Curator

A stranger in one’s own studio

“People talk about our common crisis, the crisis of these days.To say there is a crisis of singularity under spectacular democratic capitalism today is to realize that the more individual we make ourselves, the more alike we become. Not like someone in particular, just like. And in a time when the white male artist, for example, continues to align himself with all those forces that reduce his role to that of a regular freelance “creative” or symbol manager, a free agent loyal to no team, living from one deal to the next, working non-stop and often cynically under the sign of this crisis, we sometimes wonder why he doesn’t finally admit that he’s done for, or at least take a break. In art school they teach us how to show up in a field where artists have become as interchangeable as the things they make, a lesson in branding. But the practices that interest us now are those that embrace the condition of whateverness itself as an experimental possibility. There are moments when the only way to make something happen is to become a stranger in one’s own studio, in the very act of producing and in the face of our own products. Repetition can be a way of keeping this moment open, and so can interruption. Paintings without painters, painters without paintings.”

John Kelsey “My other Painting is a Car” in: Richard Prince ‘Canaries in the Coal Mine’, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, 2006

I’m just reading now ‘Curating Subjects’, and in first essay (by Andreasen&Larsen) is a proposition to consider a term ‘middleman’ instead of ‘mediator’ in the context of art word. In my opinion it brings mainly economic aspect in the foreground. The term ‘mediator’ (which btw is very often according to authors used by Obrist for his precursors, I assume before 90’) is charged with heroic connotations and a struggle to restore order (think ‘EU mediator’).

What does the curator do?

Typical work activities include:

• cataloguing acquisitions and keeping records;
• researching and writing catalogues;
• planning, organising, interpreting and presenting exhibitions;
• caring for the collection;
• negotiating loan items and funding;
• handling enquiries from researchers and the public;
• planning financial budgets;
• supervising staff and/or volunteers;
• giving presentations;
• talking to individuals and groups about exhibits;
• dealing with enquiries from a variety of clients;
• liaising with voluntary groups, the community (including schools, local history and other groups), industry, and grant agencies to secure sponsorship for events, publications and development projects;
• liaising with management boards, trustees and local council and political groups to secure ongoing support;
• networking with other museum and art gallery professionals and outside agencies, through meetings and collaborative projects