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DOOSAN Curator Workshop

Artist IncubatingDOOSAN Curator Workshop

Seminar VI - Seon Ryeong Cho

Oct.16.2014

On Creating an “Exhibition that Articulates Well” 
 
Cho expressed her view that an exhibition is the rhythm for the core concept that a curator is attempting to articulate. In other words, it is not the illustration of a concept; rather, it is the development of a rhythm of variation, expansion, and repetition as they relate to a concept. Thus, a critical curating technique is to rhythmically connect the motif that the curator has proposed with the artworks. 
 
Cho continued that as an exhibition can neither be wholly sensuous nor wholly conceptual, these two elements must be buffered. The work should strive to avoid merely explaining the subject and instead penetrate into the exhibition and its structure. Making a theme penetrate through an exhibition is no easy task, but it is a point from which one is able to evaluate a curator’s ability. Cho believes that, much like a rolling dice, curating reveals the various angles of an object. The curator should position hidden motifs in diverse artworks and allow viewers to find them, making a good exhibition a kind of “game.” In particular, selecting a variety of artwork formats that correspond to the subject plays an important role in creating a comprehensive exhibition. 
 
In addition, it is crucial to study art history in order to reference and research how people in the past approached similar subjects. Ideally, an exhibition is a work that makes history. Just as specific individual exhibitions collectively compose art history, the message proposed by an exhibition can create history. As well, if a concrete approach to and research of a subject can create sensuous elements and structural rhythms that penetrate the artworks and the spaces in between them, then an exhibition can live on. In this sense, the repetition of a subject on different levels is favorable for a three-dimensional exhibition; it would be ideal if the same subject were to appear in the exhibition space, in the artwork, and at a high level that encompasses them all. 
 
Art and People, and Intermediacy With Reality 
 
The theme that is the frame of the exhibition can begin with an artwork that the curator is inspired by, or it may begin with the title of a film, a piece of literature, or a newspaper article. Curating is the act of translating issues of reality into art. In this sense, curating should not stop at a level where art follows the logic of reality and goes on to translate reality into its inherent logic. This means that artists’ artworks do not stop with subjectivism on an aesthetic level and are spoken through in-depth transformations. 
 
At the intersection of issues of reality and works of art, the translation into a sense (the artwork) by adding a concept (the exhibition’s theme) is also an important opportunity for participating artists. Building empathy with artists through extensive conversations and inducing them to take on new challenges is part of the exhibition and is also a role of the curator. As well, the curator can be inspired by the research and expressive methods that the artists employ. When the curator and the artists are able to exchange mutual influences beyond a simple appreciation of the exhibition theme, then the curator will be able to engage in more in-depth cur
 

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