The word curator comes from the word Curare, a Latin word meaning to take care, whereas it is now recognised in the Oxford dictionary as ‘A keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection'(Oxford University Press, 2014). This topic of Artist as Curator is becoming more known and further discussed, with university courses now teaching Curation, or in our case at PCA ,the role of Artist as Curator within Ba (hons) Fine Art, Critical and Curatorial Practices. The discussion leads us to question whether the two are different and how this affects authorship and hierarchy.
Throughout my degree I have developed the curatorial within my practice, this ranges from the curatorial decisions I have made when displaying my installation to group projects where I have collaboratively Curated others work. Alongside this I have been very keen to greater my understanding of these roles and other’s opinions on these too. An example of this is the texts within Mouse Magazine, a discussion of the role of Artists as Curator, edited by Elena Filipovic. The magazine discusses various elements of curating including its development from the history of curating and it’s realisation in the present.
An Example of a well known ‘super curator’ is Hans Ulrich Obrist. Obrist is an illustration of a Curator that classes his practice as artistic. Obrist explains the need for curation and how this element is what finalises artwork to an exhibition.
‘Today, curating as a profession means at least four things. It means to preserve, in the sense of safeguarding the heritage of art. It means to be the selector of new work. It means to connect to art history. And it means displaying or arranging the work. But it’s more than that. Before 1800, few people went to exhibitions. Now hundreds of millions of people visit them every year. It’s a mass medium and a ritual. The curator sets it up so that it becomes an extraordinary experience and not just illustrations or spatialised books.’ (Obrist, 2014)
Personally since the beginning of our Curatorial sessions within my Fine Art degree and through various visiting lectures and reviews. I alongside the remainder of the curatorial pathway have realised the importance of curation and how approaching this can strengthen an artistic practices’ concept. This experience has enhanced my knowledge of contemporary art, and allows me to critically asses exhibitions and how curation may or may not affect the work that is being exhibited.
When reviewing authorship of exhibitions a good example of an influence is Hans Ulrich Obrist, he believes that as a curator he is there to be a equal partner in the final exhibition this allows us to remove all sense of hierarchy and see the exhibition as a collaboration of artistic practice. This is how I would like to further my curatorial practice. Personally, I have had a lot of experience working with galleries, whilst working as a project assistant at KARST not once have I felt that my work their was undermined and collaboratively we work as a team to produce exhibitions and to contribute to the smooth running of the space. Within my role I often get the opportunity to assist artists in the technical side of building and realising their work for an exhibition. Within this environment I have never felt subject to hierarchy and feel this is the atmosphere that is needed in contemporary society. It is for this reason that I aim after completion of my degree to continue to work within arts institutions within Plymouth in an attempt to fund my own practice.
When discussing the label of Artist as Curator, it is still under major debate due to previous ideas of art and curating throughout history, in some ways I can refer back to an Artist talk I visited at PAC Home, where Carl Slater explained that he would refer to himself as a Maker, he makes exhibitions and he make artwork, whilst being the co-director of KARST.
I am an Artist, I am a Curator, I am a Maker, I am Jem.
References
Curator. (2014). In: Oxford University Press, 1st ed. [online] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/curator [Accessed 3 Jun. 2014].
Theartistascurator.org, (2014). The Artist as Curator. [online] Available at: http://www.theartistascurator.org/ [Accessed 5 Jun. 2014].
Obrist, H., Jeffries, S. and Groves, N. (2014). Hans Ulrich Obrist: the art of curation. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/23/hans-ulrich-obrist-art-curator [Accessed 4 Jun. 2014].
Artist As Curator 