To find out, we examined the educational histories of 100 curators who specialize in contemporary art at 69 fine art museums in 32 states. We found that there is no one way to become a curator—although many of the experts we spoke with had strong opinions about what kind of education is most useful.
Category: visual
The Enormous Project Of Replacing The Met Museum’s Skylights
Reporter James Barron follows Keith Christiansen, the chairman of the Met’s European paintings department, up into the rafters and onto the roof to see why the skylights need replacing, why the project will cost $150 million, and how the museum will shift around some of its most celebrated artworks as the work proceeds.
This Little-Known Paris Museum Doubled Attendance In Four Years
“The very day [in 2013] that Sophie Makariou took over as the director of Paris’s Musée Guimet, she met a young Indian doctor on a train. ‘I would love to see some Indian art while I am here,’ he said. ‘Go to the Guimet,’ responded Makariou, to which he replied: What is that?’ The fact that he had not even heard of the venerable institution, founded in 1889 by Emile Guimet and holding one of the world’s top collections of Asian art, showed Makariou the extent of the task ahead of her.”
Choosing The Right Title For A Museum Show Is A Very Tricky Matter
“Depending on the institution, curators will go back-and-forth with artists, colleagues, advisers and, more frequently now, marketing and public relations staff. The case of [the abandoned title] Going Native also signals the stakes involved – the curatorial pitfalls and political landmines that may linger in words. But museums stress that the process is not algorithmic but the occasionally serendipitous pursuit of a magic phrase.” (And is it even possible to title an exhibition without using a colon?)
Far-Right Italian Party Wants To Turn Former Fascist HQ Into Major Museum
Italy’s far-right Lega party, which won almost 18% of the vote in the general election on 4 March and could form part of the next coalition government, wants to turn a former Fascist party headquarters in Como, in the Lombardy region, into northern Italy’s biggest museum of Modern art, architecture and design.
The World’s Most Visited Museums And Exhibitions, 2017 Edition
The Louvre, as usual, had the highest attendance, although the National Museum of China is a very close second, with the Met a distant third. The two most popular shows – which comes first depends on which way you count – were of Impressionist and Modern paintings in Paris and of late 12th-century Buddhist sculptures in Tokyo.
Discoverers Of Prehistoric Chauvet Cave Art Finally Win Some Intellectual Property Rights To Their Discovery
“The cave, which houses wall paintings dating back around 30,000 years, was discovered in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps and Christian Hillaire. … [The three] argued that they had been stripped of their own discovery and they claimed the rights to hundreds of photographs and videos taken at the time as well as to the Chauvet name. They also sought a role in the management of the replica site.” (The original, for its own protection, is closed to visitors.)
How A South American Capital Remade One Of Its Most Congested Streets Into A Pedestrian-Only Artwork
“It was all done in record time. In just 30 days, more than 120 people – led by 32-year-old Chilean visual artist Dasic Fernández – transformed one of the most congested and iconic streets in the center of [Santiago,] the Chilean capital. Today, Bandera Street, next to the government palace and the city’s main square, is a colorful promenade, thanks to an urban intervention that’s unprecedented in Latin America.”
When Archaeologists Put The FBI On The Case
Egyptian mummies pose a unique challenge because the desert’s scorching climate rapidly degrades DNA. Earlier attempts at obtaining their ancient DNA either failed or produced results contaminated by modern DNA. To crack the case, the museum turned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Banksy Jackpot
While known for mocking the powerful as they strive to become objects of mass appeal, many of Banksy’s illicit street artworks ultimately belong to private landlords, not the public. After a late-night visit from the anonymous artist, property owners often wake up to find they’ve won the Banksy lottery: He has “vandalized” one of their buildings by gifting it a work by a world-famous artist. And then it is up to them to decide the work’s fate.