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Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else

By (author) David Balzer

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normal price: R 357.95

Price: R 321.95

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Now that we Â‘curateâ€™ even lunch, what happens to the role of the connoisseur in contemporary culture? Â‘Curateâ€™ is now a buzzword, applied to everything from music festivals to artisanal cheese. Inside the art world, the curator reigns supreme, acting as the face of high-profile group shows and biennials in a way that can eclipse and assimilate the contributions of individual artists. Curatorial-studies programs continue to grow, and the business world is adopting curation as a means of adding value to content. Everyone, it seems, is a curator. But what is a curator, exactly? And what does the explosive popularity of curating say about our cultureâ€™s relationship with taste, labour and the avant-garde? In this vibrant, revelatory and original study, David Balzer travels through art history and around the globe to explore the cult of curation, from superstar curator Hans Ulrich Obristâ€™s war with sleep to Subwayâ€™s Â‘sandwich artists.â€™ Recalling such landmark works of cultural criticism as Tom Wolfeâ€™s The Painted Word and John Bergerâ€™s Ways of Seeing, Curationism will change the way you look at art Â– and maybe even the way you see yourself. Â‘This is an unusual art book. It is a book you should read and one that you can. Balzer traces the history and current hegemony of curationism, a practice of jumped-up interior decorators who double as priests explaining the gospel to the unlettered masses. A good read, if you donâ€™t mind reading things that you donâ€™t want to know.â€™ Â– Dave Hickey David Balzer has contributed to publications including the Believer, Modern Painters, Artforum.com, and The Globe and Mail, and is the author of Contrivances, a short-fiction collection. He is currently Associate Editor at Canadian Art magazine. Balzer was born in Winnipeg and currently resides in Toronto, where he makes a living as a critic, editor and teacher.