Hello everyone,
Thanks to Beryl for inviting me to join the discussion. Apologies for not
contributing sooner.
A quick introduction: I'm currently working as Curator [New Media] at FACT
in Liverpool. Before that I was a writer/curator/artist in Austin, Texas,
where I wrote for the Austin Chronicle & Alternet.org, and worked with
Cinematexas Film Festival.
There have been some interesting points raised so far in this thread. I
think we can all agree that the most important of these is the revelation
that Beryl spends a lot of her life putting the word curator into 'personal
dictionaries'. Thanks, Beryl: you've singlehandedly brought a new level of
recognition to the entire field.
The interesting thing about the model of curator-as-curate is that it
suggests a sort of top-down organisational scheme. The curate derives
her/his position from God; the curator from... somewhere up there between
Lacan and the Arts Council? Anyway, if this is where we're coming from, we
might deserve brad brace's flamebait.
There's an argument going around which says that informal networks are more
inherently democratic and collectively intelligent than the
curator/institution model, and that they support artists much more
effectively.
hmm, I'll buy that. Here's to totalitarianism!
Michael Connor
--
Curator [New Media]
FACT, the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology
88 Wood Street
Liverpool, L1 4DQ
t: + 44 (0)151 707 4444
t: + 44 (0)151 707 4400 (direct)
f: + 44 (0)151 707 4445
www.fact.co.uk
VIDEO ART GETS THE FUNK
Isaac Julien's Baltimore. Gallery 1 until 27 April.
Alfred Hickling says "Isaac Julien's cinematic installation Baltimore,
specially commissioned for the centre's opening, provides a stunning
showcase for its phenomenal technical resources. Yet it also has the
ambition and intelligence to elevate film installation to the level of
history painting."
The Guardian, February 28, 2003
Read the full five star review at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,904508,00.html
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