Questionaire

What do you understand by the term curation?
What has been your foremost source of information on curation? (eg. Lectures, books, galleries, residency programs etc)
In your opinion, how does a curator add at an artists’ expression and work in an exhibition?
What has been the best curated show you have seen, and what are the reasons you rate it as best? (example catalog text, display design, combination of works, etc)
If you were out in the position of a curator, what would your first exhibition be about?
What do you think are the main differences between a curated show, and a generally grouped or organized show?


Curation according to me is the art of presenting art. It is an artistic practice where objects of art are the medium. Curation as a function is a bridge that links artists and the market to bring about a fruitful exchange between the two that is mutually beneficial and satisfying. Curation gives/finds the context where the selected pieces of art thrive as a unit. A curator is the architect of a show.
Interactions/ discourses with art theoreticians, lectures by art critics, books such as “ An Introduction to Contemporary Art “ (Oxford Press) have been the primary source of information for me. Galleries surprisingly have not been a great resource on the subject of curation.
A curator raises an artwork to another level of impact through strategic positioning and presentation. A curator places an artwork into a larger context where it comes alive. When uninitiated viewers (not just any but the targeted ones) begin to get involved in art through what a curator has orchestrated, it’s a great success. A curator fills in the missing elements through articulations that bring the artwork to its full potential.
I have not been very impressed by the curated shows I have seen so far in galleries here. In fact I have found some artworks having intense curatorial skills involved in their production than entire shows have had. For instance, a graphic novel produced by an outgoing student as her annual show project display great skills of curation in terms articulation/ communication and display. Her little illustrations just came alive through the novel.
If I had to curate a show now it would be about the ironies and idiosyncrasies of the art industry. It would be a satire that would capitalize on the history of satire in art since the last two centuries and how much more seriously it repeats itself today. It would be a show on the truth that there is too much parading as the truth in art.
A curated show has a lot of thinking and strategizing that goes into it. The artworks selected need to be intense and authentic as well as have a demand in the market. A generally grouped show is just like any exhibition of products. It gives no exclusivity to art as something more than a commodity.

Neha Jiandani