12 Apr 2010

OnCurating Issues 03 & 04 Out Now!

OnCURATING ISSUE 03: Curating Film

Seven interviews address the question as to what constitutes and characterizes each respective style of curatorial work with the moving picture. How can the specific spatial situation in the cinema be conceived as a space which evokes meaning in a special way, and what is the nature of the narrative break brought about by showing films in exhibition galleries? What are the specific ideological structures which distinguish these spaces?

'Curating Film' presents interviews with curators who work primarily with the format of film and/or video. These interviews were all conducted in May 2009 during the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival.

Interwievs with:
Ian White / Katerina Gregos / Gridthiya Gaweewong and David Teh / Mark Webber / Sheryl Mousley / Alice Koegel (in German) / Alexander Horwath (in German)

Concept, edit and interviews: Siri Peyer
Published by Dorothee Richter, Postgraduate Program in Curating, Institute Cultural Studies, Zürich University of the Arts
Supported by Postgraduate Program in Curating, www.curating.org, ICS, University of the Arts, Zürich, ZHDK and Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA)


OnCURATING ISSUE 04: The Political Potential of Curatorial Practise

Within the last few years, a displacement of power has taken place within the field of contemporary art. As the exhibition has come to be regarded as an utterance in its own right, authorial power is no longer considered the property of the artist alone, but as also belonging to the curator. As a consequence, an increasing number of contemporary exhibition-makers are utilizing their newfound power for political purposes, aiming to change societal structures through art.

Of course, political exhibitions can hardly be considered a new phenomenon. But the way today's curators express their political concern certainly is. Making use of processual means such as education, organized discussions, interventions, collaborative working methods and text production, they turn the curatorial strategies into meaningful and politically charged forms in their own right. But what is the critical potential of this new kind of curatorial practise? And is it at all in the power of the curator to change the world?

These questions will be approached in issue 04 of ON-CURATING.ORG through comprehensive interviews with curator and forthcoming artistic director of Documenta 13 Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Turin, Italy); curator, artist and writer Paul O'Neill (London, England); curator and critic Simon Sheikh (Berlin, Germany) and art historian Mary Anne Staniszewski (New York, USA).

Concept, edit and interviews: Gerd Elise Mørland and Heidi Bale Amundsen
Published by Dorothee Richter, Postgraduate Program in Curating, Institute Cultural Studies, Zürich University of the Arts
Supported by Postgraduate Program in Curating, www.curating.org, ICS, University of the Arts, Zürich, ZHDK and Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA)