#OpenCurating

Contributions by: Walker Art Center web team, Minneapolis; Ethel Baraona Pohl, architect and editor, Barcelona; Ràdio Web MACBA team, MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Daniel G. Andújar, artist, Barcelona; badlands unlimited, publishers, New York; Steven ten Thije, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Yasmil Raymond, Dia Art Foundation, New York; Heman Chong, artist, Singapore; Lauren Cornell, New Museum, New York; and the Asia Art Archive team, Hong Kong.


The #OpenCurating research project examined how the dynamics of participation, transparency, and collaboration promoted by Web 2.0, together with the ten principles of open journalism, were transforming contemporary art and exhibition-making. It drew inspiration from the ten speculative principles proposed by Alan Rusbridger, then Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian newspaper, as well as from concerns explored in Latitudes’ project The Last Newspaper (New Museum, 2010).

Through ten interviews with international curators, artists, writers, and online experts, the research examined how these expectations are redefining the curator’s role, the relationships between audiences, artists, and artworks, and traditional formats of art production and mediation.

The project applied the principles of open journalism—collaboration, accessibility, and multiple voices—to the curatorial field. It explored how curating could move beyond the conventional “exhibition plus catalogue” model to create new forms of interaction and dialogue. These shifts have redefined the role of the curator, moving from a traditional position of authority that validated content (a monological approach) toward a more inclusive and participatory model in which artists, curators, and audiences engaged in exchange. What are the possibilities and challenges associated with the expectations for participation and transparency that arise?

#OpenCurating was structured in three parts: conducting a series of ten interviews released progressively as freely downloadable digital editions; a Twitter thread developed around the hashtag #OpenCurating; and finally, an open live conversation with Yasmil Raymond (Curator, Dia Art Foundation, New York) held at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA).