Young curator in the art museum

▲ The exhibition site of the "Ministry of Culture and Tourism 2021 National Art Museum Young Curator Support Program Selected Project: Living up to Qingshan - Exhibition of Beautiful Chinese Theme Works collected by the National Art Museum of China", curated by the author

Grow into a curator

Although the National Art Museum of China has a history of nearly 60 years, in a fairly long historical period, because it has not introduced the working mechanism of curators in the modern sense, and it lacks the curatorial concept of modern art museums, resulting in academic research as the basic and conscious curatorial practice, which is actually only a matter of the past 20 years. An important opportunity for this transformation is the development of higher art education in China, which has trained many art graduates, including master's and doctoral students, to work in art museums. It is these young scholars who have transformed into curators in exhibitions, collections and research, and have promoted the specialization of various work such as art museum exhibitions. At the same time, the introduction and rapid development of the concept of curators, major art museums and art institutions are strengthening the awareness of curating, representative such as the First "Guangzhou Triennial" hosted and planned by the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2002, so that the consensus of setting up a curatorial mechanism in the field of art museums has gradually penetrated the hearts of the people. People who are familiar with the work in the field of art museums know that Chinese art museums are generally very young, and most of the young people who are active in this industry are young people.

Thanks to the development of the National Art Museum of China, many young scholars who have joined the National Art Museum of China have been trained to become curators with strong professional ability, and have emerged in various aspects of exhibition, research, collection, education, international exchanges and other aspects of the art museum. The National Art Museum of China has not set up an independent curator position, but the implementation of specific exhibition projects highlights the attributes of curation everywhere, such as academic invitation series exhibitions, donation and collection series exhibitions, collection revitalization series exhibitions, etc., and the executors are strictly curators.

Generally speaking, museums will allocate different exhibition projects according to the academic background of young curators, which is not only conducive to the implementation of exhibition projects, but also promotes the growth of their academic research. According to the content of the exhibition, the exhibition of the art museum can be divided into a comprehensive exhibition of thematic and thematic nature, as well as a donation, summary and retrospective solo exhibition of important artists. Among them, thematic exhibitions have very rich connotations, more emphasis on the political and historical nature of the grand narrative, the need to use a large number of important collection resources, requiring curators to be very familiar with the history of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China, and very familiar with representative works; thematic exhibitions are more academic and research-oriented, requiring curators to have a sense of problems, have a macroscopic grasp of the overall logical structure of the exhibition and the narrative of art history, can raise real and good questions, and have a greater role in promoting the study of art history The solo exhibitions of important artists are mainly held by artists who have made important contributions, made important influences and achieved important achievements in the cause of Chinese art, and tend to sort out their creative and artistic ideas in various periods, and focus on curating from the perspective of enriching the overall art history research through individual cases.

The basic qualities of a curator

It is necessary to have knowledge of art history. The basis of curatorial work is the knowledge of art history and art theory, and it is necessary to be very familiar with the current situation of Chinese contemporary art creation, and have rich and diverse visual experience and ideological experience. Many of the curators I know are art historians. Curatorialization can be either visualizing the results of one's own academic research, or combing and presenting them systematically through an image lineage to discover new research topics. In general, the latter is more numerous. Curators should pay attention to the new achievements in the study of Chinese and foreign art history, which can provide us with a lot of help in the setting and planning of exhibition themes, and can grasp the hot spots and plan excellent exhibition projects that have attracted wide attention. In fact, many good exhibitions require curators to first have a long period of research and accumulation, comprehensively sort out and summarize relevant academic achievements, and at the same time collect and sort out information on works suitable for the theme of the exhibition, and then come up with their own plans at the right time.

It is necessary to see more exhibitions and pay attention to the new results of related research. Curators should especially accumulate richer visual experience, go to the public and private art museums that we are familiar with, but also go to the museums that collect ancient artworks, to show contemporary art galleries, foundations and other institutions, to various experimental spaces and alternative spaces to see the exhibitions; in addition, to go to foreign museums and art galleries to see different periods and different types of exhibitions, through viewing, to establish a grand visual and image system. In this way, the subject of his curation can be given a broad global spatial dimension of art history. Here, as young curators, we must clearly understand the limited nature of exhibition resources, we must cherish these precious social and cultural resources, we must have a strong sense of historical responsibility, we must rigorously deliberate, for the country, for the nation, for history to select good works, to accurately and deeply cut into the theme of the exhibition, can not help but pain.

Write a good exhibition text. In order for the audience to better understand the works in the exhibition hall, it is necessary for curators to write research articles on relevant topics, write concise and concise exhibition prefaces, opening texts and introductions to works. Generally speaking, the preface of the exhibition will point out the causes and original intentions of the curation, explain the value and significance of the exhibition, and introduce the basic framework and content of the exhibition, as well as the thank-you message. It is very important to write a good preface to the exhibition, which is the main channel for the audience to obtain a general understanding of the exhibition. Generally speaking, in order to allow the audience to obtain a richer visual experience, the exhibition will divide the content into several chapters according to different logics, and the opening text of each chapter is the basis for the audience to further understand the exhibition. At the same time, in order to provide the audience with explanatory texts for the exhibition works as much as possible, especially the exhibition projects that focus on history and theme, it is very necessary to provide accurate introduction texts of the works, at least some of the key works should be provided.

Edit the exhibition catalogue. Exhibition time is limited, and the exhibition catalogue can help the audience who cannot come to visit the site to feast their eyes, while providing reliable literature for later researchers. In general, the exhibition catalogue is better edited after the exhibition starts, so that more relevant pictures and literature can be included. In addition to including pictures of exhibition works, information of works, and words appearing in the exhibition hall, the exhibition catalogue can also write and compile more special research articles, including photos and minutes of exhibition opening activities and academic activities, and including review articles on the exhibition site and some related exhibitions, in an effort to provide readers with comprehensive information about the exhibition. The text of the exhibition catalogue can be translated into Chinese and English, which can give it a broader space for dissemination. Similarly, the design and printing of exhibition catalogues should also pursue high-quality presentation.

Pursue accuracy, focus on value and meaning

The advantage of young curators is that they have more time and energy, can expand their academic horizons more, and can spend more time visiting artists' studios, visiting exhibitions, listening to academic lectures, reading, writing, acquiring knowledge, and accumulating experience. In contrast, young curators will be more pioneering in the intellectual dimension, more sensitive to new artistic phenomena and trends, which are very valuable. In this regard, we should not only pay attention to the study and display of classic works in the history of art, but the art museum should face the future, and one of the important tasks of young curators is to introduce more good artists and good works through curation, especially to build a platform for exchange and display for outstanding young artists.

Therefore, in curating, it is necessary to choose a more appropriate exhibition method, rather than pursuing novelty. It is true that many exhibition projects are all the rage, but they are superficial and lacking in inner spirituality. The audience facing the art museum is very diverse, and as a curator, it is necessary to take into account the combination of exhibition, research and Catholic education activities, and formulate a plan for public education activities when planning exhibitions. I am not too much in favor of simple, partial interaction, but rather on the cutting edge, to build an atmosphere close to the theme of the exhibition, which is a large, holistic visual space interaction. Regarding new artistic phenomena and artistic trends, we must also maintain calm thinking, and we must be able to identify the core content of thought and depth for my use. Curatorialism should pursue accuracy and simplicity, actively seek out themes with ideological value, and devote limited time and energy to limited exhibition resources for more valuable and meaningful exhibition planning.

(The author is an associate research librarian at the National Art Museum of China)

May 8, 2022 China Culture Daily

Special reports were published on the 4th edition

Young Curators in Art Museums

Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue