What "old rules" about art programming, production and distribution has the internet broken? What challenges, expectations, and new possibilities does digital culture and social media present to contemporary art institutions? To what degree are curators, media teams, publishers and archivists concerned with a dialogue with their audiences? #OpenCurating has investigated these questions through how new forms of culture, participation and connectivity are being developed both on site and on line.
The research was structured around three elements: ten new interviews with curators, artists, researchers, archivists and editors produced and published as free digital editions as well as via Issuu; a Twitterthread was moderated around the hashtag #OpenCurating; and a public conversation (transcribed as interview #7) between Latitudes and Yasmil Raymond, Curator of Dia Art Foundation, New York, was held on 19 February 2013 at the Auditorium of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA).
'Democratizando la sociedad informacional' analyses the practice of visual artist, art theorist and web activist Daniel G. Andújar. Though the use of irony, his work has questioned the use of new communicative technologies, the democratic and egalitarian promises these media prophesy, critisising their real yet hidden intentions to control users.
'books_expanded_field' is the interview with Badlands Unlimited, a New York-based publishing house whose motto is “books in an expanded field”. Its publications and editions in paper or digital forms (e-books for iPad or Kindle) acknowledge that “historical distinctions between books, files, and artworks are dissolving rapidly”.
In 'From One History to A Plurality of Histories', Latitudes converses with Steven ten Thije, Research Curator at the Van Abbemuseum, in Eindhoven, one the first public museums for contemporary art to be established in Europe. Under the directorship of Charles Esche since 2004, the museum has defined itself through “an experimental approach towards art’s role in society”, where “openness, hospitality and knowledge exchange are important”.
'Host and Ambassador' is the transcription of the conversation between Yasmil Raymond, curator of Dia Art Foundation in New York since 2009, and Latitudes that took place on 19 February 2013 at the auditorium of the MACBA, as the public event of the #OpenCurating research. The conversation begins with an overview of the project, followed by an overview of Dia's projects since 1974. It incorporates “crowd-sourced” questions received via Twitter and Facebook, including from Raymond’s current and former work colleagues, and concludes with questions from the audience.
Lauren Cornell, currently Curator, 2015 Triennial, Digital Projects and Museum as Hub at the New Museum, New York, was Executive Director of new media non-profit Rhizome – a New Museum affiliate – where she initiated programmes including the annual Seven on Seven conference pairing technological innovators with visual artists, and curated exhibitions including Free (2010). She is currently preparing the 2015 Triennial with artist and filmmaker Ryan Trecartin.
The Asia Art Archive (AAA) documents, secures and makes easily available information on the history of contemporary art in Asia within an international context. Based in the Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong, the non-profit organisation holds hundreds of thousands of physical and digital items. AAA aims to stimulate dialogue and critical thinking about how the region’s art histories are told and to “facilitate understanding, research, and writing in the field, enrich existing global narratives, and re-imagine the role of the archive”.