Week10 Blog (3) ｜ Collective Curator Role Play
Character Sticky Notes
This role-play discussion was initiated and organised by me to explore in-depth the key issues in women-themed exhibitions, and could help students understand the main tasks of different roles in the curatorial process. Prior to the meeting, I organised a role draw for the participants through a group chat to ensure the fairness and plurality of the discussion, and I myself drew the role of AI algorithm representative.
Group members draw lots for roles
We chose two sharp questions for the discussion:
I. Issues of Male Artist and Audience Participation
In the course of the discussion, curatorial theory researchers emphasised that curating is not simply deciding who participates or what to show, but a structural act of selection. Independent curators, on the other hand, argue that exhibitions are not suitable for male artists because male creations can be too personal and intellectual, distracting from the safety of female spaces. The community organisers further pointed out that the core of female-themed exhibitions is to provide a real space for the oppressed party to have a voice, and that this right should be protected.
🌟As a representative of AI algorithms, I provided data-based analyses in the discussion, pointing out the positive and negative impacts of inviting male viewers to participate in feminist exhibitions, and highlighting specific strategies for ratio control and interaction management.
II The Applicability of Controversial Artworks: Premium Economy
TANK Shanghai. (2025). Anna Uddenberg: Premium Economy.
The discussion around Anna Udenberg’s work Premium Economy was particularly heated. Among others, community organisers and disability arts advocates expressed concerns that the work might exacerbate women’s negative experiences of being viewed. Critics, however, emphasised the critical and ironic value of the work, arguing that the key is to effectively guide the viewer to understand the true intent of the work.
🌟As a representative of the AI algorithm, I again provided relevant data to support my argument, noting that the work was able to heighten discussion, but suggesting that the curatorial text be clarified to reduce the risk of audience misinterpretation.
Conclusion
The overall curatorial process requires curators to focus on ethical responsibility and audience experience to avoid re-enforcing symbols that objectify women. In addition, a clear critical guide and viewing path, as well as rich background information, can help to ensure the psychological safety of the audience and enhance the critical depth of the exhibition.
As the initiator and organiser of this discussion, I am deeply aware that curating is a narrative art as well as an art of responsibility. We must constantly ask: ‘Who is telling the story? And who is being told?’
Reference
- TANK Shanghai. (2025). Anna Uddenberg: Premium Economy. Retrieved from http://www.tankshanghai.com/en/exhibition/info124.htm
2 replies to “Week10 Blog (3) ｜ Collective Curator Role Play”
Leave a reply to s2648436
Your week seven to ten blog posts document the further refinement of your ideas in relation to your Speculative Independent Curatorial Project, alongside some reflection upon your activities in and around the Collective Space.
You introduce some exhibitions you have found interesting, like Portia Zvavahera’s Zvakazarurwa, and this shows a degree of self-organising. However, I would like to see more focus given to the curation than the artworks. For example, commentary on the artist’s use of visuals and symbols—what we would describe as a ‘formalist analysis’—is less relevant to this course than the curatorial framework. To think about curation, you might ask questions like how did the show fit with the organisation’s wider programming? What relevance did the show have to this place and moment? How did the use of interpretation / labels help to develop a narrative?
I would like to see some continued engagement with relevant critical theory (i.e. writing) in your SICP proposal. You have done very well to identify relevant thought in the work of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Pauline Oliveros, and in Bodies of Sound, and you should now consider how these ideas (amongst others) will help to inform the curatorial decision-making which gives shape to your project.
You have continued to develop your consideration of practicalities for the SICP proposal, including developing plan for layout, safety, and equipment. These are positive steps though be careful with double-checking the details: Listen Gallery is not in the west end at all, nor is it near GSA. It is in the east end, in quite an industrial area. Next, consider how all the decisions you make will support of your curatorial aims: how does each element add to the overall enquiry? How do different parts relate or differ? What does bringing them together do?
Thank you for the detailed feedback! In response, I’ve revisited both my blog reflections and curatorial proposal with a greater emphasis on curatorial thinking . For instance, rather than focusing solely on the symbolic elements in Portia Zvavahera’s work, I will consider how her exhibition Zvakazarurwa fit within the gallery’s wider programming, how it responded to the current socio-political climate in the region, and how interpretive strategies shaped the viewer’s experience. This shift may allow me to think more critically about how exhibitions function as situated interventions, not just collections of artworks.
For my SICP, Echoes of Silence, I’m continuing to build a curatorial framework grounded in feminist sound theory. The work of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Pauline Oliveros and Bodies of Sound has been instrumental not only in shaping the thematic content but also in informing curatorial strategies—such as using embodied listening (Oliveros) to structure audience experience.
Thanks for you corrected the mischaracterisation of Listen Gallery’s location. I now understand that the gallery is situated in the East End of Glasgow, in an industrial area. So, I’m thinking about how the gallery’s industrial context creates a deliberate contrast with the domestic themes in my exhibition—drawing attention to how women’s private experiences are often displaced or rendered invisible in public and institutional spaces.
Moving forward, I am critically reflecting on how each design element—layout, audio, interpretive material, and transitions between zones—contributes to the exhibition’s central inquiry. And thinking about: How do the different parts communicate with or challenge each other? What emotional and conceptual trajectory is created when they are brought together? This approach helps ensure that each curatorial decision reinforces the overall intention of Echoes of Silence as a feminist, spatial, and sonic inquiry into silencing within the family.