The term curating has become employed to describe a quasi-artistic form of authorship in which an individual or group organise an exhibition of things (objects, images, sounds, performances,bodies, etc.) in order to suggest, illustrate or progress a concept. Over the last forty or so years, questions of the accuracy, viability, ethics and aesthetics of these exhibitions - and their publics - have become intrinsic to cultural debate, as the figure of the curator moves out of the shadows of the museological archive or repository and into the glare of gathered eyes. Much has been written about this history, and many curators, collaborating with artists, have sought to challenge assumptions about this new form of authorship,its politics and imagined socialites.
This seminar will investigate the process of curating through examining specific exhibitions (both contemporary and historical), attempting to bring a globalised and decolonising eye to the forms of agency that are assumed to exist and the voices that are enabled to speak through this form.
Sessions will take place on Teams. Please email Andrea andrea.phillips@northumbria.ac.uk for link.
The first seminar, 4 November, will discuss Documenta 15 (an exhibition spread across venues in Kassel, Germany) curated by the Jakarta-based collective Ruangrupa and called Lumbung
For session one, please read the following short texts:
· Documenta 15 review by Harry Burke, Artforum September 2022
After this, other members of the group can nominate exhibitions to discuss.
Please email andrea.pillips@northumbria.ac.uk with any questions.
