Conversations with the Curators

Curators play a crucial role when preparing and exhibiting an artist’s work, but what exactly do they do?  Last week I had a chance to speak with The Crown co-curators Amanda Krugliak and V. Robin Grice about their process of creating and exhibiting Shani Peters’s work. 

Krugliak, curator for the installation at the Institute for the Humanities, champions a spontaneous approach when working with artists in the gallery. She noted that her work as curator changes on a case-by-case basis, tailoring her skills specifically to the artist and the work that the exhibition is exploring.  In the case of The Crown, the installation required the use of the entire room, so Peters had great control over the design of the space. In other instances, such as the comic-book artist Alison Bechdel that was exhibited earlier in the semester, Krugliak worked closely with the artist to design a space that resembled a home much like the one Bechdel herself lived in. In our discussion, she emphasized the importance of conversation between curator and artist, noting that the most progress in preparing for an exhibition comes when asking difficult and substantial questions about the work and its content.

Grice, curator of the Gallery DAAS exhibition, uses a more structured and methodical approach in her curatorial practice.  Ms. Grice sees The Crown as one large, cross-campus exhibition, which facilitated collaboration and conversations between DAAS and the Institute for the Humanities. I asked her about the ‘Selfie Station,’ and how this relates to ‘the contemporary construction of self,’ to which she commented that the selfie could be seen as the contemporary self-portrait, which ties closely with self-determination and the autonomous representation of identity. The entire process, from meeting Peters until the gallery openings and beyond, lasted about one year. The role of the curator transforms with each step of the process, from the logistic to the creative. Ultimately, the job of the curator is to exhibit the work in the best possible light and get the intentions of the artist across to the viewers.

— Justin Wong, AAS 458, LSA History of Art and Asian Studies