[curatorial.net] beginning on line discussion

[Joasia]

Dear All, 

It was only going to be a very short post to introduce Zhang Wei while at
the same time continuing this discussion but I found myself writing this
rather long response. Apologies for the length of this post that I realise
is not exactly suitable for the medium...

Like many people who responded to Paul¹s first post I also see the use of
certain terminology in the field of curating problematic.  And I cannot help
but turn again to artistic field when historically we might have been
dealing with a similar issue -  an endless attempts to replace the term
Œartist¹ or Œartistic practice¹ with other terms like Œproducer¹, or much
more recently Œco-pro-sumer¹, etc on one hand, and with an over use of these
terms on the other hand.  Similarly with curating, there seems to be a
certain reluctance to use the term (which is what I think Corolyn indicated
in her posting) and simultaneously the tendency to apply the term to a range
of practices that far exceed the orthodox use of the term.

However, my problem is not with the term curating per se but with the term
Œproducer¹ as it was suggested on this List. Even if derived from
benjaminian tradition it appears to be hugely limiting at this point in time
for at least two reasons. Firstly, it seems to fail to account for a range
of contemporary forms of curatorial practice that go beyond two-way only
relationship (producer-consumer/user) and that are more distributed and
participatory (rather that centralised or even decentralised to draw an
analogy to Paul Baran¹s models of network of 1964) none the least because
they involve technological networks. To me, the term seems to suggest a
positioning of curating as extracted from the wider system within which it
operates and is part of, or at best it suggests an understanding of the
system as closed rather then open. This brings me to the second point on how
the use of the term Œproducer¹ seems to firmly situates curating within an
economic model (I think this is what Geoff might have pointed out in his
post) that assumes instrumentalised view of cultural production/value.

As a side comment - I found etymological sense of the term curating helpful
and I thank Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker for bringing this to my
attention. To Œcurate¹ derives from the Latin Œcurare¹ ­ to care (for
something or someone).  Similalry, curator derives from the Latin Œcuratus¹
(a curate) and in a literally refers to Œa person who is invested with the
care, or cure (cura) of souls of a parish¹. In their essay ŒOn Misanthropy¹
(of 2006), Galloway and Thacker emphasise the etymological relationship in
this way:
ŒThe act of curating not only refers to the selection, exhibition, and
storage of artifacts, but it also means doing so with care, with particular
attention to their presentation in an exhibit or catalogue. Both ³curate²
and ³curator² derive from the Latin curare (to care), a word, which is
itself closely related to cura (cure). Curate, care, cure.¹ (2006: 160)

With the proliferation of curating (and curators) from the 1980s onwards and
with the emergence of far more diverse descriptions of curating ­ it is
simply that more Œcare¹ is needed in contemporary forms of curating and in
the way the term itself is applied?

Interestingly, Judit suggested an opposition between Œinstitutional¹ and
Œindependent¹ curating with the latter described as creative and critical
practice that often takes collaborative and experimental forms. And yes, an
immediate example that comes to mind is the term  Œtactical curating¹ used
by the independent curator Roger McDonald (of Arts Initiative, Tokyo) to
refer to the peculiar characteristics and advantages of operating
independently (and making reference to Œtactical media¹). But  I am
wondering whether such dichotomy is particularly productive. What of the
entire spectrum of idiosyncratic methodologies for curating being developed
regardless of whether an individual curator is or is not attached to an
institution?

This question brings me to an example of Vitamin Creative Space (
http://www.vitamincreativespace.com/) in  Guangzhou, China run by Zhang Wei
who is currently undertaking a curatorial residency (as part of the
Curatorial Network programme) hosted by Relational and Arnolfini in Bristol
(UK). I have invited  Zhang Wei  to this List and one of the issues she
highlights in relation to her own institution is (to paraphrase) how Vitamin
Creative Space as an institution  can create an alternative model in the
global context; and Œhow the commercial art gallery can be transformed into
an art institution, which can make the institution more independent¹.

With this question I leave it to Zhang Wei to follow.

greetings
joasia


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