Curationism
How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else
$30.99
- Paperback
144 pages
- Release Date
10 April 2015
Summary
Winner of the ICA Book of the Year, 2015
Now that we ‘curate’ even lunch, what happens to the role of the connoisseur in contemporary culture?
‘Curate’ has become a buzzword, applied to everything from music festivals to artisanal cheese. Inside the art world, the curator reigns supreme, acting as the face of high-profile group shows in a way that can eclipse the contributions of individual artists. At the same time, curatorial-studies programs continue to grow, and …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780745335971 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0745335977 |
| Author: | David Balzer |
| Publisher: | Pluto Press |
| Imprint: | Pluto Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 144 |
| Release Date: | 10 April 2015 |
| Weight: | 162g |
| Dimensions: | 129mm x 198mm |
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Critics Review
‘Balzer writes with zest, scepticism and sly humour as he tracks the rise of the ‘star curator’ as marking the end of any possible avant-garde. Curationism is a memorable exploration that will change how you see so many daily activities. I loved this brilliant book.’
– Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?‘Point[s] out how far we have come from the original avatars of the term: the curatores’
– Hal Foster, London Review of Books‘A book you should read. Balzer traces the history and current hegemony of curationism—a practice of jumped-up interior decorators who double as priests explaining the gospel to the unlettered masses. A good read, if you don’t mind reading things that you don’t want to know’
– Dave Hickey, art and culture critic‘An insightful, provocative and entertaining overview of many of the key issues in both art and cultural life today’
– Art Review‘Curationism is increasingly persuasive as it nears the present. The best sections concern the rise of conceptual art from the 1950s onwards, the rise of international high finance, and the merging of the two’
– Spectator‘A polemical account of what curators do and why not everyone is one’
– Monocle Magazine‘A fast but deep account of the rise of the curator through the art world into popular culture’
– The Globe and Mail‘Game-changing’
– MomusBest Art Books of the Year
– Sky Goodden, National Post‘The kind of book I crave … a beautiful, useful, and timely book’
– Scrivener Creative ReviewDavid Balzer
David Balzer is a writer, lawyer, editor, and educator. He is the author of Contrivances (2012), Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else (2014), and This is Not New: Art, Culture, and the Promise of Change (2025). His critical writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Artforum, and Frieze. He lives in Canada.
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