Curatorial Practice

The professional and creative work of curators in selecting, researching, interpreting, and presenting objects and ideas, and the evolving theory of 'the curatorial'.

Definition

Curatorial practice is the activity of conceiving, researching, and realizing exhibitions and displays, mediating between objects, institutions, artists, and audiences.

Scope

This topic covers what curators do across museums, galleries, and independent contexts: developing concepts, researching and selecting works, commissioning, and shaping the discourse around art and heritage. It addresses the historical rise of the independent and biennial curator, the distinction between curating and 'the curatorial' as a mode of knowledge production, and the ethics and labor of contemporary curatorial work.

Core questions

• What knowledge and skills does curatorial work require?
• How did the independent and 'auteur' curator emerge?
• What is the difference between curating and 'the curatorial'?
• What ethical responsibilities accompany curatorial authority?

Key theories

The curatorial turn

O'Neill describes a 'curatorial turn' in which curating became a recognized creative and discursive practice in its own right, with the curator emerging as an author-figure shaping contemporary art and its publics.

The curatorial as a way of thinking

Martinon and contributors distinguish 'the curatorial' — an open, philosophical mode of producing meaning and relations — from the practical task of curating exhibitions, treating it as a method rather than a job.

History

The curator evolved from the museum keeper and connoisseur into a distinct profession, then, from the late 1960s, into the independent organizer of exhibitions, with Harald Szeemann's 1969 'When Attitudes Become Form' often cited as a turning point. The proliferation of biennials and curatorial studies programs since the 1990s consolidated curating as a field with its own history, theory, and debates.

Debates

Curator as creator versus facilitator

There is ongoing debate over whether the contemporary curator should be understood as a quasi-artist authoring exhibitions or as a facilitator in service of artists, objects, and audiences, with implications for power and credit.

Key figures

• Hans Ulrich Obrist
• Paul O'Neill
• Jean-Paul Martinon
• Adrian George

Seminal works

• obrist2008brief
• okeeffe2012
• martinon2013

Frequently asked questions

What does a curator actually do?

A curator researches and cares for collections or selects works, develops the concept and narrative of exhibitions, chooses and arranges objects, writes interpretive material, and increasingly shapes public discourse and programming around them.

What is meant by 'the curatorial'?

'The curatorial' refers to curating understood as a broad, philosophical mode of producing knowledge and relationships, as opposed to the narrower practical task of organizing a specific exhibition.