Curator Help

[Acts Magdalena]

Hi my name is Lisa and I am using my friend's access to this list to ask
you a question. I have been assigned to "curate" a collection (A very
large one) of videos and sculptures generated by a single artist. My
understanding of curating is that I am to collect these things together
from the various places they have ended up and arrange restoration of the
pieces and films that need it in preparation for a permanent museum (I
have to start that up too) that will display this work. I have only
archival and storage experience with textiles and paintings, not active
display. I am kind of freaking out and no one I know has the time to help
me with some advice. When you are a curator, presented with a large body
of work to prepare for display, what exactly do you do? I am to submit a
budget soon and this is what I will have it consist of: Costs for
shipping, amount charged for restoration, rents of possible sites for
display. What other things do I need to consider costs of? Any help
comments and advice will be appreciated. I was thrown into this and I
would really like to make it work. THANK YOU

[J./B. Moore]

One of the jobs of the curator is JUDGEMENT: certainly you cannot be
expected to be exhibiting all of this material all of the time, so you need
to decide which pieces are worth exhibiting when, how, and why. You need to
arrange the exhibitions (both at your home museum site and touring) to be a
sensible mix of what the artist has and what can be borrowed from other
people that own the work; plus you need to be collecting and organizing any
and all documentation of that artist's work from bills for materials to
personal correspondence to sale invoices to just about anything from his/her
entire career.

Also you will need to budget in the costs of designing and printing
catalogues, brochures, and other educational materials that will explain the
artists' work; photographing and otherwise documenting the work; purchasing
or renting the equipment to show the videos; building display pedestals
and/or casework for the sculpture; not to mention the actual building of the
"museum" with its specialized lighting, storage, and climate control needs.
And not least of all, you need to budget in what you will be paid for
singlehandedly organizing all of this.

I admire your dedication and wish you luck. It's an exciting position to be
in but overwhelming as well. I suggest making a two-year plan for what you
can realistically accomplish and assigning costs to it: and don't forget to
include where the money will come from!

Julia Muney Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center

[Paul Apodaca]

The word "curator" comes from the latin "curare" meaning "to care
for."

To be a curator is not to exhibit judgement, taste, selectivity, or
any of the hundred other misperceptions that have flooded the
profession. You must do a number of things to "care" for the objects
of the collection. The primary thing you have to do, that no one else
can do, is to Authenticate. The research from your authentication will
create your records, label copy, publications, education programs,
fund raising abilities, etc. You must collect, preserve, and
interpret, in that order and all this must follow authentication of
the objects.

You might consider contracting with a curator who has experience in
the area of your collection so as to create a credible set of
documents that will give your new institution academic credibility.

Paul Apodaca

[Robert A. Baron]

At 03:47 PM 1/20/97 +0200, Jo Zias wrote:

>According to Websters 1928 a curator is a person responsible for the care
>of a minor or a lunatic- as we work in museums, this should give us
>something to think about :-)

Here is what the Electronic American Heritage Dictionary says. See
especially the usage note. (I have removed the unreproducible
pronunciation diacritical characters.)

cu=B7rate(1) (kyoor'it) n. 1. A cleric, especially one who has charge of a
parish. 2. A cleric who assists a rector or vicar. [Middle English curat,
from Medieval Latin curatus, from Late Latin cura, spiritual charge, from
Latin, care. See CURE.]
cu=B7rate(2) (kyoor'at) tr.v. Usage Problem. To act as curator of; organize
and oversee. [Back-formation from curator.]
=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=20
USAGE NOTE: The verb curate is widely used in art circles to mean =93arrange
or supervise (an exhibition of art),=94 as in She has curated two exhibition=
s
for the Modern Museum. This usage is rejected by 81 percent of the Usage Pan=
el.

[Jo ZIAS - 5602624]

According to Websters 1928 a curator is a person responsible for the care
of a minor or a lunatic- as we work in museums, this should give us
something to think about :-)

Joe Zias, Curator

=============================
Joe Zias
Curator of Anthropology/Archaeology
Israel Antiquities Authority
POB 586, Jerusalem
Tel. 972 2 292624