I met Kate Strain and Rachael Gilbourne in the summer of 2012. They were both working on Conjuring for Beginners, where visual arts took over all of the spaces in Project Arts Centre. As they are now about to launch their new collaborative practice, I interviewed them on the various aspects of being a curator of visual arts.
What does a curator’s job involve?
KS: “Ultimately I see the curator as playing a key role in presenting art to a public, and in shaping the mode of presentation in a way that benefits both the artist and the audience. The job itself can involve many things – curators are context-makers, researchers, producers, instigators, administrators, facilitators, fundraisers, commissioners, organisers, interpreters, managers, historians, reporters, educators, agitators, respondents and so on.”
RG: “The job demands degrees of flexibility that allow you to juggle between practical and creative mindsets. Within this, I find that vision is paramount.”
How does a curator go about choosing works or inviting artists for an exhibition?
KS: “Curators tend to use different methodologies. Personally, I work in a project-responsive manner. A specific artist or artwork might often be a starting point for an exhibition. I think it’s important for curators to research as much as possible. Studio-visits are great ways to keep in touch with what artists are doing, and most curators would conduct these regularly.”
RG: “Curators often follow definite lines of enquiry and through them find opportunities to work with artists whose work resonates with their interest. In terms of the practical steps involved, a curator is often the one to approach the artist and/or their gallerist, but sometimes it happens vice versa, with an artist choosing a curator they’d like to work with and getting in touch.”
Where do ideas for exhibitions come from?
RG: “My ideas for exhibitions come in the same intuitive way as my ideas came as an artist, through a process of research and gestation, often crystallising just before sleep.”
KS: “For me, ideas for exhibitions come from questions. I find I will have something I can’t quite figure out, or something into which I feel I need to investigate further. In this way, events and exhibitions can act like responses to questions.”
Can placing an artwork in an exhibition with a strong leading concept change the way it is received and interpreted?
KS: “Absolutely. Placing an artwork amongst other artworks, against different backgrounds, and within other contexts changes the associations we are ready to make with said work. No work of art is immune to the circumstances of its display, yet almost every work of art must be displayed – in order to exist. And this holds true for visual arts across the board, equally so for traditional and contemporary art. Whether it’s a sixteenth century Dutch genre painting or Ryan Gander’s breezy contribution to Documenta 13, the context of how the work is presented and experienced still has an impact on how that work will be perceived, understood and remembered.”
RG: “I believe where there is a real meeting of minds between the artist and the curator, magic can happen.”
KS: “However, artworks are autonomous creatures. I don’t believe curating has the power to definitively redeem or destroy a solid work of art. I also think it’s necessary to maintain the distinction between curatorial and artistic practice. It is important to mark and remember particularly well-curated exhibitions, but as exhibitions, and not as artworks in and of themselves.”
Is being a curator a rewarding job?
KS: “Super rewarding. Perhaps not financially (yet), but certainly I think I have a wonderful life, and that’s because I’m doing what I’m passionate about.”
So finally, where does the idea for your collaborative practice come from, how will it work, and are you already planning a specific project?
RG: “KSRG/RGKS is a curatorial partnership that evolved out of myself and Kate’s working dynamic at Project Arts Centre throughout 2012. Since leaving Project, it felt like a natural progression to go on to work on independent collaborative projects. We share a common vision and ambition and know each other’s strengths. Within this, as paradoxical as it may sound, we come from different perspectives which I think heightens our co-authored ideas and adds interest both for ourselves and hopefully the organisations, artists and viewers we work with. Crucially, we’re able to be brutally honest with each other, which helps. In terms of projects, we’re brewing several ideas so to be totally twee about it – WATCH THIS SPACE.”
WORDS Gabija Purlyte
