Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping.

And I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about artists as curators.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to understand that artists can take on the role of curator.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords we'll be using during the lesson.

Audience experience is what people see, feel, think, and do when they visit an exhibition or artwork.

Space is often used in the context of gallery spaces, public spaces, and domestic spaces.

So pause the video here and give yourself a moment to make a note of these keywords.

And when you're ready to continue, press Play.

These are the learning cycles we'll be working through together in today's lesson, when artists curate and curation as artistic practice.

So in this first learning cycle, we're going to take a look at when artists curate.

If you could curate an art exhibition to showcase your own art, how would it look, and where would it be? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think about? How would it look? And whereabouts would it be? Well, artists curating their own exhibitions might allow for the artist to ensure the curation works with their intention for the work.

They have greater freedom when curating, a different or broader audience experience, a less formal or more accessible approach to curating, a challenge to traditional curatorial power structures, and a use of different, less traditional spaces.

So perhaps when you enter a museum, you see quite a similar style of curation.

And artists curating their own exhibitions might allow for lots of different aspects to be included.

Zanele Muholi is a South African visual activist who curates photographic exhibitions to amplify the voices of Black LGBTQAI+ communities and challenge discrimination in mainstream gallery spaces.

Ceija Stojka is a Roma artist and writer from Austria, who exhibited artworks telling her story of surviving the Holocaust, using exhibitions as a form of activism for Roma history and rights.

Danh Vo is a Vietnamese-Danish artist known for curating installations that question history, cultural identity, and power, often using personal objects and historical artifacts in gallery spaces.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Exhibitions can be curated by artists or curators.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that's true, you are right.

Well done.

But why is that statement true? Can you explain it to your partner? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to explain, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said something like, "Anyone can curate an exhibition, and artists often curate their own," then you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Artists have curated their own work for centuries and around the world for a variety of reasons.

For example, when galleries excluded them due to gender, race, class, or style, and/or the appeal of their work was outside mainstream themes, or perhaps they wanted to challenge the idea of who gets to decide what counts as good art.

A well-known historical example of this is when impressionist artists, like Berthe Morisot, displayed their work in the Salon des Refuses, an exhibition held in Paris in 1863.

It showcased artworks that had been rejected by the official Paris Salon, the most prestigious art exhibition in France at the time.

Other artists who have put on their own exhibitions to show their work their way, speak up when they've been left out, and make space for different voices and stories include Zarina Hashmi.

She curated her minimalist works with careful attention to language, space, and memory, resisting erasure of her diasporic identity.

Rasheed Araeen curated "The Other Story," 1989, in the UK, showcasing artists of African, Caribbean, and Asian heritage excluded from mainstream narratives.

And Roman Manfredi has developed exhibitions to present photographs of working class and LGBTQ+ communities on their own terms, spoken out against exclusion, and created space for marginalized voices.

The Guerrilla Girls, a feminist art collective, curated anonymous exhibitions and public art campaigns to expose discrimination in major galleries.

Ekow Eshun, a British curator and writer, has curated exhibitions that explore identity, race, and culture.

Eshun uses art to challenge mainstream narratives and highlight underrepresented voices in contemporary art.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Traditional art institutions decide what counts as good art by curating all art exhibitions.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that's false, you are right.

Well done.

But why is that statement false? Can you explain it to your partner? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to explain, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said something like, "Anyone can curate an exhibition, and artists often curate their own, which challenges ideas about who decides what makes good art," then you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Some artists choose to curate exhibitions in domestic or unexpected spaces, like bedrooms, kitchens, and front rooms. In Cuba, many contemporary artists have begun using their own homes as places to make and show their art, especially when their work deals with freedom of expression, identity, or politics.

A Cuban artist and activist, known for using his home as an exhibition space, is Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara.

Bobby Baker staged an exhibition in her home in East London, "An Edible Family in a Mobile Home," in 1976, serving tea while visitors ate members of a cake family, blending performance with domestic ritual and commentary on gender roles.

Rebecca Belmore is an Anishinaabe artist from Canada who uses performance and installations in public and everyday spaces, sometimes outside galleries, to bring attention to Indigenous issues and disrupt expectations of where art belongs.

Open studios are events where artists invite the public into their personal workspaces, often in their homes, garages, sheds, or shared studios.

There are many examples of these events all over the world.

Would you open your home or bedroom as an exhibition space? And what would you choose to show, and why? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your peers, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, The Palestinian Museum, also called The Home Museum, is a virtual exhibition space and a community-sourced and artist-led initiative.

Each contributor acts as a curator of their own story online, selecting and explaining the meaning behind items. And this means people all over the world can explore Palestinian heritage from their own homes.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to choose an artist or collective that curated an exhibition themselves and reflect on their exhibition.

Answer the following questions, either in writing or as a spoken pair discussion, or maybe using a mind map or in any other format you choose, who are or were they? Why did they choose to curate their own exhibition? What was different or powerful about the way they showed their work? And what did they want the audience to think or feel? So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at choosing an artist or collective and exploring their exhibition, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, let's have a look at this example here.

There are many options that you could have chosen, but let's take the example of the Guerrilla Girls.

They are a group of anonymous feminist artists who wear Guerrilla masks and speak out against unfairness in the art world.

They curated their own exhibition, because women and artists of color were often left outta galleries, so they made their own space to show this problem.

What was different or powerful? Well, they used posters, facts, and humor in public places instead of traditional galleries.

making their message bold and hard to ignore.

And what did they want their audience to think or feel? Well, they want 'em to realize that the art world isn't fair and to question who gets to be seen and why.

So well done if you are able to choose an artist or collective, and explore their exhibition, reflect on what they did and why.

This brings us to the second parts of our lesson.

We're going to take a look at curation as artistic practice.

Some artists include the act of curation as a part of the artwork itself, blending boundaries between artist and curator.

Examples of artists that have included curation as part of their artwork are Marcel Duchamp.

He was a French artist.

In 1942, he curated an exhibition where he stretched string across the gallery, making it hard to move around.

This turned the layout itself into part of the artwork and showed how curating could change how we experience art.

Artangel is a UK-based arts organization that commissions artists to create site-specific works, often in unusual, public, or hidden spaces, for example, empty buildings, underground tunnels, prisons, or phone booths.

Rachel Whiteread's "House," 1993, made with Artangel, was a concrete cast of a London house, shown on the streets where it once stood.

The location was part of the artwork, making people think about memory and change.

The way it was displayed helped form its meaning, showing how curation and art can work together.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Curation of exhibitions is always in gallery settings.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that's false, you are right.

Well done.

But why is that false? Can you explain it? Pause the video here and explain to your partner why this statement is false, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

If you said something like, "There are many examples of exhibitions curated in a variety of non-gallery spaces," then you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Roger Hiorns also worked with Artangel and filled a council flat with copper sulfate solution, turning the entire space into a blue crystal-covered sculpture.

The flat itself became the artwork, and visitors had to walk into it.

The artist chose the space, layout, and experience, showing that curation and environment were part of the art.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Curation and art can never work together.

They always stay separate.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that's false, you are right.

Well done.

But why is that statement false? Pause the video here and explain to your partner why that statement is false, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

If you said something like, "There are many examples of artists as curators, and curation as part of the artistic practice," then you are absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to create a pitch for an imaginary exhibition concept.

You could consider your exhibition title.

Make it memorable, creative, and reflective of your theme.

For example, "Whispers in the Concrete" or "Pixels and Protest." Outline the theme or concept.

What story are you telling? Why is it important now? And how does it connect to wider culture, society, or art history? And identify artworks, include at least three artworks by artists whose work supports your theme.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at creating a pitch for an imaginary exhibition concept, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, let's have a look at this example here.

Maybe you've got something like transformed realities, exploring how artists transform everyday objects and spaces to reveal hidden layers of memory, history, and meaning.

Danh Vo, "We the People," fragmented replica of the Statue of Liberty, reflecting identity and history.

Rachel Whiteread, "House," concrete cast of a terraced house, making absence tangible.

And Roger Hiorns, "Seizure," a flat transformed into a blue crystal chamber.

So that's one example of the type of exhibition concept you could have, and the artworks included.

Another example could be unseen voices, celebrating overlooked stories from marginalized communities in history.

Important for challenging imbalance in cultural memory, connects to feminist art history.

Ceija Stojka, "Untitled, Auschwitz Series," paintings documenting her experiences as a Romani Holocaust survivor.

Zanele Muholi, "Faces and Phases," portraits of Black LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Bobby Baker, "An Edible Family in a Mobile Home," a performance using a cake family to highlight domestic labor and overlooked female roles.

So well done for having a go at creating a pitch for an imaginary exhibition concept.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarize what we've learned about artists as curators.

Artists may curate exhibitions to maintain control over work and engage audiences in new ways.

Self-curation can challenge traditional power structures in the art world.

There are many examples of exhibitions curated in a variety of non-gallery spaces.

In some cases, curation itself becomes part of the artwork.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.