How does contemporary curation “translate” traditional art?
Introduction
In the contemporary art context, curation is no longer a neutral act of display. Carolee Thea, in “On Curating”, defines the curator as a “mediator” and “translator”, a perspective that has profoundly influenced my thinking on curation. Curation establishes the conditions for viewing and understanding for reshaping the relationship between the audience and the work, thereby becoming a crucial mechanism for the production of meaning.
Curating as a form of feeling
From “Maintaining the Reality” to “Generating Understanding Methods”
Carolee Thea’s theory prompted me to shift the curatorial focus from “how to maintain the reality of traditional art” to “how to construct new perceptual and cognitive frameworks within contemporary contexts.” Consequently, rather than simply updating traditional art forms, I contemplate how to translate them through curatorial methodologies into cultural expressions that can be experienced by contemporary audiences.
Taking lacquer painting as an example:
time, materials, and the material practice of memory
The multiplicity of temporality in traditional craftsmanship
Take traditional Chinese lacquer painting as an example. The creation of this art relies on repeated applications of lacquer, polishing, and waiting, with colours gradually emerging through the sedimentation of time. This process, shaped by time, labour, and materials, makes lacquer painting not merely a visual image but rather a material practice that condenses memory and process.
How Contemporary Media Reorganizes Viewing Experience
Immersive Curation and Multisensory Experience
By introducing VR, sound, and immersive spaces, the curation constructs a new perceptual framework. Audiences can perceive the rhythm of repeated lacquer layer generation within the imagery and sound field, transforming the originally invisible production time into an experiential sensory dimension, thereby highlighting the multiple temporalities inherent in lacquer painting. These media serve as curatorial tools, breaking the singular visual viewing mode and facilitating the encounter between historical materials and contemporary perceptual experiences.
Call of Duty
If you are interested in the contemporary expression of traditional art (not limited to Chinese traditional lacquer painting), immersive curation, or cross-media practices, feel free to share, discuss, or contact me.
Conclusion
Curating is not a passive connection between the past and the present but rather an active act of “translation”. Through contemporary curatorial methods, traditional art can be reinterpreted within new perceptual frameworks, such as broussonetia papyrifera, and transformed into cultural practices that contemporary audiences can experience.
