Week 3 – Collective: Co-Curation
Collective research:
Continuing on from class discussion surrounding the prevalence of artist & curatorial collective’s emerging prominence within the contemporary international sphere (such as the Dis Collective’s curation of the 2016 Berlin Biennale), I have begun to reflect on the possible ways to engage with the workshop collective group, especially as individual projects result in limited project collaboration in the realisation of an individual speculative project. Additionally, as independent research is required, the divergence into an extra disciplinary curatorial practice may inhibit discussion in comparison to a unified curatorial project.
Cultural democracy refers to the principle that everyone has the right to fully and freely engage with the cultured life of the community (Henley, 2018, p.1). This has become a primary goal throughout Contemporary Art curation, with the established curatorial turn directing exhibitions to a participatory, and audience focused methodology. Institutions have the chance to relinquish some of their cultural command, empowering the audience to have a role in democratically developing cultural and artistic theories (Nikonananou, and Misirloglou, 2023). Nickonananou and Mirsirloglou bring forth the idea of having a more democratic curatorial process, that encourages disagreement and alternative perceptions. In this logic the decision-making process is already a collective process facilitating the development of an exhibition to become a democratically and publicly definable, participatory experience. The pooling of knowledge, and the incorporation of perspectives uninfluenced by curatorial convention can aid in the overturning of Hegemonic exhibition hierarchies.
Though as a collective we are not working on the same project, the constructive development that can be gained by the incorporation of perspectives outside of our individual curatorial practice can facilitate the participatory direction of our curatorial projects and potentially offer a more experimental and nuanced Contemporary Art experience. In future workshops I shall encourage a critically engaging environment and seek targeted feedback, especially from individuals who focus on topics that have little in common with my own.
Bib:
Henley, D. (2018). Cultural Democracy In Practice. Artcouncil.
Nikonanou, N. and Thouli Misirloglou (2023). ‘Together We Curate’: Cultural Participation and Collective Curating. museum and society, 21(1), pp.31–44.
Radice, S. (2015).Design and participatory practices enhancing the visitor experience of heritage. New Trends in Museology, 3, pp. 252-63.
