During the Art Departmentâs trip to The Met in NYC this past November 2nd, I found several interesting books in the gift shop. The book I decided to read first is Curationism : How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else by David Balzer.
With the hectic nature of mid-semester, I havenât gotten very far into it, yet. However, Balzer presents some pretty interesting ideas right from the start.
In Part 1: Value, Balzer begins by discussing how the act of arrangement and editing is universally common but infinitely variable, which has a lot of truth to it. Throughout my research and study of curation this past semester, I have learned that curation is arguably itâs own medium. Just as every artist is variable in their use of materials and tools, each curator is variable in their selections, their tools, their organization, their writings, etc.
He then uses a quote from British art writer Kenneth Clark in which he refers to art collecting as âa biological function, not unrelated to our physical appetites.â Balzer then analyzes how many others in the past have tried to study a physical pattern in the nature of collection and curation. Itâs a very eye opening suggestion to think that art collecting is something embedded within us like natural selection, only the fittest will survive. Iâm pretty new and still semi-unfamiliar with the world of art collection, but I always imagined collection to be survival of the fittest bank account. Now Iâm starting to question the whole nature of why we choose the artistic paths we choose. Many curators are also artists, so what makes them have such a higher regard for collecting art rather than committing solely to their own art? I somewhat did the same thing. I can make art, I love painting architecture with ink and watercolor and Iâve always had a passion for photography, but something within me would rather work with famous artworks instead of my own.
Iâm definitely looking forward to seeing what else this Balzer is going to dive into, Iâll try to keep you all posted! If you would like to purchase the book, itâs MSRP is $13.95 and it is sold on Amazon.
For anyone on campus or close to the Scranton area, feel free to check out the Zeta Omicron exhibition until 11/17! I have 2 pieces on exhibit as well as some fantastic pieces from my fellow Zeta Omicron members.
Thanks always for the read, feel free to leave me comments below!
P.S. Enjoy some photos from the NYC trip below!
Shelby, Arts Administration, tells us about some great books she picked up during a trip to The Met in "Curationism" During the Art Department's trip to The Met in NYC this past November 2nd, I found several interesting books in the gift shop.
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After centuries of slaving away in the shadowy alcoves of museums, libraries, and archives, curators are finally having their 15 minutes in the spotlight â or so says David Balzer, author of Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else (published by Coach House Books and Pluto Press). As is generally the case with fame, however, it comes with a price, and hopefully itâs not as high as your soul.
David Balzerâs new book is about the rise of the celebrity curator in the art world and the turn of regular people to curating â whether that means programming a music festival or building a sock puppet collection. Block magazine is beautiful, limited-edition and a bit hard to find outside Toronto, so I've posted this roundtable interview with their permission.Â
DAVID BALZER: In the art world, everyone looks down their noses at people in popular culture who call themselves curators. My idea is that thereâs more in common between those who call themselves Twitter curators and those who call themselves museum curators than you would initially think.â
SOPHIE HACKETT: One of the most common questions I heard when I was hired at the AGO was, âWhat do you actually do?â Everyone knows what Iâm doing when Iâm working on an exhibition; itâs less clear in the months leading up to it and after.â
First published as âObject Lessonsâ in Block (Spring 2015).
DB: Fan the Flames: Queer Positions in Photography is a project that recently put you, Sophie, in the forefront as a curator, culling works from various time periods and things that youâve been interested in throughout your career. It put you in the ambassadorial role of the star curatorâyou became the spokesperson for the exhibition.Â
SH: Fan the Flames was an exhibition I put together on the occasion of WorldPride of work from the AGO collection but also from other artists and collections in the US and Canada. It put forward queer positions in photography, video and film and other ephemera, like the famous Vanity Fair magazine with Herb Rittsâ photograph of k.d. lang and Cindy Crawford. That show was exciting because it felt timely for the city. It was a risk for the institution, and yet it felt like something we should do. As a curator, I see myself as a sort of public servantâto make art open and relevant to as many people as possible.Â
NICHOLAS MELLAMPHY: Was the show successful?Â
SH: People did come. It was well frequented. â
DB: Institutions can use curating to show enlightenment and forward thinking. A
show like Fan the Flames is a way for the AGO to say, âWeâre part of World Pride.â And thatâs the performance aspect of curation. I talk about it in my bookâthe curator as agent, ambassador, organizer, facilitator and provocateur.â
NM: I donât feel like a curator, although I guess I do curate the collections that I buy. For me, itâs more organic. I think a curator is building a thesis. Iâm not doing it at that levelâobviously, I want to make sure that a collection is going to make sense grouped together, that it tells a sort of storyâbut Iâm not picking things to be smart.â
SH: What does that mean, to âtell a storyâ in retail?Â
NM: I try to celebrate the creative process of the designer. For me, itâs important that when I present their collections, designers can still see fragments of their original thoughts. I want to see the pieces that excite their makers. Iâm sure itâs the same way when you curate shows. You need to make it exciting for the audience. In retail, itâs often said that the customer is always right. We know that the customer is not alwaysright. Customers are coming to you almost to challenge their ideas about what is beautiful or about what they want.â
DB: The Starbucks Hear Music label is an incredibly curatorial gesture. Bookstores, too, are doing what Starbucks is doing, in a larger sense. Indigo is half books ...Â
NM: ... and blankets!â
DB: Even Type, an independent bookstore in Toronto, offers cute tote bags and postcards. You canât just sell a book anymore. You have to sell the culture of the consumer who buys the book.
SH: I think such gestures are extensions of an experience we create in our minds as customers. Indigo is offering all the things you think you need to read. Thatâs a way that curatorial practice has gone. Retail environments have infiltrated the sensibility of an art fair like Art Basel Miami, which is a form of art-world Fashion Week.â
DB: Capitalism is driven by newness, right? Whatâs new and whatâs hot. The art world is, too. Maybe curating, or the acceleration of our interest in curating, is a symptom of the recession. Curating hit the retail market hard about 10 years ago; we saw that with concept stores. With less money, your choices have to be more meaningful, and businesses have to perform more aggressively to attract consumers. I donât think we know what comes after this hyper-curated existence. Maybe I love Moby Dick, but itâs not enough; I need a T-shirt of the vintage cover of Moby Dick to proclaim my love. I think weâve reached a saturation point in terms of how much we can articulate our identities through consumerism.â
SH: Maybe originality is no longer the primary goal. I love the way that you ended your book: âCurationism, it seems, has forgotten the very root of âcuratorâ: cura or care and, by extension, genuine curiosity.ââ
NM: There are way too many influences out thereâmaybe thatâs why there isnât as much originality. There used to be those original kids who would go and do what they wanted,but now everyone has access to whatâs happening in all the corners of the earth. Thereâs so much openness to different ideas, itâs hard to see that one person going in his or her own direction. When you see that, you go, âWow, this personâs doing something interesting.ââ
DB: Maybe weâve reached a point where itâs become simpler âwhere rather than paying attention to trends, itâs okay just to say, âThat looks really good on you.â I feel like we live in a very freeing time. Thereâs so much noise that itâs like thereâs no noise.â
David Balzer is the author of Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else. Sophie Hackett is Associate Curator of Photography at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Nicholas Mellamphy is a vice-president at Hudsonâs Bay and the buying director for The Room.
The insularity of the contemporary artworld is a fact. True criticism wants to open things up, but there needs to be an audience to bear witness to this, and right now it is, rather unfortunately, the closed artworld itself. The critic has become marginalized because the art audience is marginalized. Criticism is not curating; it is responsive, reactive. Its worth depends on what it discusses. Good art, indeed good thinking (i.e., by inquisitive readers and viewers), is the basis of good criticism. As Canadian critics, we're doing the best we can under difficult circumstances.
Sky Goodden's Q&A with critic/writer David Balzer.
Balzer will be speaking at UWO's Visual Arts Department as part of this semester's Art Now! Speaker Series, Freedom! (FREEDOM!??) on February 26th at 7pm. We have copies of his recent book, Curationism, in stock here at DNA. Get it before the talk!
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A new contemporary art publication helmed by Sky Goodden just launched today and I'm pleased to be one of the first contributors, but even more pleased to be in such excellent company. I encourage you to check out the contributions from Joseph Henry, Clint Burnham, Caoimhe Morgan-Feir, Colin Perry, Andre Berardini, and Sky herself. Much more to come soon!
Admission for all Conversations in Contemporary Art events is FREE and open to the general public.Seating is first come, first serve.  Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The lectures will be held in English.
David Balzer is a Winnipeg-born, Toronto-based author, editor and teacher. He has written about art, film and culture for The Believer, the Globe and Mail, Modern Painters, Hazlitt, Artforum.com and others. His first book, a collection of short fiction entitled Contrivances, was released in 2012, and featured illustrations by Marcel Dzama, Janet Werner, Margaux Williamson and others. His new book is Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else. He is currently associate editor at Canadian Art magazine.
Everyone, it seems, is now a curator. In our daily lives, we engage with any number of digital entities that require us to pick and choose, creating playlists and âlikesâ that are carried over, algorithmically, into future picking and choosing. Boutiques and chain stores alike tout curated aesthetics, for which products, employees and store designs are tailor-made and âexperiential.â In the art world, since the 1990s, curators have shaped visions of large institutional shows and international biennials, acting powerfully as arbiters, tastemakers, advisors and ambassadors.
David Balzerâs new book Curationism looks at the origins and nature of this mania for curating, drawing distinct parallels between the art world and popular culture. Where did curating come from? How can it be related to our understanding of the avant-garde, of value-making and of work? Have we reached a âcurationistâ saturation point, in which contemporary curatingâs many paradoxes and paranoias have led its own undoing?
Performer Lauren Bride reads from âCygnusâ at the May 11, 2012 launch party for the short-story collection Contrivances by David Balzer. Venue: The White House Studio Project, Toronto. Video: Basil AlZeri.
