Curatorial Intervention

Curatorial Intervention is Brett Levine's frank, funny, and above all sceptical account of that newest of contemporary artforms curating. This is maybe the best personal account of the practice of curating that I've read. There are lots of curation courses, lots of how-to manuals, but it's this that any aspiring (or even non-aspiring) curator needs to read.

New Zealand-based curator Brett Levine resists a perceived narrowness in literary theorist Hans Robert Jauss's reception theory, which sees making meaning as a relationship between maker and receiver (and thus significantly impacted by readers'--or, in the case of art, the audience's--reception). Levine defines curatorial intervention as curators and institutions filling the void between the two and keen reorienting of experiences with art. Levine extends the parameters of meaning-making and intentionality to renegotiation of the conventions of curating and the roles of participants as part of collaboration. The author considers how curatorial practice and intervention might mediate the relationship between artist and audience and offers examples of such curatorial interventions. For example, commentary on re-installations is followed by evidence of the impact on audience and works, through the recontextualizations and seeking of new connections and interpretations. Drawing on case studies and his experience as gallery director, curator, and scholar, Levine also explores the role of administrative decision-making in curatorial intervention and the related contexts of transparency, agency, and power. Offering critical discussion of the role of curatorial intervention in the triangulation among artist, work, and audience, this volume will interest researchers in museum studies, art historical studies, contemporary art, and reception theory. The book includes a slim bibliography and an index. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals.