Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect when I saw we were going to be talking to a curator all day in class. There was no way they could talk about how to hang a photo on a wall for two whole hours, was there?! (half kidding) Natasha came as a very pleasant surprise the moment she started talking to our class. Like Stuart, the first thing I also noticed and appreciated was the fact that she looked each of us in the eye and spoke directly to us, which was a refreshing change from normal interactions with other human beings.
It was incredibly interesting to hear what she had to say about meeting with artists, the collaboration process, and the selection process for various shows that she’s worked on. This is my first real exposure to the in’s and out’s of the gallery world, and I was intrigued, to say the least.
Curating never really came into my mind as something I would enjoy doing. It always seemed like a very dry side to the art world, and never peaked my interest… until now. The idea that curating could be an art form in its own right is a very new thing to me, and I’m interested to see what this new idea will illuminate for me in the next shows we visit. All this time I simply assumed it was the artists saying what goes where and making all the decisions in exhibitions…
…I guess Dorothy just pulled back the curtain.
