On Friday, May 6th at 19 h, at the Gallery Miroslav Kraljević, a talk will be held with Beti Žerovc, Slovenian art historian, theorist and curator, presenting her latest book: When Attitudes Become the Norm: contemporary curator and institutional art. The book was published thanks to the joint cooperation of Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory (Ljubljana) and Archive Books (Berlin), while the promotion is organized by Gallery MK and Curatorial platform, as part of a continuous program ‘Meet the Curator’.
The book by Beti Žerovc is a collection of essays and interviews on the topic of curatorial practice in the context of contemporary art. In this very extensive and layered publication, the author examines the curatorial practice within a wider socio-political and economic framework, but also in relation to the paradigm shift that took place in the art world over the last century. Žerovc analyzes the position of the curator as a key figure in that develops and participates in the institutionalization of contemporary art, arguing that it is through institutional curators that art comes to its reformulation.
While the first part of the book establishes the historical and contextual framework for understanding the phenomenon of curating, the sketches and outlines of the powers and activities of a curator of contemporary art, in her later essays, Beti Žerovc analyzes the global spread of curatorial practice and the politicization of the field and possibilities of socio-political intent of contemporary exhibitions and other curatorial projects. The last segment of the book deals with the idea of the curator as an artist, and curated exhibitions of contemporary art as an artistic medium, event and ritual. The book contains a conversation with the prominent theorist Mary Ann Staniszewski, author of the referent book from this field, The Power of Display: A History of Installations Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MIT, 1998).
Betty Žerovc teaches at the department of art history at the Faculty of Philosophy in Ljubljana. Her research focus consists of visual art and the world of art since the mid-19th century to present-day, with a special emphasis on their role in society. Over the past fifteen years, her interest is focused on the phenomenon of curators of contemporary art, modern art exhibitions as media and the changing role of art institutions.
