not want for myself.

This shroud of taking on curatorial power in an art world where the market value holds all the cards could be seen as a positive turn towards creative and intellectual value. However, like the smoke and mirrors of an absorbing and twisting Nabokov narrative we may not realize we have been spun a yarn of self-convinced fables of social grandeur that in the light of day comes off as a perverse and slightly sad fantasy. There are independent curators like Macdonald and Blumenstein who are doing good work and who are also trying to lay the foundation that they themselves need to stand on, but the more weight you put onto these foundations the faster the whole lot sinks. As a series, Framework quenched the void by facilitating intimate and thought-provoking discussions with a mixture of established practitioners, but the main critique here is that a dialogue must go two ways. I question the small group of curatorial professionals who did not bother applying, and the peers and participants who never spoke -- two seemingly different groups who in their own ways still chose to stay isolated without realizing that this dialogue exists in flux, and in their control to change.

Mix in exhaustion due to perpetual precarity, survival by hyphenation, the rise of internship exploitation, and assuming power where ever and when ever one can get it, the conclusion I come to is that being an independent curator is a fantasy profession both sought after and grossly misunderstood, and that maybe just sounds better than it will ever be. Life goes on, and so must the work, and it is only my hope that round two of Framework this winter will continue this conversation.

The professional aspect of being a curator has been a popular discussion topic of late. As an emerging independent curator and a recent graduate myself, I find the discussion to be a crucial one, and the professional and developmental challenges faced by newcomers to the field are constant questions posed by myself and my peers. In discussion with my colleagues regarding the challenges faced by emerging curators, several themes appeared. At the forefront, unsurprisingly, were concerns regarding the lack of funding available. Meager funding and the limited budgets provided for exhibitions present challenges including the inability to access artists who can request higher artists’ fees; difficulties providing adequate fees for those artists willing to participate; and the problem of finding funding that doesn’t conflict with funding provided to artists. Often, the funding that is available is entirely out of reach for emerging curators at the beginning of their career. For example, the Canada Council for the Arts offers project grants and professional assistance to curators, though applicants must have already produced an independent body of work, have had at least three public presentations of work in a professional context over a three year period, have maintained an independent professional practice for at least three years, and have produced at least three exhibitions or publications. These stipulations are usually prohibitive and discouraging for curators fresh to the field without bankable experience – a situation emerging artists applying for grants will be familiar with.

Often working outside the framework and support of an institutional budget, emerging curators are faced with the difficulties of reconciling their curatorial direction with the realities imposed by insufficient funding. A lack of salaried work and over-dependence on project-by-project funding often forces emerging curators to take on ‘day jobs’, and the challenges of balancing a curatorial practice with other work are not inconsiderable. Of course, insufficient funding is not a problem faced only by curators (emerging or not) and obviously extends to the arts in general, which is a much larger issue that requires addressing.

Beyond funding, another problem is posed by the dearth of professional resources for young curators. Unfortunately, few resources exist for emerging curators, who are often caught in limbo between education and career, without institutional resources. Some excellent resources do exist: this site and IKT (though with IKT members must apply and have their applications supported by two existing members) are among the few highly accessible international resources for curators online. Another excellent resource is the Curatorial Toolkit for emerging curators assembled by Karen Love and 2010 Legacies Now in British Columbia, which provides an in-depth practical guide to curatorial practices, with topics including the role of the curator, researching a concept, securing a venue and funding, budgeting and fundraising, exhibition programming, media relations and audience development. Additionally, a number of publications in print address curatorial practice, though the majority focus on broader curatorial theory rather than specific, practical professional issues.

Despite these resources, gaps obviously exist in professional support available to emerging curators. In Canada, for example, the Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) provides legal assistance, health and safety advice and other professional development resources to professional artists, however an equivalent umbrella organization for curators still does not exist. Some advocacy and legal frameworks do exist: the LaSalle River Accord (1999-2000) and the Toronto Independent Curators Network Proposed Fee Schedule (1999) set recommended fee schedules for independent curators including writing fees. However, as Love notes, curatorial fees in Canada still amount to annual incomes that are well below the rates recommended by the Canadian Museums Association and salaries provided to curators by most institutions.

Of course, any discussion of the challenges faced by emerging curators must address the recent proliferation of curatorial programs at the university level. In an increasingly corporate world that prioritizes concrete skills and quantifiable qualifications, and where higher education supposedly provides some assurance of gainful employment, emerging curators are increasingly seeking validation through (often pricey) curatorial degrees. As a result, university programs in curatorial studies are flourishing internationally. A primary concern expressed by my peers is that university programs often do not offer the hands-on experience and direct involvement with artists that a self-directed curatorial education in the field may. While many students take it upon themselves to put forth their own projects and proposals outside of their curriculum, those who do not are often unprepared for the practical realities of a curatorial practice upon graduation. Many programs seem to be attempting to bridge this gap with mandatory internships and student placements in galleries or museums, however there are still the realities of proposing and mounting exhibitions on one’s own that must be learned. In the end the onus is on the student to fully participate in the curatorial field outside the classroom. Additionally, since university curatorial programs are relatively new and many established curators don’t necessarily have the same degrees, there sometimes exists a professional divide between the old guard and the new, and occasionally some doubt regarding the taught skills of new graduates (perhaps justifiably, given the aforementioned lack of practical experience in graduates). A new difficulty now perhaps lies in presenting a university degree from a curatorial program as an asset and not a liability.

Establishing oneself in any career certainly has its challenges, and as training programs blossom and numbers swell, curators, face some unique obstacles. However, the ways in which emerging curators are navigating these obstacles and presenting new alternatives is heartening. Hopefully, we will see a continued push for the development of new, accessible resources and a reassessment of the funding available for curators, to further the development of this profession and provide opportunities to present new and critical material. And hopefully, we will see a continuation of this discussion as new ideas are presented. We need better curatorial programs, more strategic funding opportunities earlier on in emerging curators’ careers, and more professional associations to guide us. Let’s work towards this together and make it a reality.

IKT, the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, held its annual congress in Luxembourg, Metz, and Dudelange from 28 April - 1 May 2011.

It was a special Congress, as it was Enrico Lunghi's final one as President of the IKT. Enrico is highly regarded, his managerial competence keeping IKT as an organisation on an even keel, and his personal warmth and generosity making each IKT member feel genuinely welcomed at each Congress. It therefore seemed fitting that Enrico hosted this Congress at home (he's current Director of Mudam, and former Director of Casino Luxembourg), where he was able to reveal the cultural gems of Luxembourg and region to us. The congress participants visited Mudam, Casino Luxembourg, Carré Rotondes, Fondation de l'Architecture et de l'Ingénierie, FRAC Lorraine, Faux Movement, Centre Pompidou Metz, Centre d’art Nei Liicht, and the Centre National de l'Audiovisuel.

The Congress kicked off in beautiful Luxembourg with the traditional introductions, or Members' Forum as it is officially known. These introductions are quite something: it takes up nearly the entire morning, but every attendee (about 150 curators or so) stands up and introduces themselves briefly to the room. It is a deceptively simple thing, but it really helps to cement the names and faces of your colleagues in your mind, as well as allowing people to quickly reveal a little something of their personality (even in just two minutes, there's time for jokes, name-dropping, charming references, etc). After this Members' Forum, the Congress launched right into exhibition tours for the afternoon in Luxembourg, before swiftly moving on to Metz for more exhibitions. A very full day culminated in a behind-the-scenes tour of Centre Pompidou Metz. The highlight was definitely taking the world's nicest and smoothest freight elevator up to the top floor where artist Daniel Buren was waiting for us. He kindly chatted with us about the exhibition he was installing for several minutes before we went to the Town Hall of Metz for a welcome from the Mayor and a buffet dinner. Here's a short clip about Buren's show (in French):



On Saturday we were in charming Dudelange. The discussion panel was entitled "What is the good of Mediation in contemporary art?" for this year, and was introduced by Maria Lind, featuring presentations from Jorge Munguia Matute, Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, and Sally Tallant. Their presentations absolutely raised the problems of mediation, though they proposed some solutions too: notably, Pérez-Barreiro's example of the deep integration of audience development and education into the Mercosul Biennale that he curated (read a great interview with him in this PDF here). Jorge Munguia Matute cited several inspirational examples of creating public dialogue, such as with the Pase Usted project in Mexico City, and Sally Tallant took us under the bonnet of the Centre for Possible Studies, part of Serpentine Gallery's engagement with the communities living around Edgware Road in London.



The annual General Assembly also took place in Dudelange, and it was a little more exciting than usual, with plenty of discussion around the choice of venue for next year's Congress (Tel Aviv, Israel), new members being elected to the Board, and of course, the election of the new President: Friedemann Malsch, Director of the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. The fact that the Presidency of IKT passed from one tiny country (Luxembourg) to an even tinier one (Liechtenstein) was pointed out by Enrico Lunghi, to laughter from the assembly. The evening's party at Casino Luxembourg was also wonderful and memorable, taking place in the cavernous, damp stone basement of the building and with enough delicious Crémant de Luxembourg to fuel us well into the evening.

A true highlight was the tour of private corporate collections that took place for those who decided to stay until Sunday. Enrico really worked some magic to get these collections open to us not only on a Sunday, but a Sunday on a holiday weekend! We toured the Deutsche Bank Luxembourg, Arendt & Medernach, and the European Investment Bank. It was a well-balanced combo: wealthy international bank, medium-sized legal business, and the largest multilateral lending institution in the world. At the European Investment Bank, it was interesting to hear of their plans to ship some of their collection to Greece for an exhibition. We were told they almost never send works out in this way, but that holding a small exhibition in Greece was a kind of expression of solidarity with Greeks in their difficult financial time.



As always, it was a great opportunity to meet and interact with curators from all over the world. I'm already looking forward to next year in Tel Aviv.

Photos by Elke Krasny

BAM (Flemish Institute for visual, audiovisual, and media art) is an organisation based in Ghent that "provides information, and encourages development and networking" and "encourages collaboration and exchange between Flemish organisations and institutions abroad and tries to increase the interest in and knowledge of the Flemish art scene". Their International Visitor's Programme is a key component of their overall activities, with several invitations extended each year to foreign art professionals. I was fortunate enough to be invited and had a bespoke programme created for me that extended over four days and four cities in Flanders this February.

For the four days, Brussels was my base and I travelled throughout the region either by car with my gracious host, Nele Samyn from BAM, or I used the extensive Belgian train system. Nele was a great guide who designed a perfect programme for me, and answered all my general questions about the cultural situation in Flanders in between the scheduled meetings.

It's going to sound like a bit of a cop out, but there were so many things that I saw and people that I spoke with that making a big list of it would be a bit meaningless. So I'll just single out some highlights that are easy to summarise:

In terms of commiserating with colleagues, it was a great pleasure to meet Eva De Groote at Timelab, and see what's cooking there with their lab and their artist in residence programme. It was inspiring to visit Netwerk, a terrific and fairly large centre for contemporary art in the fairly small town of Aalst (home to fewer than 80,000 people). I greatly enjoyed dining with artist Frederik de Wilde, hearing all about his fascinating work (and getting some free Dutch lessons on the side). Going to Argos resulted in a lovely chat with Paul Willemsen, then spending a solid hour in their galleries being blown away by "Sea of Tranquillity", a piece by Hans Op de Beeck. I had a fabulous time at the Artefact festival in Leuven, especially the opening night and a group meal with several of the artists and festival curators. I had previously seen the work of Koen Vanmechelen in Den Haag, and I was very keen to meet him. Despite busy schedules all round we managed to meet for a great discussion over coffee in Leuven. BAM makes all your wishes come true!

I walked away from my brief visit to Flanders with a head full of artworks and a pocket full of business cards, but I also departed with a new conviction: that every country should have a programme such as this. This quick and intense introduction to the art scene in Flanders was invaluable to me as a curator. I saw dozens of artworks, attended a festival, viewed many individual shows, had studio visits with several artists, and met a number of fellow curators. It was a packed four days that I could never have organised on my own. I also now feel like I have a good grip on the aspects of the Flemish art scene that are relevant to me as a curator, something that can only be accomplished due to the bespoke nature of the programme. A generic version of this programme with a one-size-fits-all approach just wouldn't work as well. I hope that BAM continues this programme long into the future, and that other places adopt their exemplary model.

Recently I attended the Summer Seminars for Art Curators, which is hosted annually by AICA-Armenia. We spent three days in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, and a further four days in Ijevan, in the north near the border with Azerbaijan and Georgia. The themes of the two seminar events were “Aesthetic Communities and Contextual Translation of Communal Art” and “The Communal Function of a Monument”.

Armenia is a fascinating country, but I will not go into too much in detail about it here. However, it must be said that the post-Soviet-ness of Yerevan is striking, and the beauty of the countryside is extraordinary. It was wonderful to get to see both Yerevan and Ijevan, and all the landscape and important points of interest in between.



The first day of seminars was held in the "Bangladesh" neighbourhood of Yerevan. Kicking off the lecture programme was Dr. Margarita Tupitsyn discussing Russian Art as a Sisyphean Project, followed by Dr. Vardan Azatyan presenting Myths and Visions of Artistic Avant-gardes in Armenia. In the evening at The Club, Marlène Perronet and Elke Krasny presented, while Adnan Yıldız and Aykan Safoğlu were Skyped in. The following day, the keynote presentation was by Victor Tupitsyn, followed by evening presentations by myself, Joanna Warsza, and Ida Hirschenfelder. 

My presentation was entitled "The Transient and Mutable Monument", and argued for the development of a framework for producing "open source" monuments in public space. My thoughts were very much inspired by the work of Estonian artist Kristina Norman, and also referenced Antony Gormley’s recent work, One and Other on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. Both projects illustrated the importance of site for monuments more than the actual monument itself. Taken together, Norman and Gormley’s projects represent a uniquely contemporary re-thinking of the ways in which monuments can be viewed both as art objects and as modes of interaction for all.

Earlier that day we had an informal round table:



Over conversations at the top of the Cascades monument in Yerevan, or later on, at the local riverside bar in Ijevan, I discovered the issues confronting the artists in the Caucasus region were the same as everywhere else (of course), except that the silent presence of the monumental past (usually hulking there in the form of Soviet architecture) framed the present inexorably. It's fashionable to sneer about starchitects, but our built environment really does impact how we conceive of ourselves and how we work.

After these quick two days, which covered territory ranging from the contested nature of public space to contextualisation of art made in the Soviet era, we were then off to Ijevan, in the north.



It's hard to describe how interesting it is, and good it is, for any curator to escape the cushy embrace of whatever it is they are used to, and end up at a seminar where you are in a town of about twenty thousand souls, at an exhibition opening with pickles and salami sandwiches being served, followed by an open air concert where a local rock band is covering tunes by 90s era riot grrl rock outfit Babes in Toyland. Toto, we aren't in Amsterdam anymore.

Our ever-honest and vigilant Armenian friends told us that the Ijevan townspeople were puzzled by our presence, which underscored (for me, at least) the purpose of our seminars and gathering. While all of the scheduled talks were interesting in their own way, the best aspect of this or any seminar is the interaction with the other participants, in the tiny temporary community we create. So of course the townspeople of Ijevan wondered why we were there -- because at that point, we were already deep into the process of getting to know each other, and besides had little time outside our schedule to get to know the town. The town was an aspect of our experience, but not the central aspect, and so it made sense that the townspeople felt outside of it. Recognising this mild alienation also meshed perfectly with our ongoing discussion into contextual communities and visual art.

The participants were: Elke Krasny (Austria), Armenak Grigoryan (Armenia), Michelle Kasprzak (Netherlands), Karin Grigoryan (Armenia), Xenia Nikolskaya (Sweden/Egypt), Arevik Grigoryan (Armenia), Marlène Perronet (France), Harutyun Alpetyan (Armenia), Adnan Yildiz (Turkey), Carmen De Michele (Germany), Gor Engoyan (Armenia), Nvard Yerkanian (Armenia), Natuka Vatsadze (Georgia), Liana Khachatryan (Armenia), Viviana Checchia (Italy), Sona Melik-Karamyan (Armenia), Ida Hirsenfelder (Slovenia), Pau cata i Marles (Catalan/Spain), Taguhi Torosyan (Armenia). Volunteers and free participants included: Shoair Mavlian (UK/Australia), Özge Çelikaslan (Turkey), Emanuele Braga (Italy), Maddalena Fragnito (Italy), Narek Tovmasyan (Armenia).

Presentations given over the course of the seminars will soon be shared, and when I have permission to share those, I will, in a new post, with further information on the overall programme.

Freelance curators enjoy a degree of flexibility in their work, but are often also in precarious positions when working with large organisations. A clear example of the difficulties faced by curators working in a freelance capacity emerged last week when the Koffler Centre of the Arts in Toronto issued a statement saying they were "disassociating" from artist Reena Katz, that they had commissioned through curator Kim Simon.

According to the statement, the core of the issue for the Koffler Centre, which is an agency of the United Jewish Appeal Foundation of Greater Toronto, is that artist Reena Katz publicly supports activities which reject "... the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state and promotes historically inaccurate comparisons between contemporary Israel and apartheid South Africa, in order to delegitimize Israel." The artist and curator dispute this interpretation of Katz's views.

The project has been under development for over a year and its launch is imminent. As the statement from the curator and artist put it, "...twelve days before the scheduled opening of a project involving over seventy participants, we attended the meeting. We were shocked to learn that the Koffler would be dissociating itself from Katz and our project solely on the basis of her political affiliations they said they had discovered on the Internet." That the organisation would choose to 'disassociate' itself at the eleventh hour is already indicative of a lack of professionalism, and the situation becomes even more perplexing once it is further noted that it is Katz's publcly-stated views that are the issue here, not the content of the commissioned project, which in fact uses Jewish culture as its bedrock and inspiration. The fact that Katz's views were uncovered on the web adds a twist to the tale as well (though again this is disputed by the curator and artist, who contend that the Koffler was aware of Katz's political leanings all along). The fact is that with the advent of web 2.0 and push-button web authoring, any artist or curator can make their views known on anything at any time, offering an unprecedented window on the ongoing fluidity of thought and personal opinion. The fact that this is essentially about Katz's personal digital traces underlines how unfortunate this turn of events has been, wherein an art centre would consider anything other than the work its business. The work, in effect, has been delegitimised here, subjugated to an attempt to pin down whether or not this artist's thoughts permit her to be legitimised by an established institution.

What can a freelance curator do in such a situation? Simon has stated that she is "appalled and heartbroken", and rightfully so. Without co-operation, courage, and support from within the organisation that was to present this work, the curator who is external to this structure has few options. Simon is doing all that she can to ensure that the show goes on, but the sudden lack of support from a well-resourced and branded institution is without a doubt an unwelcome and unhelpful development, that also then becomes a public example which might further dissuade curators from working freelance with large institutions (Simon is working freelance in this case, and is also employed as a curator for Gallery TPW).

It appears that the offer to fund the project fully still stands, so that it can still go ahead, which shields the Koffler from accusations of outright censorship and also from possible litigation. This action distills the problem to the core power struggle that freelance curators and independent artists face, because it's rarely ever about the money. Funding can be obtained without the intervention of an outside institution. The Koffler took something away that is far more valuable, and that's their seal of approval. Unfortunately for them, 'disassociation' in this case denies the rights that artists have to their own views, stifles debate on the subject in the Jewish community, and separates itself from what will surely be a wonderful project that celebrates Jewish culture and heritage in a historical district of Toronto.

Links:

Official project website: Each hand as they are called

Toronto Star story: Kensington Market exhibit stirs controversy among Jews

Globe and Mail story: Centre 'disassociates' itself from artist

Update (May 15, 2009):
Reena Katz and Kim Simon have issued a statement indicating that the exhibition will not open as it was scheduled to, due to the loss of the support of one of the project partners, following Koffler's disassociation. Katz and Simon will continue to work toward opening the exhibition at a future point in time. The latest updates are always available on the project website.

Increasingly open ways of participating in the selection and display of content are blossoming. Harnessing the ubiquity of internet access, the Brooklyn Museum are able to produce Click!, a "crowd-curated" photography exhibition. Weblogs, like FFFFOUND!, allow invited internet users to select pictures worthy of scrutiny from the tonnage of imagery available on the web. Taking the semi-randomness of allowing web users to filter content as a model, the Kemper Museum in Kansas City recently permitted museum visitors to choose items from the collection to be displayed in an exhibition entitled "Putting the U in Curator".

In each of these situations, the word curating is used to describe actions taken by members of the public who would not normally self-define as curators. This situation is similar to the one described by Clay Shirky in his recent book, Here Comes Everybody, about the definition of a journalist: "So long as publishing was expensive, journalists were rare." (p. 71) So long as there were relatively few museums and galleries, art curators were rare. On the surface, it appears that this rarity is eroding, not because of an explosion in curatorial jobs and projects, but because there is an explosion in the way the term is being used. "Curating" is increasingly being used to describe an expanding body of activity in terms of new platforms and materials, but remains focused on the act of the curator as editor or selector. This movement towards the application of the term curator to bloggers choosing images for their blogs, and to museum visitors who are invited to move a painting from the vault to the gallery wall, and to the person who votes on images in a web browser, expands the notion of a curator at the same time that it contracts it.

There are two distinct types of activity happening in this expanded area of definition. One is a singular act of temporary deputisation as a curator. This type of singular activity fits with the example of the Kemper Museum show, where one random museum visitor was selected to choose one piece from the collection, and then this same activity was repeated with a different museum visitor, until the walls were full. The other type of activity is a crowd-generated model, wherein group choices are tallied and a final result evolves from popularity of particular items, as in the Brooklyn Museum example. Both of these cases highlight the selection and editing processes that are part of a curatorial role.

Language is living and the meaning of words and expressions evolve over time and with use. There is no doubt that there is value to opening up and demystifying the editing and selection processes most typically known to be domain of the art curator. If this strategy is properly applied, it is possible to encourage anyone who is interested to develop a deeper aesthetic sense, to feel more closely linked to culture and heritage institutions, and to develop stronger ideas of what culture means to them. But if this is how the common use of the word curator is evolving, what is lost?

To speak very broadly, when looking at any collection of items, one can ask: "For what and for whom?" Why select, edit, and group things together? Collections and curated exhibitions are about creating links, developing narratives, and composing responses to perennial questions and ideas. These collections and groupings are then presented in ways so that they will effectively reach audiences. Often erroneously perceived as the skulduggery of the marketer, it is the work of curators and all cultural workers to perform extensive research on who is or could be the audience for a particular exhibit or collection, and what would constitute an effective display for this audience. Just as a priest isn't simply someone who says Mass and a doctor isn't simply someone who taps your knee with a hammer, a curator isn't just someone who selects images. The larger role of the curator encompasses the creation of links to other creative dialogues, writing and contextualising work, developing the physical (or virtual) exhibition sequencing and flow, and perhaps most important of all, nurturing a relationship with the practitioners who make the work and understanding the narrative inherent in their career trajectory. (Or, in the case of those who work with historical collections, having a scholarly background on the movements/time periods/artists represented in these collections). What can and will be lost in the reduction of the term curator to mean one who clicks on a thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon is that sense of for what and for whom.

Is it possible to build a notion of for what and for whom into the singular model and the crowd model, and is that an appropriate aim? Or do these models serve the very specific purpose of magnifying the intricacies of these selection processes? I would argue that building larger cultural narratives, and developing clear intentions towards an audience are functions too important to ignore. Behind each of these very important additional tasks of the curator is an understanding of intentions and a burden of responsibility towards the public, artists, and colleagues.

Perhaps the intentions of those working with either old models or new are too divergent to reconcile. In interviews about the Brooklyn Museum crowd-curated exhibition Click! on artinfo.com, a photoblogger describes traditional modes of curating as about "judgment and exclusion" and that it allows "only a certain group of people to have their work seen", whilst a professional curator working in an institution characterises the crowd mode of curating as allowing people to act "less as curators and more as participants" and another curator described how the the exhibition might undermine the educational aspect of a museum's mandate.

In a very direct statement on the matter, blogger Jason Kottke says of his FFFFOUND! project: "I would argue that these sites showcase a new form of art curating. The pace is faster, you don't need a physical gallery or museum, and you don't need to worry about crossing arbitrary boundaries of style or media. Nor do you need to concern yourself with questions like "is this person an artist or an outsider artist?" If a particular piece is good or compelling or noteworthy, in it goes." Were these thoughts to be developed a little further, Kottke might have found that the terms "good", "compelling", and "noteworthy" are problematic, and the use of those terms in a cavalier way indicates a lack of consideration for who both the audience and the users are, or could be. In "Here Comes Everybody" Shirky also notes that: "As with the printing press, the loss of professional control will be bad for many of society's core institutions, but it's happening anyway. The comparison with the printing press doesn't suggest we are entering a bright new future - for a hundred years after it started, the printing press broke more things than it fixed, plunging Europe into a period of intellectual and political chaos that ended only in the 1600s." (p. 73). Will the notion of flexibility espoused by evangelists such as Kottke break more things than it fixes? It will certainly stretch, if not completely break, the definitions of noteworthy, good, and compelling, as well as curating.

In these open forums for participation, the very arbitrariness and randomness that is held up a virtue also ensures that there will never be a common vision or consensus on direction and intention. While this doesn't undermine the value of online or offline filtering by the public as an educational or research vehicle, it is erroneous to imagine it could take the place of a specialist waking up every day and asking "for what and for whom?" (before putting the "u" in curator). Rather than muddying our terms, the way forward is to identify and clarify what the purpose of singular or collaborative methods of filtering are, and refine how to make these methods more useful and meaningful to the participants.
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Reference links:
(1) Brooklyn Museum, Click! http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click (Further information: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/28147/power-to-the-people)
(2) FFFFOUND! Commentary:
http://www.kottke.org/07/10/ffffound-art-curating-for-the-masses
http://www.artfagcity.com/2007/10/29/art-curating-on-the-internet-meets-mediocrity/
(3) Kemper exhibition, Putting the U in Curator: http://www.kemperart.org/exhibits/UinCurator.asp
(4) Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody: http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody
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This essay was included in the latest issue of Vague Terrain, guest edited by the fine folks at CONT3XT.NET.

IKT, the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, held its annual congress in Montreal from 22-26 May 2008.

More than 130 members attended this year's IKT Congress, the first Congress ever to be held outside Europe. The days were very full, and included visits to major museums and galleries including the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montreal (MACM), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Dazibao, Galerie UQAM, Oboro, Vox, Galerie Clark, Fonderie Darling, and the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery. In each case, the director and/or curator of the institution was present to give us a personal introduction and tour. The mix of institutions provided a great overview of both the diversity of provision for artists and of the available exhibition spaces for curators in Montreal: artist-run centres, museums, studios, commercial galleries, university-affiliated galleries. The Congress also travelled to Quebec City, taking in the Manif d'Art, Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec, and production centres housed at Méduse. Optional post-Congress activities included short visits to Ottawa and Toronto.

The event was hosted by Parachute, and Chantal Pontbriand and her team ensured that every detail of the visit was perfectly planned. Coaches were arranged to transport the delegates from place to place (which ensured we kept to our packed schedule), refreshments were delicious and abundant, and questions or requests were handled expertly. The hosts thoughtfully included a customized coach tour of the city that covered significant sites in Montreal such as the Expo '67 ruins on Ile Sainte-Hélène, the Habitat buildings, Mont-Royal, and more. When the tour stopped briefly near the summit of Mont-Royal, several curators took the opportunity to get an ice cream and enjoy the view, which was one of many lovely moments.

The timing of our visit was excellent, as it coincided with the inaugural Quebec Trienniale at the Musée d'Art Contemporain (which was a key feature on the schedule), and curators who could find a scant few minutes spare in the action-packed itinerary could also zip up to the Mile-End for the Ateliers Portes Ouvertes (APO) event. Timing was also perfect to sample some of the fruits of the labours of IKT candidates and members. The Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery was hosting Vincent Bonin's exhibition about artists as cultural workers entitled Documentary Protocols II, and also Conceptual Filiations, curated by Michèle Thériault. Louise Déry curated Phenomena at Galerie UQAM, and Marc Lanctôt was part of the team behind the Quebec Triennale at MACM. It was enormously satisfying to see and support the hard work of one's colleagues during the Congress.

Interaction between local artists and the visiting curators was incorporated as an integral part of the Congress. A magnificent evening meal at the Fonderie Darling evolved into a lovely party, and also provided ample opportunity for the IKT members and guests to visit the artists who work at the Fonderie in their studios. As well, curators were able to request meetings with local artists, which were arranged by the Parachute team. These intimate meetings, which consisted of a handful of curators and the artist, were a terrific way for the Congress attendees to delve a little deeper and learn more about specific artists that piqued their interest.

A conference on art and economy was led by Mirjam Westen and included contributions from Jo-Anne Kane, Nina Montmann and Louise Neri. This short conference addressed some of the salient issues involved in the intersection of the fine art world and commercial concerns. A heated question and answer period followed, and the presentations sparked conversations throughout the rest of the Congress.

At the General Assembly, the board presented the financial situation of the past year and decisions were made regarding future Congress locations. It was decided that Congress will be hosted in 2010 by Athens, and in 2011 by Luxembourg and Metz. At last year's Congress, it decided that the 2009 Congress will be held in Helsinki and Tallinn. The board also issued a general request to assist in gathering documentation and information about the early years of the IKT association with a view to creating an IKT archive. The board intends to develop the archive into a significant resource and research tool, documenting nearly forty years of history.

The hospitality and collegiality on offer at the 2008 IKT Congress was truly exemplar, and everyone very much looks forward to Helsinki and Tallinn in 2009. If you have materials to contribute to the IKT archive, particularly of the early years of the association, please get in touch with IKT through the "contact" page on their website.

IKT, the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, held its annual congress in Helsinki and Tallinn from 23-26 April 2009.

IKT members from all over the world congregated in Helsinki and Tallinn for four days of intense activity. The congress participants visited Kiasma, the Ateneum, EMMA, Helsinki City Art Museum, Forum Box, the Cable Factory, FRAME, KUMU, and many more venues that were part of an optional gallery crawl on the first evening. The initial period of the Congress was spent in the beautiful Finnish capital, and was punctuated by a conference on the subject of "belonging and un-belonging". The Congress also travelled to Tallinn, taking in the Ars Fennica Award exhibition at KUMU, enjoying a lunch and continuation of the conference with presentations and a screening of "Monolith" by Kristina Norman (who represented Estonia at the Venice Biennale this year). After wrapping up with the annual General Assembly back in Helsinki at Kiasma, optional post-Congress activities began, composed of studio tours themed around media art, photography, and painting.

The conference programme featured papers from T.J. Demos, Kati Kivinen, Solvita Krese, Suzana Milevska, and Kristina Norman. The theme of "belonging and un-belonging" took many twists and turns: political, aesthetic, comical, academic. Perhaps the strongest response was generated in reaction to Kristina Norman's video, "Monolith", which depicted the relocation, by the Estonian government, of the statue of the Bronze Soldier from a very central location in Tallinn to a military cemetery a few kilometers away (which IKT members visited during our time in Tallinn!). The statue, which is a political firebrand, and its relocation caused passionate reactions in both the Estonian community and the local Russian community. Norman's work portrayed the situation with some humour (one sequence depicted the statue hurtling through outer space) and with distance: both the Estonians and the Russians were portrayed "equally badly" (paraphrasing here) in the quasi-documentary. This tension over this statue and what it represents meshed well with Solvita Krese's discussion of public art and monuments, highlighting the power of symbols in the public realm and their placement. The question then, of these symbols and their placement, and the work of artists and curators to create and situate these symbols, creates more questions in one's mind than answers, but proved to be an excellent frame for discussions around a subject as expansive as "belonging and un-belonging".

Aside from seeing a lot of interesting artwork, taking part in debates, and meeting new colleagues, there were several special moments. A very interesting whistlestop tour through several artists' studios at the Cable Factory culminated in a lovely dinner, lots of prosecco, and performances. I love Helsinki as a city, and savoured many personal moments, such as picking up a pastry at the Hakaniemi Market, trying to follow along with Finnish karaoke taking place at a local bar, and enjoying a dish of vorschmack at Cella with new and old friends. Of course it wouldn't be a logistically challenging trip involving hundreds of people without a surreal moment or two when difficulties arise. For example, a bit of confusion as some members were attempting to purchase tickets for the ferry to Tallinn was devolving into complete chaos until IKT Board Member Maria Lind magically appeared, gently commandeered the situation, and whisked us off to an quieter ferry terminal where departing ferries were miraculously quicker and cheaper. We had some lemons, and Maria made us some lemonade!

At the General Assembly, the board presented the financial situation of the past year and some discussions were had around future Congress locations, as well as requirements for members and the evolution of the IKT website. The IKT archive project is still ongoing (notably, a PhD student who is doing her dissertation on the history of IKT has been able to assist in this effort) and the board will continue to develop the archive into a real resource for the members and other researchers.

All in all, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and interact with curators from around the globe, and the IKT membership looks forward to Athens next year, and Luxembourg and Metz the following year.

You can view my photos from the Congress here.

I attended this Congress because of the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Curating.info now has a page on Facebook, one of the most popular social networking websites. If you are a Facebook user, drop by the page and become a "fan" of Curating.info. Fans of Curating.info on Facebook can chat with each other on the discussion board, and will be notified of significant updates to the site.

The Netherlands Media Art Institute has developed an online survey specifically designed for professional curators and programmers of exhibitions, screenings and festivals. The questionnaire was developed by the distribution department of the Netherlands Media Art Institute, in which they seek to learn about ways to improve their services.

The questions are good and got me thinking about how I search for new work and artists. It takes just a few minutes, follow this link: www.thesistools.com/web/?id=149485 to give your point of view to NIMk.

Swiss researcher and consultant Lisa Ladner approached me to assist in the distribution of this fascinating survey for curators. She has been working as a cultural producer and independent curator in Puerto Rico, and with her international experience she found interesting discrepancies in how institutions around the globe work to support curators. She would like you, as a curator, to answer the questionnaire below and return the answers to her as soon as possible to info -at- lisaladner.com, so that she can learn from your experience and share the results not only with her Puerto Rican colleagues but with us, too.

The questionnaire is below, please copy and paste it into a new email and send it directly to Lisa: info -at- lisaladner.com.
Thanks for your help.

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QUESTIONNAIRE / Please don't write what you think is good practice, but honestly describe the current practice!

Please mark one:
[ ] I want my answers to be anonymized
[ ] You may quote me using my name
[ ] Please treat my answers this way: ...

Name: ...
Website (or short bio): ...

Institution: ...
The institution's website (if it doesn't have a website, please describe the institution): ...

Position/relation with the institution: ...

---

1. Number of in-house curators (paid staff / employment percentage): ...

2. Institution works with guest curators:
[ ] yes
[ ] no
[ ] only

3. Guest curators get paid:
[ ] yes, of course, they get an average of USD ..... per exhibition
[ ] no, it's already an honour they can work for the institution

4. How does the institution cover the guest curator's expenses related to an exhibition such as transportation, accommodations, meals?

5. Please describe the collaboration between the in-house curators and the guest curator. Does the in-house curator interfere with the project or just help in its realization?

6. How much help does the institution grant the guest curator (museum staff, technical assistants,...)? Can the guest curator use the same resources as the in-house curator?

7. Let's say a freelance/independent curator presents an idea with a cost estimate and the institution likes it very much. Does the institution now communicate the available budget for the exhibition and the curator adapts the project or must the curator first present an exact budget and then wait for the institution to see, if they can raise the money? Will the curator get paid for budgeting? Does the institution help the guest curator in the budgeting?

8. How many months prior to an exhibition does the institution communicate if it can be done or not (due to economic reasons)?

9. Does the guest curator get a contract and if so: at what moment in the project? Could you send me a sample or actual contract?

10. Does the guest curator only get paid if the exhibition takes place? What if the show is being cancelled because the institution couldn't raise the money?

11. Can the guest curator be asked to help raise money?

12. Does the institution cover all transportation and insurance costs for the artworks (round trip) including wrapping/crating? Or does it ask the artist to cover some of the costs?

13. Who looks for transportation/insurance/customs quotes: the institution or the artist?

14. Are artists being paid for having their work in an institutional show or are they asked to pay for it (for example with the argument that the work's value goes up by being exhibited)?

15. If an artist has to be present for the mounting or opening: does the institution pay for transportation/accommodations/meals? Does it also pay a compensation for the invested time?

16. Regarding the above questions: does it matter if the work comes from the artist, an art dealer/gallery or a collection/collector or from another institution or are they all being treated equally?

17. Do artists receive money to complete a work or is this only the case, if the work was commissioned?

18. Are artists being asked to come up for or provide exhibition equipment such as DVD players, headphones, loudspeakers, cables, beamers, monitors, computers or whatever is needed to exhibit their piece?

19. Does the institution set up a contract with the artist or makes him fill out just a standard form? At what moment? Please send samples or actual documents.

20. Do you ask the artists to provide professional high resolution photos of their work to be used for free in the catalogue?

21. Does your institution have a curatorial guideline/handbook such as http://www.newbedfordartmuseum.org/handbook/index.html? Please provide.

22. Are proposals by in-house and freelance/independent curators being treated equally (for example: propose to director, then pass the exhibition committee, then being assigned an in-house curator/committee member to accompany the project)?

23. How many exhibitions does the institution do yearly (average)?

24. If you're a curator: how many exhibitions do you do yearly (average) / how many have you done in your career (approx.)?

---

Comments: ...

Please mark:
[x] yes, I'd like to get the results from this inquiry
[ ] no, I'm not interested in the results

Astria Suparak, a US-based curator, noted in a recent public letter that her role as a "citizen and as a curator is to enrich the communities in which I live and work, through engaging, exciting, and relevant creative work." I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly, and I'd also add that taking these actions involves an intimate knowledge of the context that one occupies and a willingness to take calculated risks. It should also be further noted that very often, curators do not work independently, and therefore institutions that employ curators are bound to support these creative risks if they truly desire to engage in a dynamic discourse around contemporary art.

Suparak was the Director of the Warehouse Gallery at Syracuse University, until she was dismissed from her post on September 30, 2007. Her supervisor, Jeffrey Hoone, Executive Director of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers (CMAC), said the reason for her dismissal was that the gallery was being "restructured".

According to the New York Times:

Carole Brzozowski, the dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, said the content of gallery shows organized by Ms. Suparak had nothing to do with her dismissal. But people in the arts at Syracuse, including university art teachers, asserted that the ouster was related to risk-taking or innovative exhibitions she organized since becoming the director last year.

Ms. Suparak said of Mr. Hoone: "My aesthetic is very different from his. I'm interested in street art, riot grrl and D.I.Y. aesthetics." A sign at the entrance to the gallery's current show, "Come On: Desire Under the Female Gaze," reads, "This exhibition contains work generally intended for mature audiences." Ms. Suparak said it was posted at Mr. Hoone's behest.

The case of Ms. Suparak's dismissal posits very serious questions vis à vis some basic aspirations and assumptions about creative curatorial practice. As an example, in a recent interview with curator Sarah Cook, the interviewer asks (and I'm paraphrasing quite a bit) about what conditions would be considered nurturing for a curator. (The interviewer, Régine Debatty, asks specifically: "What are the conditions required to achieve "upstart media bliss"?") Ms. Cook responds: "Challenging the system - be it the art system, the museum, or the format of the exhibition - and not being afraid to take a risk (generally being an upstart). At the same time, remembering to take care of the artist and the work, take care of other people and your ethics. Creating situations for contemplation and reflection (bliss doesn't have to be monumental, it might only last a minute, but a minute worth remembering)."

I think that this quotation from Ms. Cook says it best - what better way to achieve bliss than to challenge the system, take risks, and yet simultaneously remain steadfast to your standards. In an institution where the curator has to answer to management, it is imperative that management support the sort of calculated, intelligent risks a professional curator would make. If Ms. Suparak's case is as it seems based on the available evidence, it appears that there was a failure in this relationship - this commitment to producing catalytic moments and entry points for dialogue in contemporary art, by making moves that are not always "safe". These failures are worrying, as they don't bode well for the continued enrichment of cultural experience - which means everyone, not just the curators involved, loses out.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum has just announced the exhibition curated by their inaugural Hall Curatorial Fellow, and it sounds well worth a visit. The vernissage is on 16 September, and the exhibition is on view from then until February 24, 2008. Announcement from the Aldrich follows:

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present Voice & Void – curated by Thomas Trummer, the first recipient of the Hall Curatorial Fellowship.

The human voice has become a major subject in recent scholarly debates, so it is no coincidence that an Aldrich exhibition will explore the topic from an artistic vantage. In Voice & Void, Trummer will utilize the state-of-the-art sound facilities in the Museum's building to illustrate how voice–and the absence of voice–can be expressed by the visual arts.

With Voice & Void, Austrian native Thomas Trummer, will consider the effects of what happens when one sense is replaced by another, with particular focus on hearing and seeing. Trummer’s exhibition will feature both commissioned and loaned contemporary works of all media by a diverse group of international artists–including a sculptural aviary that will house two living parrots that speak the long-lost language of May-po-re!

Works by Rachel Berwick, Joseph Beuys/Ute Klophaus, John Cage, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, VALIE EXPORT, Anna Gaskell, Asta Gröting, Christian Marclay, Melik Ohanian, Hans Schabus, Nedko Solakov, Julianne Swartz, and Cerith Wyn Evans will be on view.
Continue reading "Voice & Void: 2006 Hall Curatorial Fellowship Exhibition"

Internationally renowned Turkish curator Fulya Erdemci joins New Zealand's Danae Mossman to form the curatorial partnership for Art & Industry's 5th SCAPE 2008 Biennial of Art in Public Space.

The Art & Industry Biennial Trust with Director Deborah McCormick are delighted to announce the pairing of Fulya Erdemci and Danae Mossman. Fulya Erdemci brings a wealth of international experience to this position and as Director of the International Istanbul Biennial for 7 years, (she directed the 4th, 5th, 6th and partly 7th Biennials) as well as curator of "Istanbul Pedestrian Exhibitions"� (Istanbul Yaya Sergileri) - "the first exhibition designed for pedestrians in public space in Turkey" - she has an impressive background in art in public space.

Local curator, Danae Mossman whose presence at Christchurch project space The Physics Room has been hugely influential, comes to SCAPE as one of New Zealand's most promising curators. As well as two international curatorial residencies (Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne and DAAD, Berlin) Danae recently co-curated TRANS VERSA, (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo / Matucana 100 / Galeria Metropolitana) in Santiago, Chile.

Like the last biennial in 2006, SCAPE 2008 will be developed in conjunction with Christchurch's major cultural stakeholders and will be located within the Cultural Precinct. The SCAPE 2008 Hub and Indoor Exhibition will once again feature at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, as major partner of SCAPE it will become an important venue for symposia, discussion and lectures. With site-specific interventions by participating artists from around the world, SCAPE 2008 will propose "a new culture of space" to reinvent the democracy, equality and "publicness"� through the unique space, place and locality of Christchurch City. As well as visiting artists, SCAPE will attract speakers, arts professionals and new audiences to Christchurch, stimulating and questioning the way we experience and enjoy the pubic space.

This unique curatorial pairing is supported through funding from Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand. SCAPE 2008 will be the 5th biennial organised by the Art & Industry Biennial Trust, New Zealand's only international biennial dedicated to contemporary art in public space.

The Korean art world is reeling from the news that of one of its up and coming curatorial stars has been exposed as having false credentials.

From the Independent:

Imagine an attractive and talented young woman who said she had an art history doctorate from Oxford. Vivacious and persuasive, she becomes the director of the Tate Gallery. Then, just after being hired to curate the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, she is exposed as a fake who failed to get a single A-level.

This scenario, reminiscent of a Patrica Highsmith novel with its hint of The Talented Mr Ripley, is precisely the scandal now rocking the Korean art world after one of its rising stars, Shin Jeong-ah, was unveiled as a fraud.

Until this week, Shin, 35, was at the top of her profession. Claiming to have a doctorate from Yale and a master's degree from Kansas University, she was the youngest professor at Seoul's prestigious Dongguk University and the head curator of the Sungkok Art Museum, home to some of Korea's most prestigious exhibitions and the recipient of millions of pounds in corporate sponsorship from the country's biggest conglomerates.

Fabricating details on one's curriculum vitae seems to be nothing new, as a quick browse of the web led me to another recent article detailing dozens of such scandals in the business world. One particularly audacious and amusing story:

Jeffrey Papows, the former president of IBM's Lotus unit, resigned in 2000 after The Wall Street Journal found that he had embellished details of his military and academic achievements in his CV and in speeches and statements. He also claimed to be an orphan although his parents were still alive. According to the paper, he claimed to have a PhD from Pepperdine University but had in fact only completed a correspondence course at an unaccredited college. In addition, military records showed he had never been a Marine Corp aviator and captain, as he claimed, but a military air-traffic controller who rose no higher than lieutenant.

Mr Papows, who was also the subject of a sexual harassment complaint, later admitted: "I, in some senses, am guilty of exaggerating and embellishing for a purpose from a business standpoint."

Back to Ms Shin, our curator in question who never attended Yale and didn't complete her degree at Kansas University. What makes this story particularly interesting are not the fabrications, which, as evinced in the Times Online article about lying businessmen, seem to crop up quite a bit. The point of interest is that most seems to agree that Ms Shin was a good curator. Despite her complete lack of training, she seems to have performed well enough to smoke by for a long time. "She was very talented at planning exhibitions," a leading Korean art critic told the Kyunghyang Daily News. "She was not much of an art historian or a theoretician but she put on some excellent shows which were very popular. That's why the museums loved her." There are so many classic tensions in this story that the mind boggles - populist vs. academic, raw talent vs. hard-won credentials, appearances vs. reality. One tends to feel pity for everyone involved in the debacle: the museum and biennale officials who were duped, and Ms Shin herself, who - though talented - because of her misrepresentations will never eat lunch in Seoul again.

I've noted of late that the term "open source" gets bandied about quite a bit, not just in technology-related industries, but also increasingly in the art world. To be sure, some systems in the art world, including curatorial processes, are very open and transparent. Is it stretching it a bit, however, to relate this transparency and receptivity in the art world to the "open source" movement, a crusade mostly associated with software that you can download for free and possibly manipulate before sharing your evolution of the product with others?

Open source (appropriately, as defined by Wikipedia) "...is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. This allows users to create software content through incremental individual effort or through collaboration."

OK, so that's our basic definition. The Wikipedia article goes on to state: "The open source model of operation can be extended to open source culture in decision making, which allows concurrent input of different agendas, approaches and priorities, in contrast with more centralized models of development [...] ." If we agree with this, that does seem to answer our question about the use of the term - it can be applied as a model to nearly anything. What, then, have been the interesting examples of late that cause me to go trawling on Wikipedia for definitions of open source? Let's look at them one by one:


Continue reading "Open Source Curating"

The first of its kind in Canada, The Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Visual Art will recognize the work of a mid-career curator who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the contemporary visual arts.

"Curators are an absolutely vital link between the artist and the public," said Gerda Hnatyshyn, C.C, President and Chair of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Board. "Their work is very demanding and it often gets overlooked because the attention is, quite rightfully, on the artists. We want to recognize the important role curators play in fostering and promoting Canadian art and in introducing Canadians to the best contemporary art from abroad."

Candidates for the award will be nominated by a jury of prominent arts professionals chosen by the Foundation for their knowledge of the visual arts across Canada. Independent curators, as well as those working within an institutional context, will be eligible for the award.

The new prize follows on the heels of the $25,000 Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award, created last year to honour the work of an outstanding mid-career visual artist. The inaugural prize was presented to Vancouver artist Stan Douglas earlier this year. The recipients of both visual arts awards for 2007 will be announced in November.

Recently I was the invited respondent to GLOBAL BENDING: Opening Creative Space - Rooting Curatorial Media Practice in China panel at the Dutch Electronic Art Festival. This panel was expansive in scope and ambitiously attempted to cover many topics.

After a brief introduction from moderator Li Zhenhua, we heard from Zhang Ga, proposing that a top-down strategy is a sensible one to utilise in the current climate in China. Zhang Ga noticed that many Chinese educational institutions were employing outmoded notions of what was "new media" or "digital", relying on digital photography and video to carry their programmes. He stressed the importance of professionalisation, and setting up a high-level discourse in the field to advance practice. He noted that China lacks a culture of "tinkerers" - practitioners hacking in their garages. With this in mind, and also acknowledging that government initiatives are focusing on digital applications in entertainment rather than art, the role of higher education becomes incredibly important.

Next, Yao Bin described the DIY process by which the community built an art space, using simple materials. He rhymed off a very impressive list of embassies and consulates that he had worked with to present work in the space. He also spoke about a sound art exchange project that he did with Taiwanese artists, something that might be seen as a bit of a political hot potato.

Ellen Pau spoke next, mostly referring to art as cultural practices, not as processes that necessarily result in objects. She described several projects that took place outside the white cube, including the "Community Museum Project", which allowed indigenous creativity to flourish. She also noted the planned transformation of West Kowloon in Hong Kong into a new "cultural quarter".

Wei Zhang from Vitamin Creative Space spoke about several projects, though the one that intrigued me the most was "China Tracy", a project by Cao Fei that involved use of a Second Life avatar for art purposes.

Davide Quadrio, Director of Biz Art in Shanghai, then spoke very critically about the challenges facing curators in China. He indicated that there was a lack of a truly critical approach, and also that there was a lack of sustainable development for significant projects. He stated that the problem of economical and cultural independence was still one to be solved.

I began my response by structuring it into a few phases: "Approaches and Strategies", "Policies and Politics", and "Curatorial Concerns". Beginning with approaches and strategies, I noted that a top-down versus botton-up approach will help you to meet in the middle, and that the middle space is one that curators often occupy, as negotiators between artists and institutions. Zhang Ga's work setting a foundation in terms of higher education seems very critical to future success, bringing things up to date through institutions in a top-down way that is innovative and essential. I wondered if it might be innovative in an economic sense as well, since positioning art practice as research in an academic context might be one way to fundraise for the arts.

Approaching culture from the angle of urban culture is something that came up in several presentations - Ellen Pau telling the audience about the street as museum, Zhang Ga speaking of the difficulties with public art, and Yao Bin describing the symposium of urban culture that he set up in his space. I noted that whilst having complete autonomy to install public art at will is unlikely anywhere, digital artists and curators are especially well-positioned to create a "virtual layer" of information over the city. Also the talk of new cultural quarters was interesting - West Kowloon and other places - since surely there are funds to be tapped there, and perhaps curators can take their place at the negotiation table when these arrangements are being made. Not forgetting, of course, that a whole other sort of "public space" that desperately needs a "cultural quarter" is opening up - Second Life - so curatorial interest in it, and projects like "China Tracy" are very welcome additions to this developing scene.

In "Policy and Politics", I mused on whether the "creative industry" policy being pushed by the government couldn't also be utilised by curators. There is no public funding for art in China (though other governments seem willing to step in, as Yao Bin's long list of participating embassies proved), but getting art "sneaked in" the back door under the category of research and development, product testing, et cetera, might be a way of manipulating this strategy. Yao Bin's work with Taiwanese artists highlighted the other, perhaps polar opposite of art-as-research tendency, that of art as an active instrument for creating political goodwill.

It's a delicate dance with government policies, not just in China but worldwide, though some announcements in China keep people on their toes - such as the revelation from Ellen that the public broadcaster in Hong Kong might be destroyed and re-created. These rumours, proposals, and inevitably, final decisions, end up affecting artists and curators either directly or indirectly by creating a sense of uncertainty that Davide Quadrio summed up nicely as "unsustainable sustainable".

In terms of curatorial concerns, I observed that curators in China are genuinely caught in the middle, negotiating between artist, institution, sponsors, and government. In addition, there is the pressure of making a big impression - Ellen Pau spoke of audiences and supporters both wanting "fireworks", meaning, something that is spectacular and that lives in the moment, freeing cultural actors from bearing the burden of future maintenance, but also crippling sustained dialogue. In the absence of funding and in the era of the "unsustainable sustainable", what options remain? Can curators gain influence and a foothold into funding sources through an academic or political context, or is that too great a compromise? What can be done to induce a tinkering culture, a culture which could become essential to feeding the Chinese media arts scene? Can the rise of the "creative industries" and "cultural quarters" be exploited to insert a curatorial agenda? One thing that I was certain of, walking away from this panel, was that the people on it were leading in decoding the answers to these difficult questions.

"What Do Curators Want?" was the name of an event held recently at Side Street Projects (an art centre in Pasadena, California, USA) featuring Caryn Coleman, editor of art.blogging.la and owner of sixspace.

The promotional blurb stated:

If you go about this the wrong way, you can kill your career before it even happens. So, how do you approach curators without shooting yourself in the foot? Caryn Coleman, owner of sixspace and editor of art.blogging.la, will give you some practical advice in this free, public presentation...

They have also put Caryn's notes online, which are available in PDF format.

I was drawn to read about this event for several reasons, not the least of which was wondering how an expansive question such as "What do curators want?" would be answered. Caryn's excellent tips for artists will be very useful to those who are pursuing a relationship with a commercial gallery. It's good to see that the question was focused to cater to the needs of the local audience and the expertise of the speaker.

It did cause me to wonder what the PDF tip sheets would look like for curators with other concerns. What are the relevant parameters between artists and curators when in contexts such as the museum, the non-profit gallery, or festivals?

The eighth Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF) opens today in Rotterdam. One of the most important international art and technology festivals, DEAF is organized every two years by V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media. This is a special year, as V2_ is also celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary during DEAF07 with a night of music and performances at Staal in Rotterdam on Saturday, April 14. The theme this year is Interact or Die!

Of special interest to curators is the GLOBAL BENDING: Opening Creative Space - Rooting Curatorial Media Practice in China panel discussion that will take place on Friday, 13 April, from 14.00 - 16.30. I am an invited respondent to this panel and look forward to engaging with the panelists. If you are unable to make it to Rotterdam, you can watch live streams for many of the events, including this panel on curating.

Download the full DEAF 07 programme (PDF file) here, read more about how to tune into the live streams here, and follow along on the DEAF 07 blog here.

If pressed, I suppose I would say that one of my favourite things about art openings is the conversations that take place - since usually the room is too full to really appreciate the art.

Recently I was at an opening in a white cube and ended up chatting to the curator of the show, whose name I usually recognise as an artist. Fuelled by cheap cabernet, I peppered her with questions about how the show came about, why she was trying her hand at curating, etc. Her answer was fascinating in its simplicity: she wanted to curate this show because she was frustrated that the work had toured all over the world, but not shown in the artists' backyards.

I smiled and said something charming enough to keep her talking to me for the next few minutes, and then reflected on what she said quite closely afterward. I found it fascinating - her taking on this mantle of curator that she really wasn't interested in, out of necessity, because the work that she wanted to see simply wasn't being shown.

Her response reminded me a little bit of the DIY curators in Seattle that I blogged about, who were frustrated by being kept out of the system, and therefore began working in a host of different sites to satisfy their desire to present the work that they wanted to see. Once I had compared this reluctant curator's response to the situation of self-identified curators who don't have a white box venue to work in, it occurred to me that their motivations were extremely similar. Don't curators curate because they want to see the work they are bringing in? Because no one else is doing it? Because they think it is important that a certain group of people see a certain set of works? So important, in the case of the Seattle DIY-ers, that they will do it anywhere. So important, in the case of my reluctant curator, that she will step out of her role as an artist to just make it happen.

By force or by choice, some of the fundamental motivations behind curating an exhibition seem the same.

I'm proud to announce the (semi-recent) launch of my latest curatorial effort.

In-Site Montreal is a collection of site-specific art presented on the portal pages of five wireless internet hotspots in the Ile Sans Fil network. Artists Nicolas Fleming, Maria Legault, and Virginie Laganiere have created art works that can be viewed simply by logging in to the Ile Sans Fil network at the selected hotspots. Though the project is best viewed in-situ, you can also view the works produced by the artists for the hotspot locations at the In-Site Montreal micro-site.

I have produced a curatorial text for the project, which I would be grateful for your feedback on, my cherished readers.

The concluding paragraphs of the essay include the following statements:

The virtual spaces that In-site Montreal inhabit are amorphous areas around several accepted gathering places such as cafes, galleries, markets, and bars. They are perhaps places where as an internet user, you may intend to use the opportunity of connectivity to the network to look outward, to read news of distant places or connect with friends far away through e-mails and online social networking sites. The art practice of telematics in particular addresses the creative possibilities when two parties are connected over distance to communicate. In some way, the pieces presented on the portal pages of Ile Sans Fil's network as part of the In-Site Montreal project present something that is almost anti-telematic, in that the works look inward rather than outward. In the case of this project, a connection to someone across the globe is not sought, it is shunned in favour of a further examination and rumination on the details of the local environment.

I'm interested in this idea of the inverse-telematic, the inward-looking, the intensely-local, especially using a tool such as Wi-Fi that we are so accustomed to associate with an outward-looking, nearly-anonymous roaming of virtual terrain.

Thanks to Year Zero One for producing the project, the Canada Council for the Arts for funding the project, Ile Sans Fil for hosting the project, and Rita Godlevskis for designing the map and visual identity of In-Site Montreal.

The terms "curator" and "curating" are being slung around in a wide variety of contexts these days, mostly to do with the curator-as-filter. It is intriguing to see a term that is usually used in a fine arts context to be used in other contexts (in the three cases I mention below: the Web, interior decorating, and metadata) though it can sometime feel as though the word is being appropriated because there is no other term to describe precisely what is going on.

One of the first items like this that caught my eye was an article by Suw Charman on Strange Attractor that I quite enjoyed.

But we don't need gatekeepers anymore. We don't need people who stand between us and our stuff, deciding what to tell us about and what to ignore. We don't need arbiters of taste. [...] What we need are curators. And we need them badly. [...] Curators already exist. Some are people: Bloggers who sift through tonnes of stuff in order to highlight what they like, and who, if you have the same taste as them, can be invaluable to discovering new things to like. Some are aggregators: Site that gather lots of little bits of stuff and present them in aggregation and help us find the bits that the majority find to be good. Some are algorithms: recommendation systems and search.

As I mention earlier, it seems that we need a new word to accurately describe what is involved in filtering and dissecting content for other users of the internet. Is creating a focused list of links curating? Blogging photos of random things - is that curating? Perhaps it is to an extent, but at this time, the role and host of skills that the word "curator" summons to my mind seems a bit flattened when used to describe the function of someone I would call a "filter" (though that sounds quite impersonal and awful - hence I am proposing that a new word needs to be created) would be.

Next, an article that mildly horrified me for its use of the word curating:

For hourly fees generally ranging from $50 to $250, these microdesigners, known in the trade as rearrangers or accessorizers, will regroup the potted plants in the foyer, style the paperweight collection on the coffee table, create vignettes of country-style baskets atop kitchen cabinets or spruce up the presentation of the family china.

With me so far? People who will re-arrange the potted plants in the foyer are "microdesigners". Probably nice, inoffensive work if you can get it. Later in the article however, the c-word crops up:

For Jennifer Wong, 39, the owner of a consulting firm in Portland, Ore., not having to think about the details is "pure bliss." Ms. Wong, whose home is decorated with mid-century furniture, recently enlisted the services of Martie Accuardi, who calls herself a microdesigner and charges $75 an hour, to curate her mantelpiece. Not only does Ms. Accuardi style her client's existing decor, she augments it with pieces she brings in from her small home store. As part of her service, every few months she swaps out the old accessories and brings in new ones, adding seasonal accents.

I was gobsmacked to see that it was possible to curate a mantelpiece. I wonder in this case, if the word actually came out of Jennifer Wong's mouth and was used by the author of the piece but not directly quoted, or if the author of the piece was using her thesaurus and that is how she came up with the concept of the curated mantelpiece.

Playing devil's advocate with myself for a moment, perhaps there is some simplification going on, but the basic function of a curator is to select and choose work - so selecting and choosing items for inclusion in someone's home could be curation. Or again, is what we are talking about here simply filtering? In the first case, filtering scores of links on the web, in the second case, filtering a host of choices at the home decor shop.

Finally, curation comes up on Anil Dash's blog when he loses the metadata associated with his iTunes song library. For him the information that surrounds each song is nearly as important as the song itself, because without that context, he notes that they are no longer his songs. He goes on to say: "Art without curation or creation without witness leaves a work mute."

To that sentiment, it is easy for me to rustle up an "Amen".

Dear readers,
I hope everyone had a restorative and happy holidays.
I'm still easing myself into the new year, and so will make the first entry for 2007 on this blog a lighthearted one.

I propose getting back into (a certain sort) of curatorial headspace by downloading "Curator Defense", a game by David Howe. (It appears to be for PC only).

gHacks describes the game as such:

Pieces of art invade the museum and you have to stop them to prevent them from replacing the master pieces in your museum. It sounds pretty silly but it is actually tremendous fun. You have to place certain structures to slow down and destroy the art that is invading the museum.

The storyline sounds really fun (and perhaps even a bit familiar, to some of us!):

As the longstanding curator of a Museum of Fine Arts, it is your duty to protect the sanctity of its works. Your benefactors stubbornly believe that modern art does not belong in your museum; as your paycheck comes from them, you must uphold their wishes. An association of local curators known as MARTIA (Modern ART Is Art), on the other hand, feels that your museum should reflect a more balanced representation of the art world. [...] Word has reached your museum that tonight is the night MARTIA plans to coordinate a stream of seemingly endless waves of their modern art against your store room. Should any of their work reach your store room, your brain-dead staff will place MARTIA's art on your walls.With an arsenal of their defensive gizmos and gadgets at your side, you should be able to defend your museum. Prevent this attack on your museum from ruining your career; grab your thinking cap and get the job done!

Let me know what you think of the game in the comments.
Happy curating in 2007!

When a curator simply chooses an artist, that isn't news. (Just as a dog biting a man would not be news, either.) But when a man bites a dog, or an artist chooses a curator, we've got more of a story. (Background on the journalistic expression "Man bites dog").

I'm using "Man bites dog" in jest, of course, but it was a phrase that immediately struck me that whilst reading an article by Dana Gilerman I found at Haaretz.com.

Suzanne Landau, a senior curator at the Israel Museum, will curate the Israeli Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in June 2007. A Culture Ministry committee selected artist Yehudit Sasportas six months ago to represent Israel at the event; Sasportas, in turn, chose Landau to curate the exhibit.

An unusual move, I would say. Landau seems to think so as well:

"I have a problem with this method, in which a random group sits and selects an artist," says Landau. "It seems abnormal to me. I think this group could have irrelevant interests, and there have already been cases in the past that proved this. I have also mentioned this more than once to Idit Amichai, the coordinator of the Culture Ministry committee."

What would you suggest instead?

"That the committee choose a curator, as is the practice in other countries and as was done here in the past."

The reasoning for this inversion of process is provided a bit later on, but is glossed over:

There were also ethical problems in the past with regard to the selection of curators. "Then perhaps the problem is that Israel is a small country and there is nothing that can be done about that."

The ethical problems that would blight a selection process for a curator would also no doubt cause problems when selecting an artist. I don't have the knowledge of the art scene in Israel that would allow me to comment on this specific case with special insight. However, I think that the reasoning behind why the process ended up being a "man bites dog/artist chooses curator" situation is quite interesting. Suzanne makes a fair point in her response, but even the largest countries break down into very small art scenes, usually defined by city boundaries, but also sometimes subdivided even further. "Ethical problems" could mar a selection process in a scene of any size. The question is, how do we handle these problems, and is the solution to invert the process entirely?

“In theory now you could curate a whole Venice Biennale using only the Internet,” said Francesco Bonami, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

This quote comes from a larger article that recently appeared in the New York Times. The article takes a solid look at how pressures to find the "next big thing" leads curators to rack up the frequent flier miles scouring the globe for a fresh face to slot into their next show.

Francesco Bonami is also the focus of the latest Bad at Sports podcast. In the podcast, Bonami covers a lot of ground:

Francesco gives his frank and funny perspective on everything from why Australian art is bad, compares Kentuckians to Europeans, and talks about the role of the curator as artist.

I haven't listened to the podcast yet, but already it sounds as though I would like his style. And judging by his own reflections on the Venice Biennale show he curated in 2003 (“I really got slaughtered [...] When you show the real chaos, people cannot take it"), he fits the profile of a risk-taker that holds no regrets - exactly the sort of person that I believe the contemporary art world needs much, much more of.

Recently, I spotted a CNN story about the Louvre "inviting slam poets in to rap about paintings". In what was surely conceived as a PR-double whammy (bring in a celebrity, create a programme that appeals to youth/urban hipsters), Toni Morrison has been invited to be a guest curator this month.

The American Nobel laureate has helped the Louvre conceive a series of lectures, readings, films, concerts, debates and slam poetry that will continue through November 29. All center around her theme "The Foreigner's Home," touching on national identity, exile and the idea of belonging.

Inviting Morrison to the museum was part of Louvre Director Henri Loyrette's outreach to the United States. [...] Loyrette, who took over at the 213-year-old institution in 2001, also has been trying to shake up France's perceptions of the role of museums. "A museum for me is not just a place, it's a place for education, a place with a social role," he said.

I've heard the term "celebrity curator" tossed around quite a bit, and usually with derision. I found this move by the Louvre (rhyming intentional) to be fairly benign, however. It seems part of a larger attempt on the part of the Louvre to fill the social role that Loyrette refers to.

The larger notion of the "celebrity curator" is far more dangerous than the Louvre example I'm citing here. The rather serious role of cultural arbiter that the curator plays ensures that there is an inevitable aura of power and, subsequently, the potential for sexiness that is congruous with the idea of celebrity, but we have to be careful: that power should also not be misused. Hence, while the Louvre's move as it stands is respectable on several levels, even though Morrison is not a formally-trained curator (she has other cultural credentials), I would cringe at handing over a similar role to most actresses or pop musicians. They have cultural credentials of a sort, too, and could expand the audience of a museum, but the danger here is a dilution of a museum's mission to the point of incomprehensibility.

Morrisson's work at the Louvre has also been reported on at the New York Times (much more in-depth article than the CNN story).

While the Pompidou tries to entice a younger generation by offering wireless internet, the hip and flashy (and, based on the rumblings of folk I know in Paris - sometimes hated) Palais de Tokyo has turned to old media to further its reach to audiences.

"France has changed, the world has changed, and we have to adapt,'' says Bruno Racine, the Pomipdou Center's 54-year-old president, in his red-walled office near the museum. "The Pompidou Center needs to renew itself, live up to the dual challenge of expanding its domestic audience and becoming a global institution.''

There is an excellent article here, that chronicles the recent troubles and triumphs of the Pompidou. The tale inevitably ends on the note of the fiscal viability of the Pompidou, with Racine saying:

"Subsidies are going to plateau,'' he says. "Clearly, we have to diversify our resources by building up visitor numbers, but also forming closer links with companies and collectors.''

Zipping on over to palaisdetokyo.com (or 13 Avenue de Président Wilson, whichever is more convenient), we see that the latest hot news item is their new magazine - yes, printed on dead trees, not on a blog or wiki! - that costs 5-7 Euros (depending on where you live) or 4.50 GBP.

Every quarter, PALAIS / outlines the expanded artistic universe of the new program and invites many contributions from diverse fields: it features images of the exhibitions presented at the Palais de Tokyo, portfolios as well as texts by art critics or philosophers, writers, footballers, artists, etc. and a "carte blanche" given to another magazine.

Throughout PALAIS / is the notion of elasticity: it pulls art toward reality and reality toward art. Are there any potential points of rupture? Where are the intersections, those unlikely places where yodeling and quantum physics meet?

It is simply an interesting study in contrasts. I would actually like to see a mash-up of these approaches - presenting the intersections where quantum physics and yodeling meet, but through a podcast, Wi-Fi portal page, or file I download from Bit Torrent. I'll be happy to see what the Pomipdou makes of dabbling in giving away Wi-Fi and other possible digital efforts, as well as what Palais de Tokyo does with the "old media" - for now.

I've just added a new feature to this website that I'd like to draw your attention to.
In the sidebar on the right, you'll see a new search box - called "art + curating Google search". When you enter search terms into this box, a Google search is performed, but it is a pre-refined search, privileging results from a group of art and curating websites that I have defined. I used Google's new Google Co-op platform to build this. Check it out, and enjoy! If you make your own culturally-related custom Google search feature with Google Co-op, let me know in the comments. Also if you have suggestions for sites I should add that would tweak the search results, leave those suggestions in the comments.

Tom Moody brings two examples of the phenomenon of anonymity to our attention in a recent blog post.

Tom first discusses a recent example of the Schirn Kunsthalle's "Anonymous" show, wherein the artists and the curator are anonymous. This example is not as interesting for me as it could be, since at the end of the show the identities of the artists and the curator will be revealed. Rather anti-climactic, since after the show, will it have the same impact? I suppose it depends on the work, as always.

Tom cites an earlier example of the same concept:

Harlem's Triple Candie gallery also did an "anonymous" series in 2004 and 2005, consisting of two shows by artists whose identities won't be revealed (ever, according to co-gallerist Peter Nesbett.) The curatorial intent was essentially the same--"reaction to pernicious branding of artists in the contemporary art world"--although Triple Candie framed it more thoughtfully as an issue of "how biography informs interpretation." The shows weren't obscure: one was reviewed by Ken Johnson in the New York Times and the gallerists mentioned them in an interview they gave in Flash Art interview in this summer.

Escaping how "biography informs interpretation" is one thing, but it then leaves one wondering about the flipside of this problem - where is the accountability? Nothing creates accountability like putting your name to something.

The problem is actually bigger and harder to unpick than that simple set of diametric opposites I just proposed. For example, it is sometimes the case that curators at large institutions are simply part of staff and their name isn't necessarily attached to each piece of collateral that is released pertaining to a particular exhibition. In that case, it might be a bit harder to find the information, but usually with a bit of digging one can make an educated guess which person on staff it was.

Curatorial collectives pose a similar ambiguity - the information is there, but it remains slightly obscured who did what, who exactly chose a particular artist, etc. I've participated in a number of co-curatorial situations where the internal methods we used were not explained to prospective artists in the shows, and perhaps that lack of transparency chafed. I'm not sure.

I think that the bottom line for me is that as I study these examples, I'm finding that I like a transparent approach more and more. There is something very appealing about being able to put a face, name, and background to decisions. Biography does inform interpretation, perhaps, but isn't context such as biography an essential part of the puzzle? Or, as Sally McKay noted in the comments on Tom's post, it is important "to follow the development of one indvidual's practice as an evolving project". I think that a long-term narrative in one's practice is something to strive for, and that potential narrative is undercut by anonymity and obfuscation of roles.

“Act first, think later — that way you have something to think about.”
Marcia Tucker, curator and founder of the New Museum of Contemporary Art.

Marcia Tucker, a forceful curator who responded to being fired from the Whitney Museum of American Art by founding the New Museum of Contemporary Art, died on October 17 at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. She was 66.

Read the full obituary here, and a report from the memorial service
here.

There is an article on the "DiY curating" scene in Seattle by Regina Hackett in a recent issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The article is fairly long and profiles a number of opportunistic young curators, who have harnessed unique venues to host their shows - ranging from the back of a truck, a local café, and a virtual island in the virtual world Second Life.

Seattle currently boasts a wealth of excellent young curators. While a few have found jobs at major arts institutions, there aren't nearly enough of these jobs to go around in a field that's booming in major urban centers everywhere.

That means curators of Van Nostrand's generation, even with solid academic records (she has a master's degree in contemporary art history from Richmond American University in London), have to make their own opportunities.

I would say this is probably a given for just about any urban center. The demand for professional positions in the creative industries will always outstrip the number of posts available. By highlighting the unusual and innovative practices of these young curators working on the fringes, the author of this article accentuates the fact that though these curators may not have top posts in museums or galleries, the exhibitions they are developing are professional grade.

"What it means to be a curator is more agile and open than it used to be," he [Fionn Meade] said. "Curatorial thinking crosses disciplines. The field benefits from what people from a range of backgrounds can contribute."

The very definition of "curator" is certainly more open than it used to be. At any rate, it will be interesting to follow the careers of these young curators and the artists they are selecting for their exhibitions. These qualities of openness and agility that they are demonstrating now will certainly be assets to them throughout their careers.