Beti Žerovc, Curator and contemporary art. Conversations - book presentation and discussion

The discussion titled Curator and contemporary art - Kibla Multimedia Centre on Tuesday 18th November 2008 at 6 pm. Organized by ACE Kibla, Maribor and Maska, Institute for Publishing, Production and Education, Ljubljana

The discussion was conducted by Petra Kapš, philosopher, free-lance curator, art critic and author.

Participating in the discussion will be Beti Žerovc, author of the book Curator and contemporary art. Conversations and Katja Praznik, editor in chief of Maska Journal.

The discussion was triggered by the book of Beti Žerovc, Curator and contemporary art. Conversations, which was published by Maska Institute in Septemeber 2008, as well as the latest issue of Maska, Performing Arts Journal with the thematic subtitle Europe in capitalist a(rt) minor, edited by Katja Praznik.

Within the area of contemporary visual arts, curator has emerged as a typical and important factor of the period due to the amazing flourishing they have experienced over the past decades. Exhibition that can today be seen as their medium has become the most important way of presenting and "consuming" contemporary art. As the selection of works of art and conceptualisation are to be performed by the curators, it is actually them who decide what viewers will be presented as contemporary art. A work of art is today often created specifically for an exhibition with regard to the topic picked by the curator.

The book comprises discussions focusing on various aspects of curating. History and emergence are discussed by curator pioneers Harald Szeemann and Pierre Restany, connections with the market by Gregor Podnar, at the same time being a curator and art trader, the politics of creators' exhibitions by two curators advocating the political potential of exhibiting Vasif Kortun and Charles Esche. Due to complex relations between artists and curators the book also includes discussions with artist that are in a way related to curating, such as Daniel Buren or Damien Hirst.

Katja Praznik, editor in chief, presented the thematic concept of the latest issue of Maska, Performing Arts Journal "Europe in capitalist a(rt) minor", focusing on effects of the current geopolitical situation on new EU member states. They are now allowed the access to the new capitalist association and, similarly to Slovenia, have been marked by the experience of Communism as well as models and reforms that manage and dictate the European cultural production.

The basic question with regard to the central topic posed by the latest issue of Maska, Performing Arts Journal, relates to reconsideration about the status of art and culture in contemporary Europe and thus to the question of social conditions as such. Apart from lengthy discussions on the fortieth anniversary of May 1968, the reconsideration of where we are and where we are going was stimulated by the fact that Slovenia was the first new Member State to have presided the EU. We again asked ourselves what the future of Europe would be and what is the position of art in the new social context.