Curatorial Intervention: History and Current Practices

Curatorial Intervention explores the dynamic roles of curators in shaping, mediating, and redefining the artist-audience exchange, challenging traditional theories of the art experience and proposing a new professional and operational model. It highlights the disenfranchisement of curatorial practice and the emergence of every act of discernment as curating, reasserting the dynamic roles between artist, curator, and audience, and between object, operation, and experience.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 148 pages
Publication date: 28 February 2023
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Curatorial Intervention: History and Current Practice is a comprehensive analysis of the dynamic roles curators play in shaping, mediating, and, at times, redefining the artist-audience exchange. The book focuses on contemporary curatorial practice and critically examines the ways in which curators impact artists' intentionality and how this alters audiences' experiences of reception. Through discussions with leading artists, curators, and arts administrators, Brett Levine proposes a new paradigm for defining and contextualizing curatorial practice, while exploring how the former dialectic of intention and reception is today defined by the triad of intention, intervention, and reception.

After situating the more traditional artist-audience relationship, Levine explores how extant theories of the art experience fail to either provide for curatorial practice or contextualize its operations while also overlooking questions of transparency, agency, and power. Offering a new professional and operational model, Curatorial Intervention highlights how the artist-curator and curator-audience relations displace and, at times, redefine the experience of works of art. In response to the disenfranchisement of curatorial practice and the emergence of every act of discernment being transformed into curating, the author reasserts the dynamic roles that exist between artist, curator, and audience, and between object, operation, and experience.

The book begins by tracing the history of curatorial practice, from its origins in the 19th century to its contemporary manifestations. Levine highlights the various roles that curators have played throughout history, including as gatekeepers, interpreters, and mediators of art. He also discusses the challenges that curators face in today's art world, such as the increasing commodification of art, the rise of digital media, and the changing nature of cultural institutions.

One of the key themes of Curatorial Intervention is the impact of curatorial practice on artists' intentionality. Levine argues that curators can have a significant impact on an artist's creative process, and that this can have a profound effect on the reception of their work. He provides examples of artists who have been influenced by curators, such as Marcel Duchamp, who was influenced by the curator Walter Pach's interpretation of his work, and Andy Warhol, who was influenced by the curator Alfred H. Barr's exhibition of his work.

Levine also discusses the ways in which curatorial practice can mediate the artist-audience exchange. He argues that curators can create spaces that are conducive to the reception of art, and that they can help to shape the way that audiences interpret and engage with art. He provides examples of curatorial projects that have been successful in this regard, such as the Museum of Modern Art's "The Artist is Present" exhibition, which featured a live performance by Marina Abramovic, and the Tate Modern's "Turner Prize" exhibition, which featured a retrospective of the work of Turner Prize-winning artists.

However, Levine also acknowledges the challenges that curatorial practice can pose to artists. He argues that curators can be overly prescriptive, and that they can limit the creative freedom of artists. He provides examples of artists who have been frustrated by curators, such as Banksy, who has been known to create street art that is removed by curators before it can be seen by the public.

In response to these challenges, Levine proposes a new paradigm for defining and contextualizing curatorial practice. He argues that curatorial practice should be seen as a form of artistic expression, and that it should be evaluated on its own terms. He also argues that curators should be more transparent about their intentions and their processes, and that they should be more accountable to their audiences.

One of the key aspects of Levine's new paradigm is the triad of intention, intervention, and reception. He argues that curatorial practice should be defined by the intention of the curator, the intervention of the curator in the art world, and the reception of the art by the audience. He argues that this triad should be dynamic and evolving, and that it should be shaped by the changing nature of art and culture.

Levine also provides examples of how curatorial practice can be used to address social and political issues. He argues that curators can use art to challenge power structures, to promote social justice, and to create a sense of community. He provides examples of curatorial projects that have been successful in this regard, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art's "Black Lives Matter" exhibition, which featured a series of works by black artists, and the Tate Modern's "Queer British Art" exhibition, which featured a retrospective of the work of queer British artists.

In conclusion, Curatorial Intervention: History and Current Practice is a critical analysis of the dynamic roles curators play in shaping, mediating, and, at times, redefining the artist-audience exchange. The book focuses on contemporary curatorial practice and critically examines the ways in which curators impact artists' intentionality and how this alters audiences' experiences of reception. Through discussions with leading artists, curators, and arts administrators, Brett Levine proposes a new paradigm for defining and contextualizing curatorial practice, while exploring how the former dialectic of intention and reception is today defined by the triad of intention, intervention, and reception. By reasserting the dynamic roles that exist between artist, curator, and audience, and between object, operation, and experience, Levine offers a new professional and operational model for curatorial practice that is more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the changing nature of art and culture.

Weight: 231g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 11 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538181409