In part I asked because I too have faced the same question... but I
have in many ways always attempted to include actual 'curated'
components into the new media symposiums i have co-organised. For
instance, having Brian Duffy do workshops and performances and ending
the day with an extended set by Rupert Huber at BALTIC last November,
in tandem with the data-based art conference, felt like an integral
part of the thinking which led to the panels in the first place.
In many ways it is simply doing what the festivals (Ars Electronica,
DEAF, ISEA, etc.) do so well -- curate shows and have a conference
component -- but in reverse (and on a smaller one or two-day scale).
Similarly, when invited to 'curate' a component of a summit or
symposium at Banff recently
(http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/program.aspx?id=141) I found myself
adopting a very time-based, presentation mode, not unlike the 'show and
tell' that has become a part of the new media art festivals. I took
over a room (not a gallery space) and screened single channel works
over a five day period. a mini exhibition. sort of. I don't think there
is any doubt that Sara Diamond is a curator of the New Media
Institute's Summits. But then, it's been said, she's a curator of
people (some of them who are themselves curators). I digress.
However, i can see Barnaby's point about being a freelancer and thus
being self-defined in separation from the institution supporting the
project. It is curious that this is communicated by the term curator
and not by the term organiser?
It brings us back to the question of institutional engagement in new
media art, and that often, it is easier to curate new media art
projects in through the door of the education or public programmes
department than it is through the curatorial/collections/exhibitions
department......
sarah
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