The Art of Curatorship

Fascinating discussion at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival between between Charles Saumarez Smith, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy and Julia Peyton-Jones, co-director of the Serpentine Gallery discussing the role of a curator. It was chaired by Dinah Casson, a designer of museum spaces.

There was much talk about the misuse of the word curator and how other disciplines are starting to use it eg the idea of curating a menu. They saw it as the bringing together objects and arranging them in a space, often having to arrange to borrow the objects. They also looked at the two types of curators in museums and galleries those who look after the core collection and those who put on exhibitions and how these are often different groups of people.

They discussed how museums and galleries brought together their programmes and the advantages and disadvantages of long lead up times.

They also discussed what they felt had boosted the current interest in contemporary art siting the Frieze show of 1989, opening of Tate Modern and the Young British Artists movement as drivers.

 

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