This and That
Eileen Sommerman & Alice Vergara
This and thatNow a singular figure in the art world, the curator was first an agent at the service of artists — a caretaker of their work, of their integrity and their meaning. The circulation of contemporary art presented him/her with an opportunity to climb the symbolic ladder to become a “maker of exhibitions” as an enviable model, or a “creator of exhibitions” as a generic horizon. It also increased the exhibition of artwork at huge events, where the public is informed of the name and intentions of the organizer-creator in the same way as the participants-artists. Which isn’t enough to bring viewers closer to art. In other contexts, we think about (and expect) the cross-disciplinary role the curator plays in generating and transmitting the experience and knowledge of art. One phase in increasing the status of the multiple functional and intellectual capacities of the curator is opened by the economic change in culture and education in a globalized world.
