Rethinking Curating: Art after New Media (Leonardo Book Series) [Hardcover]

Beryl Graham (Author), Sarah Cook (Author), Steve Dietz (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262013886 | ISBN-13: 978-0262013888 | Publication Date: February 5, 2010 | Edition: First Edition

Redefining curatorial practice for those working with new kinds of art.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rethinking Curating is an invaluable road map to the landscape of contemporary curating and the ways in which the 'behaviors' of new media art have changed institutions, exhibitions, and the roles of curators and audiences. Outlining the characteristics of new media art and their histories, the book comprehensively explores functions of the curator -- as filter, producer, or editor -- and the exhibition -- as touring show, festival, or platform. Multiple artworks and exhibitions serve as case studies that effectively illustrate the complex topography of curating in and for the 21st century."--Christiane Paul, Curator, Whitney Museum

About the Author

As curator Steve Dietz has observed, new media art is like contemporary art--but different. New media art involves interactivity, networks, and computation and is often about process rather than objects. New media artworks, difficult to classify according to the traditional art museum categories determined by medium, geography, and chronology, present the curator with novel challenges involving interpretation, exhibition, and dissemination. This book views these challenges as opportunities to rethink curatorial practice. It helps curators of new media art develop a set of flexible tools for working in this fast-moving field, and it offers useful lessons from curators and artists for those working in such other areas of art as distributive and participatory systems. Rethinking Curating explores the characteristics distinctive to new media art, including its immateriality and its questioning of time and space, and relates them to such contemporary art forms as video art, conceptual art, socially engaged art, and performance art. The authors, both of whom have extensive experience as curators, offer numerous examples of artworks and exhibitions to illustrate how the roles of curators and audiences can be redefined in light of new media art's characteristics. They discuss modes of curating, from the familiar default mode of the museum, through parallels with publishing, broadcasting, festivals, and labs, to more recent hybrid ways of working online and off, including collaboration and social networking. Rethinking Curating offers curators a route through the hype around platforms and autonomous zones by following the lead of current artists' practice.

Beryl Graham, an educator, artist, arts organizer, and curator, is currently Professor of New Media Art at the University of Sunderland and coeditor of CRUMB (the Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss) Web site. Sarah Cook, a research fellow and cofounder of CRUMB, has curated exhibitions of new media art internationally.

Louis M. Brill was one of the original 80 people who brought Burning Man into the Black Rock Desert in 1990, and he has participated in the event every year since. He is currently writing a book about Burning Man as an emerging art community.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; First Edition edition (February 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262013886
• ISBN-13: 978-0262013888
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Arts & Photography > Other Media > Mixed Media