2) NBO (New Beijing Optimism): In the lull of Post-Olympic flagging pep, and in the spirit of our declaration of NLO (New London Optimism) at last October’s Manifesto Marathon at the Serpentine Gallery in London, it is imperative to identify this moment as a force for optimism; we are here to proclaim NBO.

3) Anti-Cyclicality: Having purposely abstained from the rush to concert activities around the Beijing Olympics, we are anti-cyclical; This is it, now: The dawn of the New Year is no incentive for pause.

4) Polyphony of Marathons: This Beijing Mini-Marathon is not the first, but one in a chain of mini-marathons taking place in the city, the first being Beijing Pavilion: this event is urgent.

5) Trans-Disciplinarity: We direct our scope to a plurality of scenes; Chinese art cannot accept boundaries – those of disciplines, of generations, of geographies: Chinese art must have an open mind.

6) Book Machine: the Beijing Mini-Marathon event is a real-time complex dynamic feedback loop; the event will produce a publication, a document, a battery: a machine that generates energy for future development in the Chinese context

Curators as models: Julien Fronsacq (Palais de Tokyo, Paris); Olivier Sailliard (Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Paris); Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Gallery, London)

The relentless convergence of art and fashion continues. Exhibit Y: the new spring look book for Yohji Yamamoto’s classic, less expensive line called Y’s. In lieu of a fashion show, every season Yamamoto produces a catalog with an editorial conceit. Past concepts have included shooting the clothes on graphic designers, actors and classical dancers. This season it’s museum curators in New York, Paris, London and Antwerp. Who knows, maybe next year’s crop of brooding real-life models will be investment bankers.

There are more curators after the jump.

Léanne Sacramone (Fondation Cartier, Paris); Kaat Debo (Momu Anvers, Antwerp); Angeline Scherf (Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris)

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Recent acquisitions of new and extraordinary works of art have strengthened the Gallery’s collection, boldly positioning the AGO as an institution of international significance at the heart of Toronto’s cultural life.

The AGO — with its remarkable redesign by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry — is now all the more compelling. Shaping art experiences in innovative and powerful ways, Gehry’s architecture makes surprising connections and offers new insight into art.

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The role of the curator in the field of visual art has evolved and changed over the past few decades. Initially – and this is where the term comes from – it meant simply to ‘care’ for a collection. The curator was the person whose job it was to know everything about the collection. They were responsible for conservation, documentation, archiving, writing labels and sometimes longer texts, budgeting, and occasionally selecting exhibitions from the works available in the collection. The extensive knowledge the curator had, however, also lent itself to the job of bringing that knowledge, and the art works to the public, and with that, the role began to grow.The rise of the curator

The heyday of curators in contemporary visual art was, perhaps, in the late 1990s, and early 2000s. Before and after that, the ‘power’ in the art world had been shifting between critics (1960s), museum directors (1980s), commercial gallery owners and dealers (most recently), and sometimes, just occasionally, to include certain artists. In the first part of this millennium, thanks to the art world and art market’s endless quest for the next, newest, biggest thing, the lustre of the role of curator had grown to such a degree that ‘superstar curators’ jetted round the world, putting their names to exhibitions and biennales, and then moving onto the next without skipping a beat. They were the people who knew, not everything about the art in the collection, but everyone who mattered in the art world, and so were the ones to get on your side, or behind your latest project. With that, ‘curator’ became art’s biggest buzz word. Everything seemed to be curated – from magazines, to performances, to lectures and events. Artists were curators, writers were curators, collectors were curators – and curators? Of course, they were curating too. People have described themselves as ‘market curators’ and even ‘chocolate curators’ (which sounds delicious, if useless). But what exactly were they doing? What do they do today? And what is it like to work with one in the contemporary visual arts?

The new role of curator

As the role of curator developed, a new job title, Curator of Exhibitions, emerged as a job within larger museums, galleries and institutions. These curators conceive of exhibitions, organise loans of work, select artists and their work for group shows, and work with individual artists on solo shows. They will also write texts and give talks on the exhibition. As an article in The New York Times (by Grace Glueck) put it, “The job description reads ‘Do It All’”. The Curator of Exhibitions at a large institution will work with a team, as well as with the Director, to programme the year’s schedule of exhibitions. Some of these exhibitions may also be conceived and selected by freelance curators, who will also work with smaller galleries, and in temporary spaces. The term ‘curator’ has come to be used increasingly loosely, however, to the point that it is also applied to people who simply invite an artist to exhibit in a space and add their own name to the invitation and press release. The role of the curator, and what you can expect from working with one differs from individual to individual and gallery to gallery, so you’ll need to tease out expectations on both sides at the outset of any project or exhibition.

Working with curators

If a curator invites you to contribute work to a group exhibition, it’s worth finding out one or two things before you plunge in and say an enthusiastic ‘yes’. If the curator is from a gallery, just confirm that that is where your exhibition is to take place, or if not, ask where it will be. Also you should ask who the other artists involved are, as their work will create the context in which your own is seen. Ask the curator what the theme or idea of the exhibition is. They may not have a title for it yet, but that’s fine. The point is, if they are putting together an exhibition of ‘painting from the North East’, that’s probably not a problem, unless you have spent your entire artistic career trying to escape that label. On the other hand you might not wish your work to be in an exhibition on the theme of ‘naïve artists and their dreadful sculptures’ – although this is highly unlikely to happen. Ask them whether they envisage visiting your studio and selecting work (this is desirable), and if they say ‘yes’, you may wish to make a preliminary selection yourself – but do bear in mind that their expertise can be helpful in your own assessment of your work, so it’s useful to give them enough to see. If you have been invited to do a solo show by a curator, discuss at the outset whether they have a thematic idea for the exhibition in mind. If they do, are you happy with it? Do they wish to select the work from your studio? Some will work with you over a period of time, so a good relationship with a curator can also develop into a creative relationship that benefits your own work. The balance of the relationship between artist and curator alters according to the career level each have reached. Some artists coming to do exhibitions in major institutions simply state what they need or want, and the curator obliges. In other cases, the curator puts their own creative stamp on the exhibition. This is also likely to happen with artist-curators, as they often see curation as an extension of their own practice and artistic concerns. Whatever roles you work out between you, the curator should be your point of contact with the gallery. They will handle issues such as transport of works, labelling, invitations, layout and hanging, publicity and so on. They may not undertake all these tasks themselves, but they, rather than other museum or gallery staff are the ones you should work with.

In the pursuit of the superstar curator I am following Hans Ulrich Obrist´s `Formulas for Now´ along with his desire to formulate the seemingly unformulatable and asking curators from all over the world to “Make a formula for the 21st century curator”.

olav@gmx.co.uk

As a curatorial apprentice, guided by the Norwegian writer & curator Olav Henriksen, I am investigating the notion of the ‘superstar curator’ in an attempt to create (or manufacture) the perfect curator. I am now looking to recruit WORLDWIDE APPRENTICES to help on this project. The ‘superstar curator’ is a fairly virginal phenomenon, but increasingly we are seeing curators of a ‘superstar’ calibre, most of which play the international circuit, making them c-o-n-s-i-d-e-r-a-b-l-y more ‘windswept and interesting’.

WORLDWIDE APPRENTICES are required to document, observe, capture the ‘superstar curators’ in action. Professionally – their notions, expressions, commitment, discussions, writings, peers, colleagues, images…. Catch them in the street, restaurant, gallery, pub, shopping mall…. What are they reading, wearing, doing, considering…. ? Documentation can be text, image, audio, video, footprints, beer mats, napkins, emails, autographs, newspaper clippings. The correlated data will be fed back to Olav Henriksen who from which will extract the formula of the ‘superstar curator’. From his initial findings an online magazine will be published which will include a mix of celebrity (curator) news, gossip and fashion, listings and a major celebrity (curator) interview.

Henriksen’s extrapolations will create a virtual manifestation of the ‘superstar curator’ along with a text based transferable model. It is envisaged that the ‘virtual superstar curator’ will become available to hire, creating the future project curator on loan scheme, 2011.

*This is a volunteer position; all participants will be given formal recognition and included in any publications.

Please email olav@gmx.co.uk if you would like to join the project.