Week1 | Critical assessment of the ‘major’ and ‘minor’ curatorial approaches
18 January 2022
Major’s exhibition. I immediately thought of the Venice Biennale, which is recognised as the carnival of the art world.
‘Major’ curatorial approaches seem to me to be the curatorial approach to large, high-impact exhibitions. Given that the major curatorial approach was essentially developed from the national fairs (Massimiliano Gioni), large and comprehensive may have been its original aim. Such an exhibition could have a significant impact on society, both culturally and economically.
Yet the huge social impact may allow the exhibition to curtail and deplete its own possibilities for radicalism, as Charles Esche says, ‘It mimicked a capitalist consumer situation with the curator as CEO and the artists as the products, reducing the possibility of the artist’. When the artist creates for the curator, then the exhibition is nothing more than a marketing exercise.
‘Minor’ curatorial approaches is a curatorial practice that argues for a corresponding local context. Perhaps it also has the effect of avoiding the inflation of curatorial discourse.
Minor’s exhibition reminds me of an exhibition of old objects from my home town. (The exhibition organiser collects discarded objects from the city and displays them to share the city’s past)
Minor’s exhibition shows the fusion of art and life, where art is being ‘transferred into the practice of life’ (Prter Burger). It is an alternative exhibition, it may not be considered innovative, but I think it embodies a ‘Minor’ approach to curating.
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