My understanding of the content of the lecture and related literature

Curating in the Post-Media Age: The Challenges of Displaying Moving Images

In the post-media age, moving images, sound and performance have become the basis of contemporary exhibition-making. However, each of these practices has a distinct history, technical infrastructure and distribution system, and is often found outside the realm of traditional visual art. Meaningful curation of these practices today requires a reconsideration of the specificity of the medium, the exhibition context and the institutional framework. Historically, moving images has always been marginalised in museums. Erika Balsom notes that after the founding of the film library at the Museum of Modern Art in 1935, director Iris Barry described the relationship of film to the rest of the museum as ‘like that of an adopted child who has never been introduced to the family and has a somewhat tenuous position’ (Balsom et al., 2013, p. 56). This metaphor is a good illustration of the institution’s long-standing discomfort with film – a discomfort that did not begin to change until the 1990s when projection technology became central to gallery presentations. Integrating moving images into the gallery space required architectural and perceptual shifts. As Chrissie Iles puts it: ‘The gallery is like a blank screen onto which the shifting forms of visual culture are projected’ (Balsom et al., 2013, p. 58). This flexibility allows the gallery to accommodate both the temporal demands of filmic works and the spatial immersion of installation art, blurring the traditional boundaries between black box and white cube.

However, this fusion is complicated by the effects of digitalisation. While digital files are easily accessible, they also raise questions about objecthood, authenticity and value. Ben Cook of LUX comments, ‘the mere possession of a file seems to make the work lighter and less valuable’ (Cook et al., 2014, p. 74). This dematerialisation of works undermines curators’ efforts to maintain the original intentions of artists and risks reducing complex works to mere data streams. Moreover, the way artists’ moving images are presented reveals inequalities in access and preservation. Maeve Connolly notes that “it is indeed difficult to become truly familiar with these works without extensive travel or access to excellent documentation” (Balsom et al., 2013, p. 60). The lack of widespread institutional support to maintain screening environments and archival infrastructure has resulted in fragmented cultural memory, with only a few canonical works standing out. Curators must also contend with generational shifts in the way moving images are understood and consumed. As Lori Zippay of EAI notes, ‘We try to stay true to the artist’s intent. As we move into the digital world, things get very complicated because…people have different cultural understandings, perhaps intergenerational understandings, of how images are presented in the world’ (Cook et al., 2014, p. 75). This contradiction requires curators to balance accessibility with fidelity to the original context of production and exhibition.

In addition to institutional and technological considerations, there are also philosophical questions of interpretation. The film theorist Raymond Bellour famously argued that traditional film analysis had reached its limits: ‘The freeze frame brings the cinema closer to the book, like turning the pages’ (Bellour, 1985, p. 54). This metaphor is a good illustration of the challenge curators face today – how to ‘turn the pages’ of moving image works in an exhibition space and provide a framework for interpretation without flattening their complexity.

In short, in the post-medium age, curating time-based media is a task that must contend with historical exclusion, technological evolution, economic instability and changing audience expectations. It requires not only technical knowledge but also an ethical and critical sensitivity to the survival and continuation of moving images in the art world.

Reference List 
Bellour, R., 1985. Analysis in flames. Diacritics, 15(1), pp.52–56.

Balsom, E., Connolly, M. and Iles, C., 2013. Thoughts about curating moving images. Mousse Magazine, 38, pp.56–61.

Cook, B., Howes, L. and Zippay, L., 2014. Roundtable discussion: Distribution after digitization. Moving Image Review & Art Journal, 3(1), pp.73–81.

What should I do in curation when there is a video or film work?

Respect the original medium and presentation intentions of the work, for example, if it is 16mm film, a CRT monitor, or surround sound, it cannot be simply replaced with high-definition projection or an LCD screen. As Lori Zippay says: ‘A work made in 1970 […] changes the meaning when that work is shown on a flat screen.’ (Cook et al., 2014, p. 75)

Check the artist’s authorised display format and communicate with the artist or their agent to clarify the acceptable display format (e.g. whether loop playback is allowed, whether compressed formats are allowed, etc.). If it is an archival work, contact the original distributor (e.g. LUX, EAI) to obtain technical specifications and legal versions.
Accurately present the playback device, for example, if the work was originally designed to be viewed in a closed black box with the audience standing, it should not be displayed in an open space + seating mode.

2. Ethics and curatorial responsibility: Avoid ‘aggressive’ curation

The work is not a ‘material’ for curation, but a complete system. Erika Balsom emphasises that the curation of moving images is not about adding explanations, but about understanding the ‘ecology of the artist’s production structure’. Do not ‘edit’ the content or change the length of the work, unless you have explicit consent.

Transparent presentation of the playing and viewing mechanisms, explaining the playing mechanism and looping of the work, e.g. whether it is a narrative film with a ‘start/end’ or an installation work that can be entered at any time. As Chrissie Iles says: ‘The issue is not a matter of place but of time.’ (Balsom et al., 2013, p. 59) Time strategies determine how the audience can watch and understand the work.

Don’t let technical constraints overwhelm the work itself. If you can’t provide the original medium for display, don’t ‘make do’. Consider: showing documentary photos or documentation; explaining in the text why it cannot be reproduced as it is; inviting the audience to watch offline or providing scheduled screenings.
3. Curatorial strategy level: use images as a structure, not as decoration

Incorporate temporality into the curatorial structure design. Has the rhythm of the exhibition route been considered? Will the audience have time to stop? Will they be distracted by other installations? If a film is shown that is relatively long, are chairs provided? Is the playing time indicated?
Use curatorial texts to ‘decode’ the works for the audience. Explain in the wall text or in the brochure: ‘This work is designed to be viewed in full. Screenings begin on the hour.’ Or use Bellour’s concept of ‘freeze frame’ to explain: Our viewing in art museums does not necessarily pursue completeness, but a ‘free gaze’ (Bellour, 1985).

Avoid using the conventions of other art forms to mislead the curatorial structure. A moving image is not a painting, and it cannot be ‘looked at quickly’; nor is it equivalent to a documentary, whose ‘meaning’ often unfolds in a restrained rhythm and narrative.

Reference List 

Balsom, E., Connolly, M. and Iles, C., 2013.
Thoughts about curating moving images. Mousse Magazine, 38, pp.56–61.

Bellour, R., 1985.
Analysis in flames. Diacritics, 15(1), pp.52–56.

Week—8 Media & Time / Yilin Cong / Curating (2024-2025)[SEM2] by is licensed under a