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Last week I went to a great talk at the White Cube gallery (following on from the Gilbert and George talk) that explored the lives and start ups of curators. As this is a field I am very interested in going into, it was great for me. Andrea Schlieker (Director, White Cube), Paul Hobson (Director, Modern Art Oxford), Cliff Lawson (Curator, Hayward Gallery) and Anita Feldman (Head of Collections and Exhibitions, The Henry Moore Foundation) all spoke about their careers and their beginnings, opening my eyes to the wide variety of curating opportunities available, as well the skills and experience necessary.
Curating is an important part of the art world. Exhibitions in museums and galleries depend on the creative thinking, intense research and important networking that curators deal with. Since the 80's there has been a new hunger to enter into curating, with the opening of galleries offering more opportunities, leading to an increase in curatorial courses. It is the curators job to 'visualise the chaos in our minds', as Schlieker so nicely worded it.
Anita Feldman, to me, offered the most interesting insight into curating. She studied at UCLA in California, before doing her graduate at the Courtald. Instead of working solely for a museum or for a gallery, she instead works for The Henry Moore Foundation, working with the art of just one artist. Whilst this may seem boring, it actually seemed like the best option - she gets to know her artist and works in great detail, and she gets to travel the world creating exhibitions for galleries everywhere. She can be involved with projects from start to finish, unlike curators who work with large galleries who may only work with the start or end of an idea. She recently finished an exhibition with the Gagosian Gallery, where she put Moore's huge sculptures indoors - this was a challenge but something that can be achieved due to the different spaces she is given to work with. Her next exhibition, Body and the Void, explores how Henry Moore changed the way the body and its surroundings are shown.
Taking a different route into the art world, Paul Hobson started his career by reading History at Oxford, followed by two MA's, the first being Arts and Management, the second, Aesthetics and Contemporary Visual Theory. He went onto run a contemporary art society that raised funds for the country to be able to buy new contemporary art, and has only recently taken the job as Director at Modern Art Oxford. in 2015 they will be holding their 50th anniversary, in which they will run a full year exhibition that will show key works from over the past 50 years, with complimentary pieces being bought in and out to give a constant feel of freshness. Hobson believes that this challenging show is the key to good curating - a good show, with great figures (whether they are known or not), and a variety of techniques.
The Hayward Gallery is part of the Southbank Centre in London, which spans 20 acres along the river. Having all this space available gives curator Cliff Lawson the ability to offer a variety of different shows - this is important to a gallery that has no permanent collecting, like the Hayward Gallery. It puts extra pressure on the curators there to create amazing shows that will bring in audiences. Lawson curated the hit exhibition The Light Show, that was regularly sold out. His humble beginnings consisted of studying his MA at no other than UCL, having studied English Literature in Canada and done work experience at the Museum of Anthropology. He has also been Assistant Curator at the Tate Modern - something which offered him a great amount of experience.
Curating is a great way to get into the art world - whilst it has its challenges, its also satisfying, can offer you great opportunities like travelling and being in a constant state of creativity, whilst also being academic in its research side.
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