Curation

A curator is often employed by a museum or gallery, but may also be freelance. The role of a curator is to manage a collection of artworks or artefacts. This management includes; acquiring (buying/sourcing) new artworks for the collection, caring for and archiving the collection, arranging the collection and often creating informative and educational materials about the collection for the public.

Although all of these things are part of the role, the main thing people think of when referring to a curator is the displaying and arranging of artworks. Every exhibition has a curator, who will choose where each artwork goes, and the order they go in - whether it is chronological or arranged by materials or themes and will also decide what the overall theme of the exhibition is. Some well-known curators have their unique and recognisable style and are chosen by museums for that.

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 was an exhibition at Tate Modern in 2017.

This exhibition was curated by Zoe Whitley, PhD. Whitley is the Curator of International Art at Tate Modern.

Click here to watch the exhibition trailer

The exhibition showed work from over 60 artists who made work over two decades (1963-1983). The exhibition explored how the civil rights movement in America influenced art and how art influenced the movement.

What would be the biggest challenge in curating an exhibition showing work from such a long period? (20 years)
Watch the exhibition trailer and read more about the show here. What did the curator want to convey to the viewers? What was her aim?
The exhibition showed paintings, sculptures and artefacts, including letters and magazines. What challenges might occur when curating an exhibition with a variety of works?
The curator chose to order the exhibition chronologically (in order by dates the works were made). How else could a large and varied exhibition with works from different artists be ordered?
What skills do you think are needed to be a successful curator?

Interested in Curation? Complete one of the tasks below:

Create a themed exhibition

Collect a minimum of 5 objects from your house which fit into a theme (for example, ‘2000-2010’, ‘blue’, ‘religion’, ‘investigating nature’, ‘Autumn’, ‘friendship’ etc.)
Write a description for each item. This will be what’s written on the wall plaque next to the item in the museum. Include a description of what the item is and how it fits into the theme, the date it’s from, where it was collected/found/bought/made, what material it is made from
Take a photo of each item against a blank background
Consider how you will order your exhibition. Will it be chronologically, by colours, size, and materials or how else could it be ordered?
In a Google doc make an exhibition catalogue. This is a neat document titled with the name of your exhibition, includes a description of the theme and then has a list of images in order of how you have chosen to display them. Beside each image will be the text you have written about them.
Extension: clear a space in a corner of a room in your home and physically display the items, they could be on the wall or tables or stools or displayed on the floor. Make a video tour of your exhibition.

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