Morgan Williams
We live in a highly curated world. Everything from dining experiences to health treatments, travel itineraries to supermarket salad kits, all lovingly curated by connoisseurs and aficionados with you top of their minds. The Australian Smelly Cheese Company even has a monthly subscription to their Cheese Dust which is “specifically curated to help you learn more about cheese, wherever you are”!
What’s this all got to do with art I hear you cry? A few months back I was talking about how marketing language often plunders terms from the art world; the word curation falls into this category. Much like the word bespoke, which was taken 20 years ago from fashion brands to mean custom-made anything, curated has only very recently been used to sell cheese and ready-made meals or salad kits.
Turn the clock back a few years and curated was always referring to how artwork was selected, placed, explained, or preserved in art galleries and museums. Conceiving a theme, inviting artists, thinking about historical or political context, perceived influences, unique perspectives, colour themes, stylistic considerations and more, are all part of the curator’s kit. And while some of these considerations might have relevance to cheese, or even the way food is presented, having them all aligned via the word curated to sell more products is questionable.
We might hold art curators somewhat to account for the transition of the meaning of their job title. The big blockbuster shows we all enjoy at places like the NGV are more heavily curated than ever before. I’ll never forget the moment, eight years ago, at the first Melbourne Triennial when visitors were invited to lie down on the floor and look up in a room filled with carpet by Argentinian artist, Alexandra Kehayoglou. Her breathtaking landscape was covering the floor, with an entirely mirrored roof, which made taking a selfie submerged in her landscape artwork of carpet so simple. It was a beautiful conception and a wonderful backdrop. This experience was the brainchild of the exhibition curators: allow people to become part of the art and share via their social media, to help promote the show.
You would now be hard-pressed to find an exhibition where you’re not invited to take pictures and share, tag, like, comment etc. Gone are the days of don’t touch, no photos, shhhh. Part of a curator’s job these days is to provide visitors with an opportunity to become part of the art. At the 2024 Triennial we were challenged to walk over the artworks by Farrokh Mahdavi to proceed to the next space. Galleries like Lume have become a stage all set for interaction, further blurring the boundaries between artist, viewer and engagement in our digital age.
We love a bit of curatorial exploration at Radius. While we don’t have the mega budgets of big galleries, we always have a fun time bringing art together for people to enjoy. The biggest challenge is often a large group show: telling a story via placement and grouping, exploring common threads or disparate messages, is often on our mind. Kim Percy does the bulk of this, as our gallery curator, with a few others behind the scenes.
Our next show, in October, will be the annual Swiss Italian Landscape Exhibition. It is always a curatorial challenge, bringing over 30 artworks together to tell a story about our region. Entries close 20th Sept, so still a few weeks to submit your entry. Don’t forget the last two weekends of August are Words in Winter, with a word-inspired exhibition and an art book / show on at Radius now, plus loads of literary events all around town. Follow the links on our site for these events and more. Lastly, please join us this Friday 22nd, for the festival launch at 5pm and exhibition openings at 6.30.
You won’t find any curated cheese boxes or bespoke salad kits at Radius, but there are plenty of opportunities around town for those things too, if that tickles your fancy!
Morgan Williams is the co-director with Kim Percy of Radius Art Space. His art practice spans a 30 year period and explores a diverse range of mediums and topics.
